I'm interested in mountaineering. I'm way down south at sea level, so all I've been able to do so far is some gym climbing. I was thinking about doing a 4 day summit climb of Rainier with RMI. The first two days is training. Would that be the best way to go? Thanks!

Gym training is awesome. Freedom of the Hills, if you haven't already memorized it. Mark Twight recommended framing houses. Build some multidirectional anchors. Do a hanging belay at the gym. Breathing and balance work. It is possible to use crampons and axes on trees, if you have a beater tree that will not cause problems to hack up. You could practice self-rescue, using your prussiks, pulleys and hauling. Setting up your bivy blindfolded. Basic meteorology. Basic avalanche avoidance. River crossings. Medical stuff. Cooking tricks. Climbing in boots, chalkless, gloved even. Navigation and routefinding in inclement weather. Figure out what bars you can tolerate.


Guides can help you gain skills very quickly. As long as the other clients are not a drag.

Often you hear people go from Shasta to Rainier to Denali.

The Eastern Sierra is a great place because Highway 395 makes it so accessible. Awesome granite, very small glaciers, plenty of lakes and great weather, generally.
You could start there and go north.

There are clubs and groups too. Mazamas.org is out of Portland. Traditional Mountaineering web site has some nuggets, and are based in the NW. Summitpost, telemarktips, etc are message boards you can hook up with people. There's a few more too.

Think if you will need new boots and break them in by what date. Consider aftermarket liners for double boots. A tune-up of laces and footbeds and socks. Retreat with non-petroleum waterproofing. I have heard of people being contented in leather boots on Rainier. Possibly 2 pair socks or overboots? Laminate a piece of foil under your footbeds for cold conditions? Carry a spare bottle cap for your platy for when your hose freezes. Not sure what season you are going. Helmet? Goggles? Favorite chemical water treatment? Happy with your headlamp?
Link to Twight Book

Edited by Paul_Tree on 10/22/2008 01:48:22 MDT.

I'm reading a couple of books by the Mountaineers right now. (Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills and Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills). Other than that, I'm just gym climbing and trying to get in as good as shape as possible. I'm going to rope rescue school for work next month, so hopefully I'll get some good practical skills out of that too. Anyway, I've been careful to buy solid backpacking gear that will work for mountaineering too. I will probably rent some of the more mountaineering specific stuff, like the avalanche transceiver. Thanks for all of the cool ideas to train down here!

Edited by RomanLA on 10/28/2008 12:05:18 MDT.

Just looking at some cool videos on youtube, search term is "Climbing Tools"

This thread is a year old, disregard.

Edited by debiant on 07/12/2009 20:11:58 MDT.