Mt. Rainier Climbs

All the first year staff at Camp Sheppard were limited to the hiking program. You had to prove yourself and gain the experience on the hikes before taking on the responsibilities of a climb. In my second year at Sheppard we decided to try a different route on Mt. Rainier. The older guys had been looking for something more exciting and fun than just the normal Muir and Schurman routes and because I was in my second year, I got to go! After looking at the topographical maps of Mt. Rainier, Max and the staff came up with what looked like a good route. They decided we could start at Fryingpan Creek parking lot, head towards Summerland the first night and the second night would be spent on the flanks of Mt. Tahoma. The next day the group would traverse Tahoma to what looked like two different notches in the ridge that ran on the north side of the Ingraham Glacier. If one of the notches proved passable we should be on the Ingraham by the third day. Once on the Ingraham we would follow it up the mountain until we got to a saddle between Tahoma and Rainier called the Ingraham Flats and set up a base camp. Another plus with this route was that it started way below the tree line in dense forest. The trip would start as a walk in the woods, progress through thinning trees into sub-alpine and then alpine areas, and on through no vegetation to snow and ice ending at the summit of Mt. Rainier.

The saddle between Tahoma and Rainier would act as the base camp. Sheppard hikes and climbs were set up to run from Sunday until Saturday so we had almost a full week to do what we wanted to do. By taking three days to get to base camp, all the kids would be acclimatized, physically in better shape, and the staff could keep an eye on them to see who was keeping up and who needed help. Once we were on the mountain the group had to be divided up into rope teams and a staff member assigned to each rope. We wanted the rope teams to be as equally strong as possible.

With the Ingraham Flats as a base camp, we had several different routes we could take to the top. We could connect with the traditional Muir route below Disappointment Cleaver and on up the Cleaver. Or, if it wasn't too broken up, follow the Emmons Glacier up the side of the Cleaver and meet the Muir route higher on the mountain.

Max and the staff wanted a good place for a base that was on the mountain but reasonably safe. We didn't want to have to be roped up whenever someone left a tent. The Flat was perfect. It was level with no crevasses near by and had a great view. Not too far away there were crevasses and some broken up areas of the glacier that we could do some snow and ice training on.

A couple of different exploratory trips were planned to check out the route. A good place to camp between the Summerland area and the Ingraham Glacier on Mt. Tahoma needed to be located and the two glaciers on the flanks of Mt. Tahoma checked out to see if they were easy to traverse. Then a decision had to be made on how to get down the ridge on to the Ingraham.

If I remember right, I ended up going on three trips up this route. There were different experiences on each trip and now almost thirty years later they all kind of run together. One trip was with Denny Fenstermaker on a day trip, another was the beginning-of-the-season staff climb, and another was a regular climb with the kids.

The day trip with Denny was only to check out the access to the Ingraham Glacier to see if either notch was useable as a way to get on the Ingraham with a bunch of inexperienced kids. We started at Fryingpan Creek early in the morning and only brought enough food and water for one day along with some bivouac clothes.

We cruised up to Summerland and then Meany Crest. Meany Crest was an excellent place for a campsite. It was nice and flat with a great view towards Summerland and north. There was plenty of room for all the tents. It wasn't that far from Summerland but the route was almost straight up a cliff so with kids and full packs it would take most of a day to get there.

From the Crest we went straight up towards Mt. Tahoma until the 8500-foot level was reached. That put us on the Fryingpan Glacier. Traversing across to the Whitman Glacier wasn't too bad and the trip across the Whitman was the same. They both were just big snowfields so we didn't have to rope up.

After reaching the ridge along the Ingraham it didn't take us too long to figure out which way was the best to get down on the glacier. The upper notch was way too dangerous and long. The lower notch was a rock scramble. Just to be safe, I think we put a belay on each kid as they climbed down to the Ingraham.

Denny and I headed back down just when the sun was starting to set. We were in a hurry to get as far as possible before dark so I didn't stop to put sunscreen on. The sun was just at the right angle as we dropped down to Meany Crest that the backs of my legs were sunburned to a crisp. The next day both legs had blisters from where my cutoffs stopped and my socks started. That wasn't one of the smartest things I have ever done. Luckily for me, I wasn't on a trip the next week so I could stay at Sheppard and recuperate.

At the start of every season the staff would go on a climb some where, usually Rainier. That year we tried out the new route.

I don't remember if we stayed at Summerland the first night or not. I do remember the night at Meany Crest. It was the middle of June and a snowstorm that dumped 6 inches or more of snow on us hit us.

We had a bunch of brand-new tents from REI that were supposed to be wonderful. The center pole punched through the top of the tents from the combined snow and wind. That caused the tent to collapse on top of us. That wasn't a good thing in the middle of the night. Of course, the old tents did just fine.

