Taking a Break from the Snow, IMG heads to Smith Rocks

June 11, 2018

: Movement skills 101 (Jonathan Schrock)

: Pull Hard! (Jonathan Schrock)

: Catching some sun at the belay (Jonathan Schrock)

Senior guide Jonathan Schrock made the drive south to Smith Rocks this weekend for 3 days of sunny rock climbing. In preparation for the Matterhorn Jonathan and climber Jerry R. visited one of the PNW’s premier rock climbing venues. Jonathan reports, â€œgood weather and lots of weekend crowds. Working on movement skills, multi-pitch, short roping technical terrain and rappelling.â€ Sounds like a busy three days!

George Dunn

Mt. Baker in the Sun

June 8, 2018

: Clean folks before they hit the Trail (Robert Jantzen)

: High on the Easton Glacier (Robert Jantzen)

: Celebrating on the Summit (Darren Falter)

Sometimes climbs just click, the team is excited, the weather is perfect and the route is IN. I had the chance to get back up to one of my favorite climbs this week, Mt. Baker’s Easton Glacier, for just that type of climb. Nestled in the North Cascades the Easton Glacier route on Baker provides great climbing, a manageable approach, and fantastic views. When you’re lucky enough to get a few days of perfect weather there is no better place to be. A huge congratulations to the team!

Robert Jantzen

Tough Decisions & The Big Picture

June 6, 2018

: The Emmons team before a cloud cap descending on them.(Dallas Glass)

: Route finding on the lower Winthrop Glacier (Austin Shannon)

The hardest decisions are often ones that don’t give you definitive closure. Frustrating to say the least. Mountain guides are forced into this decision more often than most, and certainly with more on the line than most. We saw that yesterday on the Emmons route with Dallas and his team when they turned around just short of the summit. Nobody knows exactly what would have happened had they continued, and nobody ever will. Dallas and his fellow guides used their years of experience to make a decision with the information they had in that moment. That’s what they’re paid to do, and they’re pretty darn good at it.

Similarly, Austin Shannon and Jonathan Schrock were put in a spot to make a decision on their current Liberty Ridge climb. From their camp they were seeing some avalanche & rock fall activity on/near the route. With that information, the two senior guides put their heads together and formed Plan B, climbing the Emmons Route.Â It’s certainly not the objective they planned to climb, but instead of just packing up and heading back to the trailhead, or robotically pushing up the route, they opted to make some lemonade out of the lemons they were given. After navigating the lower Winthrop Glacier onto the Winthrop proper, they pushed on up to Camp Schurman, and are in position to take what Mt. Rainier gives them over the next couple days.

I suppose there are several lessons here, a few being: think objectively, be flexible, look at the biggest of pictures, live to fight another day and stopping short/turning around can be a win. So, the next time you’re put in a position to make a decision that won’t necessarily have the benefit of hindsight, do your best with what resources/information you have, make a decision and own it… And remember, if you’re in the mountains, being on the conservative side of things isn’t a bad thing!

Tye Chapman

Teams On The Move On Mt. Rainier

June 5, 2018

: The Emmons team making their way up this morning (4:30am). (Dallas Glass)

: The Emmons team before a cloud cap descending on them.(Dallas Glass)

The Kautz Team, led by Mike Haft, are tucked in comfortably at their first camp. They’ll move up to about 10,000ft near Camp Hazard tomorrow. They’ve got their eyes set on Thursday as their summit day.

The Emmons Team, led by Dallas Glass, unfortunately had their summit window close on them this morning. The team did well, but a cloud cap descended on them just short of the summit,Â severely limiting their visibility, forcing them to turn around. They’re all back at Camp Schurman (9500ft.) now looking forward to their next climb!

On Liberty Ridge are IMG Guides Austin Shannon and Jonathan Schrock. They checked in this afternoon from St. Elmo’s Pass en route to the their camp on Lower Curtis Ridge (7000ft). Tomorrow they’ll move up to Thumb Rock (10,800ft.)

