I “hiked” Camp Muir as part of an attempted climb up Mount Rainier.

My friend Jason and I had booked a guided climb through International Mountain Guides (IMG) that was originally scheduled for May 5-8, 2020, but that trip was cancelled due to COVID-19. We rolled it over to the same dates in 2021. Early May is an unpredictable time of year to climb Mount Rainier, but we decided to give it a shot.

The guides at IMG were awesome (Willie, Kim, Kim-bo and Keith). Very patient, knowledgeable, helpful and a pleasure to climb with. We did a half-day gear check on Wednesday. On Thursday, we climbed from Paradise to Camp Muir. IMG has a camp established there with tents and propane for heating water, so we “only” needed to carry food, sleeping bag, climbing gear and many, many layers of clothing. The climb was done in double-layer mountaineering boots, which are heavy and stiff, but would be necessary on subsequent days. No crampons were required.

Thursday night the weather station at Camp Muir measuring sustained winds of 50 MPH with gusts up to 95 MPH. It was snowing, windy, and very cold, but Friday morning we went through training on crampon fitting and travel, self-arrest with an ice axe, and travel while roped up. Then we made a 1,100 foot climb to the Ingraham Glacier, where IMG has a second, “high” camp.

Once again, the wind and snow sent us early to our tents, and the weather didn't look promising for a summit on Saturday. Sure enough, the wind, snow and cold made the risks too great, so Ingraham Flats would be our high point on this attempt (~11,400 feet).

We headed back down to Camp Muir, took a break for second breakfast, then made good time back to Paradise.

A few notes about the route from Paradise to Camp Muir:

If the weather is bad, that means poor visibility, which can make navigation dangerous. Best to wait until the weather is cooperative.
There is a bathroom at Camp Muir, but you'll need to bring your own toilet paper.
The lodge was not open yet, but the restaurant in Longmire was.
Roads were ice and snow free to Paradise.
Weekends are busy. We saw almost no one on the way up on Thursday, but as we came back to Paradise on Saturday, there were MANY people on the mountain.