Mt. Rainier Ingraham Direct | Backcountry Ski Climb & Descent (April 4–5, 2025)

Backcountry skiing attempt up Mt. Rainier via the Ingraham Direct route with Joe and Eric. After a perfect weather window suddenly shifted and a storm rolled in earlier than forecasted, we made a last-minute call to go for it on Friday morning. Packed frantically and hit the trail at 3:30pm.

"Camped" at the Muir shelter with about 6 hours of sleep (kind of), and started the summit push at 5:45am—we were too naive! No bootpack or skintrack to follow, so routefinding made for a slow, tough climb. We turned around with just 400ft left to the crater, and about 800ft from the summit.

The ski from the turnaround down to Muir was surprisingly nice—good snow, but we took it slow since we were onsighting the crevasse zone. From Muir to Paradise… oof. Breakable crust turned lots of skiers into Jerries real quick.

Not bad for a couch-to-summit attempt—but still a little bummed we didn’t top out. Hoping to be back soon for a full summit and ski descent!

🎿 Route: Ingraham Direct
📅 Dates: April 4–5, 2025
👥 Team: Joe, Eric, and me
🌤️ Conditions: Bluebird window, early storm arrival
📍 Turnaround Point: ~13,600 ft

#backcountryskiing #volcano #mtrainier