10,000 Box Jumps

Warm weather or heavy snowfall has continually shut down my alpine dreams this Spring. At last, I needed to break free from local cragging and put some elevation behind me. The freezing levels were high, so we needed to climb higher.



Marcus escaping the sun with the Nisqually Icefall behind. I'm not sure I could have picked a more obscure route for my first trip up Rainier.



The icefall is not without hazards, especially with the sun beating down. We chose to climb fast, and at night. Marcus cruising neve somewhere on the lower icefall. We encountered three ice steps, one rather difficult, but all short or easy enough to merit grade III.



Because the route had only three short ice steps it means, unfortunately, that there is a whole lot of slogging. At least the views were nice.