Mount Rainier In A Day (Disappointment Cleaver) - Trip Report

Route Stats:

• Elevation gain: 8,790 ft

• Length: 15 miles

• Time to climb: 2-3 days (typically)

• High Point: 14,411 ft

The Disappointment Cleaver “DC route” is the most popular route to the summit of Mount Rainier. Thanks to the numerous guide services on the mountain, the DC route is maintained on a daily basis making it one of the easiest routes.

Despite previous successful two-day summits up the DC route, I’d never attempted a car-to-car summit in a single day.

It had been less than a month after Josh and I had completed a car-to-car push up Kautz Glacier and the idea of getting back on the mountain for another quick trip up the DC was just too enticing to pass up.  

I enlisted my buddy Patrick who was eager to give it a shot with me — an ambitious goal for his first attempt at a Mount Rainier summit bid. Since this was his first time up the mountain, we conservatively opted to carry more gear, at the expense of moving a bit slower. This decision was partially dictated by forecasted weather, which predicted high winds and below freezing temps on the summit. 

Our simplified gear list for the one day climb of DC/Mount Rainier:

• Crevasse Kit

• Water filter

• Garmin InReach Mini

• GPS / altimeter watch

• Glacier glasses / sunscreen / buff

• Headlamp with extra batteries

• Trekking pole

• lightweight stove and fuel

• Rope (Beal Gulley 30m)

• Harness / Helmet / Crampons

• 6 carabiners (2 locking & 2 non-locking)

• 2 full-full length slings

• Mountaineering tool

• Two pickets

• First aid kit / emergency bivy / knife

Hiking from Paradise (5,420 ft), we left the car at 8:00pm, taking the Skyline Trail to Panorama Point (6,800 ft) and over Pebble Creek (7,200 ft), all the way enjoying the magnificent sunset as  the last light of the day illuminated the summit cap and a sea of low clouds poured in around us. We slogged up the Muir Snowfield bootpack, reaching Camp Muir (10,080 ft) around 11:15pm. 

After about an hour break to hydrate, rope-up, and put on crampons, we left Camp Muir at 12:30am, traversing the upper Cowlitz glacier and scrambling up the Cathedral Rocks to reach the Ingraham Glacier (10,500 ft). 

By this time, the route was lined with rope teams from other private parties and guided groups. We hoped to be in front of most of the groups so as to not be slowed down too much; however, being a weekend — that was mostly wishful thinking. We anticipated the route bottlenecks and planned our rest breaks accordingly, weaving our way past the large guides parties. 

Passing Ingraham Flats (11,100 ft) around 1:45am, we traversed quickly across the Ingraham Glacier crossing multiple crevasses (with ladders) and underneath several impressively large overhanging seracs. Before reaching the base of Disappointment Cleaver, we passed quickly through the “icebox” and the “bowling alley” — a high consequence area with potential icefall and rockfall.

We reached the base of the cleaver at 2:30am, climbing the slow and tedious 1200 feet through the rocky maze to the top (about 12,500 ft) at 3:30am. The cleaver had heavy traffic and was bottlenecked in multiple spots.

Despite the crowds our attitudes were immediately lifted when a friendly climber offered us a handful of sour gummy bears as we passed. We considered this our breakfast for the day.

From the top of the cleaver the route is steep, albeit completely glaciated, making for quick progress to the Crater Rim. I was aware of the expected “tricky” sections on the route having done the descent a few weeks prior. We crossed several large crevasses along the way. 

We battled through gusty winds and below-freezing temps reaching the southernmost point of the crater rim at 5:45am (14,200 ft). A short unroped walk across the sun-cupped crater and we were standing on the Columbia Crest (14,411 ft)!

After about 2 hours of hunkering down in the summit crater to shelter from the strong winds (and to keep distance from the guided groups) we started our descent back down the mountain. 

Downclimbing the cleaver always feels objectively harder (and scarier) than the way up and this was definitely the case for us. Near the bottom of the cleaver a party above us dislodged several larger rocks that were sent hurling down in our direction while downclimbing a steep constriction in the rocks. Distracted while avoiding the rockfall, Patrick lost his footing and began tumbling backwards, head-over-heels, down the cleaver. Thankfully his fall was halted by a small bench in the rocks and his backpack took the brunt of the impact. After a quick moment to catch his breath (and contemplate his very close call) we were back in motion

We stopped for a quick break to filter water above the Cathedral Rocks before reaching Camp Muir around 11:00am. Here we took a long break to nap in the sun, repack gear, and chat with other climbers. 

After the long walk down the Muir Snowfield we made it back to Paradise parking lot by 2:00pm where we headed straight for the Paradise lodge for a beer to celebrate a successful climb, and Patrick’s first summit!

Trip Notes:

• Our single-day push took around 18 hours. We felt this pace was comfortable to maintain while still taking decent rest breaks. 

• We carried waterproof trail runners for the Skyline Trail and changed into mountaineering boots once on the Muir Snowfield.