View of Rainier from the Trail Map of Emmons Glacier Ski Route Skiing Up the River Valley Inter Glacier and the Summit Inter Glacier and White River Valley View across the Inter Glacier Emmons Glacier Panorama Traverse down to Emmons Glacier Camp Schurman Hustle and Bustle Last Rays on the Summit A Fox Invades the Camp Dawn and Crescent Moon Climbing the Emmons Corridor A Serac Ready to Fall... Climbing the Upper Emmons Glacier Seracs at the Bergschrund Traverse Below the Bergschrund Bergschrund Crossing Panorama Final Steps to the Crater Rim Rainier Summit Photo Panoramic View South from Summit Panorama of the Main Crater Skiing Down the Upper Winthrop Glacier Skiing Below Seracs on the Emmons Last Light on the Seracs Skiing Past Little Tahoma Descent of the Emmons Corridor Camp Schurman in the Morning Skiing the Lower Emmons Glacier Traverse Back to the Inter Glacier A Fine View from the Inter Glacier Skiing Down the Inter Glacier Skiing Down the Inter Glacier 2 Skiing Through Glacier Basin The Summit and the White River View of Rainier from Sunrise Zoomed View of the Climbing Route Zoomed View of Rainier from Sunrise

Looking east from the same point as the previous photo, we see the broad snow-filled basin of the main crater a couple of hundred feet below us. This year, the highest point on Mount Rainier (where I am standing to take this photo) was a large mound of snow, piled 10-20 feet higher than the nearest exposed soil of the crater rim just out of the photo to the left. The brisk wind convinced us not to linger on the summit, so we quickly readied our skis and packs for the descent.

(Panorama with 70-degree field of view, digitally composited from two photographs.)