View of Mt Rainier from Paradise A Sea of Clouds below Camp Muir Camp Muir Pinnacle Looking Up at Gibraltar Rock The Climbing Route to Cathedral Gap Dawn in the Summit Crater View Across the Summit Crater Liberty Cap from the Crater Rim Looking Down on Grand Park The Final Steps to the Summit Self-Portrait on the Summit View of St Helens from the Summit View of the Crater from the Summit Descending the Upper Ingraham Glacier Overhanging Serac Panorama of the Ingraham Glacier Traversing Below the Cleaver Crevasse on the Ingraham Glacier Camp Muir from Cathedral Gap The Three Summits of Mt Rainier

Looking up and northwest from our tents, Gibraltar Rock (12660 ft) looms overhead, with the summit dome just visible to its left. Saturday was a rest day for us, so we spent the day relaxing and staying well-fed and hydrated. We planned to leave for the summit at 10 PM, which would give us 20 hours of acclimatization since arriving at 10000 ft. This is a much better plan than the standard 2-day climb schedule of hiking up to Muir during the first day, sleeping during the evening, and leaving for the summit the same day at midnight. Our schedule allowed for nearly three times as much acclimatization time at high-altitude, with the added benefit of allowing us to easily get an earlier start than other parties. I highly recommend following this schedule (starting Friday evening instead of Saturday morning) for those planning weekend climbs on Rainier.