Things to Consider before Climbing Mt. Rainier

Couple climbing and hiking a mountain
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Directing communications initiatives within the United States Senate for six years, Reid Walker has worked for Senator Maria Cantwell since 2015. Outside of his professional responsibilities in Washington, D.C., Reid Walker has traveled domestically and abroad to climb challenging mountain peaks.

One of the mountains that he has scaled, Mt. Rainier, presents a hazardous climb to the highest point in the state of Washington. Mt. Rainier differs from many other heavily-trafficked state mountains, such as Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, in that it requires climbers to carry and use mountaineering gear, such as pick axes and crampons. 

Because the peaks of Mt. Rainier are the most heavily glaciated in the conterminous United States, climbers should also acquire solid glacier-travel and snow/ice climbing skills such as crevasse rescue (which involves retrieving a climber who has fallen into a glacial crack) and self-arrest (a method where a climber stops sliding down a slick incline without using a rope or belay system). In addition to Mt. Rainier’s dangerous terrain and difficult weather conditions, climbers must face a vertical elevation gain of more than 9,000 feet over a distance of eight miles in order to reach the summit. This means that climbers should ensure that they are in excellent physical condition before attempting to reach Mt. Rainier's peak.