Trip Report
Mount Rainier/Fuhrer Finger
Excellent conditions on a less-popular route.
Stephen Sugiyama
- Sat, May 4, 2019 — Sun, May 5, 2019
- Mount Rainier/Fuhrer Finger
- Climbing
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The route was in excellent shape, perhaps as good as it gets. The Fuhrer Finger has a short climbing season but if the weather cooperates the route should stay good for a while.
This wasn't an official Mountaineers climb but it seemed worth a short report.
The Paradise CIC has reopened for the season. After picking up our permits our party of six set out around 9:30 a.m. We hiked up to Glacier Vista and traversed around to the Wilson glacier. Along the way we spoke briefly with a party of four friendly Mountaineers climbing the same route. Around 4:00 p.m. we made camp among some rocks near 9400 ft.
We woke up to a starry, moonless night. After packing up camp we started out at 3:15 a.m. The snow conditions were great. The crevasses we encountered had reasonable snow bridges. Other than a stretch of maybe 50 meters where the lead climber kicked in toe-deep steps, the climbing was straightforward. We arrived at the summit around 11:00 a.m.
We carried over and descended the Ingraham Direct route. Happily, the guide services had put in the route over the past week so we found ample wands and a few crevasse ladders which made our way down easy.
Gear: We used two 30 m glacier ropes with three climbers per rope. We carried avy gear with two shovels and two pickets per rope. Everyone used a standard mountaineering ice axe and crampons (two climbers went with aluminum crampons, which worked fine).