The only thing that could keep the tents up was by forcing a Cool Whip bowl over the top of the pole and tying the top of all the tents together and waiting for morning.

When morning finally came, we loaded up and headed for the Nisqually Flats. Not much exciting happened on the way to the Flats. We overnighted there and the next morning headed for Disappointment Cleaver. The routes on both sides of the Cleaver were to broken up and full of crevasses to use so we intercepted the Camp Muir route below the Cleaver and followed it to the summit.

By the time we got to the crater rim the weather had closed in so we couldn't see much of anything. There wasn't any wind or snow just reduced visibility. We all crashed on the crater rim to take a break. Denny sat down on a good-sized boulder he was going to use for a seat. The boulder rolled out from underneath him and then rolled over his thigh. He was bruised from his knee to his hip.

When he got up, he could barely walk and the leg was getting more and more stiff. Walking on level ground wasn't too bad but down hill was going to be tough and he had a lot of down hill to go. He was able to hobble down to the top of the Cleaver but that was it. The Cleaver was steep and full of sustruge so there was no way he could hobble down.

Once at the Cleaver we had some decisions to make. The most important decision was how to get him down the Cleaver in one piece. We needed a litter to put him in but nearest litter was at Camp Muir. That was to far away so we had to improvise.

We gathered up everything we had for padding, wrapped him in it, and gave him an ice ax. There was no way he would lay down and have his arms strapped in. He wanted to be able to stop himself if something went wrong and the whole "rescue" team started to slide down the mountain. Two ropes were run uphill and two ropes downhill with Denny attached in the middle. We choose a couple of guys to take the uphill ropes and the same for the downhill.

With Denny giving the instructions off we went. The going was slow and bumpy. The ropes kept hanging up on the sustruge and the uphill guys would get behind the downhill guys with Denny getting caught in the middle.

Because Camp Muir had real litters the decision was made to head there. The plan was to get to Muir, strap Denny in a litter, and from there to go on down to Paradise. I can't remember for sure, but I think Denny was able to walk to Muir once we got to the bottom of the Cleaver. I think he had had enough of being the middleman in a tug-of-war.

At the bottom of the Cleaver some of us went over to the Ingraham Flats to break camp and divide up the gear for the return trip to Paradise via Camp Muir. Max had been contacted by radio on what all had happened. He was to meet us at Paradise with the truck to take Denny to a doctor.

We made it to Camp Muir okay. A litter was found and Denny strapped in it. Again, he wasn't having anything to do with being laid down and strapped in. He sat up with an ice ax in hand ready to go into self-arrest. We made the same arrangements for the ropes with two ropes uphill and two ropes downhill.

With every one set we pushed off for a bonsai run for Paradise. The litter was like a big sled that wanted to go like crazy. I think we had to add another rope on the uphill side to control the speed down the Muir snowfield.

As we moved down the snowfield people saw us coming and got out of the way. We looked like an out of control spider web going faster and faster down the slope. Denny used his ice ax like a canoe paddle to keep upright while the rest of us on the ropes just tried to keep up with him.

We made Paradise in record time and Max was there to greet us. Denny's leg was just bruised with no broken or cracked bones.

The last Rainier climb I was on that used the Meany Crest route was with a group of kids. The trip up from Fryingpan Creek all the way to the Ingraham must have been uneventful because I don't remember much of it.

Once on the Ingraham things got exciting. We were roped up in teams and were headed up the glacier. My team was following John Miner's team. The rest of the group was spread out on the glacier and heading for the Ingraham Flats to set up a base camp.

The Ingraham was kind of broken up with crevasses so the route up wound back and fourth, crossing several snow bridges. Most of the bridges were wide enough that it didn't bother the kids. Then we had to cross one that was really narrow.

John's team was a bit ahead of mine and had started to cross the narrow bridge. First John had crossed, then each kid one at a time was crossing. By the time my rope got there the last kid was starting to cross.

Half way across the bridge he fell. I don't know if he panicked and flopped down or just plain fell on his face. By the time I yelled anything John had gone into self-arrest and was hollering to the rest of his team to do the same. We hadn't had much time with the group to teach them much about self-arrest but they did the best they could. I know John figured he was the only one that could stop the team if the kid fell off the bridge into the crevasse.

I had my team go into self-arrest while I pulled off my pack. John and I decided the best thing to do was to get the pack off the kid while he laid on the bridge then pick him up and carry him the rest of the way over.

The poor kid had to be scared to death. He was laying on his belly with one foot hanging in one crevasse with his head face down looking in another. He was so scared he didn't move which was a good thing. I walked up to him and started to take off his pack. Getting the straps off was the hardest part. Neither one of us wanted him to move much as we were afraid he would slide either head or foot first into a crevasse. Even as scared as he was he tried to help as much as he could to get his arms out of the pack straps.