On the DC, Max Lurie and his team are at the Ingraham Flats (11,000ft) ready to take advantage of what Mt. Rainier gives them tomorrow morning.

A lot of chatter on the radio today, but that’s normal for this time of year!

Tye Chapman

All Systems Go Here In The Pacific Northwest

June 4, 2018

Camp on the Inter Glacier on Mt. Rainier (Dallas Glass)

It’s amazing that it’s already June 4th! The climbing season here in the Pacific Northwest is flying by. The climbs are coming and going almost daily now on Mt. Rainier.Â Programs on Mt. Baker are ramping up as are climbs on Mt. Shuksan and the rest of the North Cascades.

Currently, our team on the DC Route on Mt. Rainier, led by IMG Guide Jonathan Schrock, summited this morning. Not too far away (as the crow flies anyways) is Dallas Glass andÂ his Emmons team. They were happy to wake up above the clouds at their camp on the Inter Glacier. They’ll do some training this morning before heading up to Camp Schurman. On the south side of the mountain is Mike Haft and his Kautz Crew. They’re doing some technical training today in advance of the start of their climb tomorrow.Â Also starting a climb tomorrow is our second Liberty Ridge team, IMG Guides Austin Shannon and Jonathan Schrock are slated to lead this classic route.

Later this week we’ll have some heavy traffic on Mt. Baker with 3 private programs. Mix in a joint National Park Service & Mountaineering Guide Service BBQ at IMG and you’ve got yourself another busy week.

Tye Chapman

Kautz, DC & Liberty Ridge Summits

May 31, 2018

: Kautz Summit Day (Jonathan Schrock)

: The Emmons team at the trailhead before the climb (Eric Simonson)

: The view from Camp Schurman yesterday afternoon (Eric Remza)

The busy weeks continues on Mt. Rainier!

Our Kautz team summited on Tuesday and made their way down to the trailhead yesterday. Our next Kautz team meets this Sunday and will be on the route early next week.

The Liberty Ridge team topped out yesterday and made their way down to Camp Muir for the night. They slept in a bit this morning before making their way down the Muir Snowfield and onto Ashford to celebrate.

Luke Reilly and his DC team summited this morning and will be a few hours behind the Lib Ridge team on the snowfield. Mike Haft and his team are en route to Camp Muir now hoping to summit on Saturday.

And over on the Emmons, the team gave it a good go but ended up turning around at 12,700ft. The Emmons route doesn’t see the boot traffic that the DC route does so the team likely ran into some deep snow coupled with low visibility, or a myriad of other possibilities. We’ll get a full report from Anna Hicks tomorrow when the team gets back to Ashford. One thing is for sure, they gave it all they had, but it just wasn’t to be. Not this time anyways.

Tye Chapman

Another Busy Week On Mt. Rainier!

May 29, 2018

: The views from up hight never get old. (Dallas Glass)

: Hard work during the early morning hours. (Dallas Glass)

: Thumb Rock (Max Lurie)

Take a deep breath here we go…

On the DC Route (currently the Ingraham Direct), Dallas Glass and his team summited this morning and are now back down in Ashford. Taking their place on the mountain is Luke Reilly and his team. They’re up at Camp Muir doing well with a plan of moving to the Ingraham Flats tomorrow.

On the Kautz, Jonathan Schrock and Co. summited a little while after Dallas. After the earned handshakes & photos on the summit, they descended back down to their high camp near Camp Hazard (10,000ft), where they’ll have dinner and hit the sack pretty early. A few hours downhill to the van tomorrow is their next objective.

On Liberty Ridge, Peter Dale and Max Lurie are on day two of the climb and at are tucked in at Thumb Rock. If conditions are right tomorrow morning they’ll ascend Liberty Ridge to Liberty Cap and then on up to the summit, Columbia Crest. From the summit they’ll descend to either Camp Muir or Camp Schurman.

And on the Emmons Route, is Anna Hicks and her team. They’re safely at their first camp on the Inter Glacier. Tomorrow they’ll move up to Camp Schurman and rest up for their summit day (Thursday). Along for the climb is IMG Partner Eric Simonson and his daughter Audrey.

