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

We followed the ever-steepening upper bowl to about 13400 feet, and the climbing remained easy on the softening snow. The upper portion of the bowl is now somewhat over 35 degrees in slope, a bit steeper than the 25-30 degrees claimed by some guidebooks, but an even better pitch for skiing. From this point near 13000 feet, the rocky toe of the Emmons Glacier is visible over 8000 vertical feet below me, with Goat Island Mountain just beyond. Near this location at 11 AM, we met the first groups of climbers descending from the summit, having begun the climb many hours before us.
(Photo by Tom Demshki.)