PRINT: Climb Ingraham Glacier-Disappointment Cleaver Route, South-West & Tacoma

Ingraham Glacier-Disappointment Cleaver Route

Mod. Snow, Trad, Snow, Alpine,

Avg: 3.1 from 369 votes
FA: unknown
Washington > South-W & Tacoma > Southwest Cascades > Mt Rainier NP > Mt Rainier

Description

From Paradise, take Skyline Trail and Snowfield Route to Camp Muir. All climbing above this point requires a permit.
From Camp Muir, head across the Cowlitz Glacier to Cathedral Ridge. Pass through one of the three notches on the ridge. Usually the center notch.
Climb scree to the ridgecrest and on to the Ingraham Glacier.
Cross the Ingraham Glacier to Disappointment Cleaver. Follow this to a snowfield and wander to the top.

This is the most popular route on the mountain and the normal route of the guide service. It is usually a well worn trail to the summit.

Descend by same route.

All climbers must register at the Ranger Station.

Location

From Paradise (5557'), take the Skyline trail and Snowfield route to Camp Muir.

Protection

Warm and foul weather clothing, headlamp, ice axe, rope, crampons and whatever other safety gear that you desire.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Mt Rainier at sunrise

A spectacular sunrise

Ingraham Glacier from DC Route

Dylan Ring overlooking Little Tahoma with the sun coming up. (03/2015)

Crossing the Ingraham Glacier in late season

Camp Muir

View of the Emmons and Little Tahoma from atop Disappointment Cleaver

Sunrise on Mt Rainier

Looking up at Camp Muir, February

Waiting to descend amidst creamy glaciers

only 9k of descending to go

Ascent of Rainier

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Blitzo

Mod. Snow

Basically a trail to the top. Aug 25, 2010

Gill
minden, nevada

Is the Ingraham direct or the disappointment cleaver climbed in late April at all?

Has anyone done it then?

Any advice on the subject would be helpful.

I can't climb it in the summer because of work. Sep 5, 2011

Dan Spirgen
orem, ut

This is the route that most people take on guided trips. Easiest way up. Amazing view. Not really technical other than the risk of falling in to a crevasse. Jun 25, 2013

RustyLane
Minneapolis

Not always about how technical or hard, its about the journey. Jan 5, 2014

Crag Turkey
Liberty Wells, UT

Bring skis to camp Muir if you want to take the easy way down. Skiing is way better than boot packing down. For us it was a 49 minute descent of mostly corn skiing. Highly recommended. Jun 1, 2016

Lou Hibbard
Eagan, MN

Ease of doing this route highly dependent on route conditions. People have died trying it in bad (icy) conditions. A web site exists every year that reports conditions. Can ask the rangers or RMI for best time of year to summit.
My guess is typically July has the best all around conditions but that may be outdated. Jan 1, 2018

Nick Baker
Salt Lake City, UT

Mod. Snow PG13

Strongly suggest avoiding on busy weekends and late season. Too much objective (lots of rockfall/icefall) and human hazard for the quality of the route. Some of the guides causing unsafe conditions with their impatience at (safe) chokepoints and just lots of traffic causing slowdowns under hazards. Its the easiest route from a technical perspective but not the safest from a hazard perspective. Go early season and do Ingraham direct or get your (easy) alpine ice on and do the kautz later season. I have not done the emmons, but suspect it would be a lot more pleasant for a walk up route. Sep 6, 2019