And as an added bonus this week we have some guides going up onto the Disappointment Cleaver to do some prep work for the eventual transition off of the Ingraham Direct onto the cleaver. Mix in some helicopter resupply flights and that’s enough for this week!

Tye Chapman

Fuhrer Finger & DC Rainier Teams Summit

May 25, 2018

: The Fuhrer Finger team taking a break on the Nisqually Glacier (Eric Remza)

: Summit lenticular clouds (Luke Reilly)

The good weather continues here in the PNW allowing our Rainier climbers to enjoy some great climbing!

Andy Polloczek and his Fuhrer Finger climb had a great summit day yesterday. With an extra day built into this program they opted to take advantage of the good weather and camp on the summit! They descended the Disappointment Cleaver (DC) route today.

Joining Andy’s team on the summit today was Luke Reilly and his DC team. They climbed from The Flats this morning and summited in good form. If I was a betting man I’d bet that Luke made sure to give Andy’s tent a good shake to wake him up.

All is well on Mt. Rainier!

Tye Chapman

Another Great Day On Top Of Mt. Rainier

May 23, 2018

: High Break. (Betsy Dain-Owens)

: Sunrise makes everything better! (Betsy Dain-Owens)

: The summit crater. (Betsy Dain-Owens)

The climbing season is steadily ramping up here in the Pacific Northwest. On Mt. Rainier’s Disappointment Cleaver Route (currently the Ingraham Direct) IMG Lead Guide Betsy Dain-Owens and her team stood on top, on another absolutely perfect morning. Hot on their trails will be Luke Reilly and his team who left the Paradise Parking lot early this morning en route to Camp Muir. The met Betsy & her team on the snowfield for some handshakes, hugs and the guide info download.

On the south side of Mt. Rainier is Andy Polloczek and his Fuhrer Finger Team. They’re on day two of the climb and have established their second camp at the top of the Finger. With some thunderstorms in the forecast (and a feel in the air) they opted to dig in vs. climbing any higher today. They’ll see what develops then plan accordingly. They’ve got a few days to play with.

Meanwhile, things continue to ramp up later this week/weekend with our first Kautz, Emmons and Liberty Ridge climbs heading into the field. Looking ahead, next Tuesday stretches the bandwidth a bit when we have five teams on Mt. Rainier on four different routes!Â Soon after, the North Cascades & Baker seasons jump off. It’s going to be another busy summer!

Tye Chapman

She Said Yes!

May 21, 2018

: Andrew and Sarah before the climb (Andrew Kenton)

: Andew and Sarah at The Flats (Anna Hicks)

: Andrew on one knee (Anna Hicks)

: She said yes! (anna hicks)

Last week was a busy week on Mt. Rainier, but not so busy we all couldn’t stop and appreciate the tremendous moment Andrew and Sarah shared on the summit. As you’ve already deducted from the headline, Andrew proposed and Sarah said yes!

A little background, the couple met seven years ago while working at an equine summer camp in Kentucky. It was there they bonded over the love of nature and all things outdoors. Since then, they’ve spent much of their time together horseback riding and backpacking in Red River Gorge.

A recent move to Utah for Sarah to attend veterinary school opened a lot of opportunities for some bigger adventures into the mountains of the Western US. With their new love of the mountains, along with a recommendation from Sarah’s father, they arrived at IMG to climb Mt. Rainier.

Sarah will be the first to tell you that they had zero mountaineering experience before arriving in Ashford and that the climb was a little more challenging that her father let on, but they toughed it out made it to the top, where Andrew dropped to one knee and proposed! They’ve been above the clouds ever since.

Sarah made sure to tell me that she and Andrew are sincerely grateful for the support of IMG Guides Andy Polloczek, Anna Hicks, Jay Lyons and Grant Henarie. She also wanted me to let them know that if they’re able to find the time to get to Kentucky for the wedding, there will be four seats with their names on them.

Congratulations Sarah & Andrew!

Tye Chapman