We got the pack off and out of the way. Now for the kid. John and his team had been in self-arrest for quite some time by now and had to be getting tired. They couldn't really see or hear what was going on behind them, either. The kid was kind of small so I just scooped him up in my arms and carried him across before he had much time to think about what was going on.

I went back across the bridge and got my pack. John got his rope straightened out, then my team crossed the bridge without any more excitement so off we went to Ingraham Flats.

The whole team made it to the Flats where we set up base camp. While camp was being made some of us staff guys started to feel sick to the stomach. No one gave it much thought at first but as the day went on we got more and more sick.

By evening half of the staff were too sick to move. Max had been contacted by radio and told of the problem. He had called a doctor who told him to have us eat bananas. Yeah, right. At about the 10,000 foot level on Rainier you just don't go down to the corner market and get a bunch of bananas.

We had started to carry folding lawn chairs on the trips to sleep on. Before I got really sick and couldn't move anymore, I remember seeing Chuck Caley laying on his lawn chair, pale as a ghost, holding a water bottle full of Cool-Aid or something. Every once in a while he would take a sip. He swore he wasn't going to puke. He was going to overcome the disease and the only way was by drinking what ever was in that water bottle.

I wasn't so brave. When the crud really hit me I was wiped out. I went over to a slit trench we had dug for a latrine, putting my ice ax across it for a seat and sitting down. First there was diarrhea, then vomit, then vomit, then diarrhea. Sitting there sicker than a dog is the last thing I remember.

The next morning when I woke up most of the sick guys were in quarantine in a tent alone. I didn't remember going to the tent. I think Chuck made it through the night in his lawn chair sucking on his water bottle and never did throw up.

We never did figure out why we got sick. At the end of a lot of the Sheppard trips the parents of the kids would pick them up at the trailhead and have a big picnic. Most of us that had gotten sick had been to the same picnic but several days had passed since then. It might have just been a flu bug.

The next day we had to make a summit attempt. I think we split the group up so some stayed at camp and some went for the summit. That was the good thing about having a week to spend on the mountain. Several summit attempts could be made from the Flats and if the kids were in real good shape the whole camp could be moved to the summit for an overnight there.

I didn't feel much like moving let alone climbing. The group heading for the summit was one staff short. Each rope team was made up of three kids and one staff. Two kids and a staff was preferred. I went along even though I wasn't too sure I could make it. This wasn't the strongest group of kids we had led this year so maybe they would be going slow enough that I could keep up. I think the strongest kids were put on my team to make up for my weakness.

Everything was going okay until we took a break at the top of Disappointment Cleaver. One of the kids was having a real hard time keeping up and was slowing down the whole group. Even I wasn't having too difficult of a time keeping pace with him. At this speed we weren't going to make the summit.

We got together and decided to leave the kid with me at the top of the Cleaver. The steepest and most dangerous part of the climb was behind us. The last few thousand feet were relatively smooth with just a few crevasses to walk around. We were already following the traditional Muir route that the guide service based at Paradise used. By this time of year the route was like a three-foot wide, one-foot deep hiking trail through a big snowfield. There was no route finding required.

The kids on my rope were divided up with the other teams. The slow kid and I were staying at the top of the Cleaver and hang out while the others went to the summit and came back down. Then we would go back to the original rope teams for the descent to the Ingraham Flats.

I remember it being a nice, sunshiny day and about 70 degrees with very little breeze. We had a wonderful view east towards base camp with Mt. Tahoma in the background and eastern Washington behind that. We made a couple of comfortable seats to one side of the Muir route and settled in for the wait. I think the kid fell asleep right away. I pulled out a book and started to relax.

The guide service out of Paradise had an unofficial motto that was "You lag, we drag". What it meant was one way or another they would get you to the top and back. Their guides were always in the lead, which was wrong according to the way we were taught. The strongest person on a rope was supposed to be on the uphill end of the rope team. It didn't matter if the team was going up or down the mountain, the strongest (in our case, the Sheppard staff guy) was uphill.

With their guides in the lead, the rope teams were pretty much pulled up and down the mountain. That made for some very tired rope members. By the time they had left Camp Muir at 1:30 am and gotten to the top of the Cleaver they were beat. I had a great time sitting there with my boots off, soaking up some sunshine; reading a book, and taking an occasional swig out of a water bottle while enjoying the view as the guide service rope teams struggled past me headed up the mountain.

The trip down must have been easy, as sitting on top of the Cleaver is the last thing I remember happening on that climb.

All in all, the Camp Sheppard experience was one of the best of my life. The staff was great; the backcountry trips were fun and a great way to spend the summers. I'll remember them the rest of my life and bore my kids and grandkids with the stories.

Craig Oen 1971-1972