May 1, 2014
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- En route to C1 near Panorama Point. (Photo by Peter Adams)
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- Camp Muir. April 30. (Photo by Peter Adams)
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- Erica Engle and Dallas Glass crossing the Cowlitz Glacier. (Photo by Peter Adams)
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- Closing in on The Flats. (Photo by Dallas Glass)
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- A slide on the Ingraham Glacier. (Photo by Dallas Glass)
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- The team leaving Camp Muir. (Photo by Dallas Glass)
Given the good forecast, our final Denali Prep course of the year started out with reasonable hopes of climbing Mt. Rainier this week, but even with a good forecast things are never a given in the mountains. They spent two days down low on the mountain but popped up to Camp Muir on Tuesday and have been enjoying this high pressure ever since.
Yesterday, IMG Guides Erica Engle and Dallas Glass went up to the Ingraham Flats to have a look at the conditions on the upper mountain. Given the recent warm-up and high freezing levels the obvious signs of a ‘spring shed cycle’ were apparent, which is a nice way of saying there had been a recent avalanche on the Ingraham Glacier.
Today, the guides took the team up to the same area to show them why they won’t be climbing Mt. Rainier this week. It’s hard not to climb when the weather cooperates, but given the snow conditions, the team is happy to let Mt. Rainier do its thing.
The team is safely back at Camp Muir. They’ll finish the day with some training and make their way downhill tomorrow.
Tye Chapman