New Speed Record on Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainer is a 14,411 ft volcano on the coast of Washington state that is the most glaciated mountain in the lower 48 states. It's an training peak for those wishing to attempt Mt. McKinley or even Mt. Everest and has been the target of speed ascents for some time now. The old record stood for five years but was just broken on May 20th by Skimo racers Nick Elson and Eric Carter. Our friend Stano Faban runs Skintrack.com and was also on the trip but was unable to completed the attempt this time around. The new car-to-car record is 4:19:12 besting the old record by more than 20 minutes. The trip includes almost 9,000 ft of elevation gain over 14.32 miles. You can check out the details on their Gamin Connect Site here.
Here's the trip report from Stano's perspective:
The forecast was calling for a sunny day with no winds, and that’s exactly what we got.
We started at 6am from the Jackson Visitor Center at Paradise parking lot (5400 ft = 1646 m). Very firm snow and fields of frozen boot tracks made for slippery skinning.
Right from the beginning Eric set a fast pace with Nick and I trailing behind. Once out of the trees and above the rolls the travelling became easier as we were able to find patches of untracked snow.
Traversy terrain features and the very firm conditions were proving a bit challenging as my binding’s toe piece released couple of times on me. With each time becoming more difficult to close the gap on the boys.
We were making good time up the Muir Snowfield and towards the Camp Muir. Over an hour has now passed and I could feel that the releasing toe piece was not the main reason I wasn’t going very well. I just wasn’t feeling super hot since the start but I usually come around after 45min or so, then hammer from there on.
Not knowing how Eric and Nick were feeling but seeing them having about 3min on me by Camp Muir (10188 ft = 3105 m), we reached it in about 1h 35min, I had to honestly decide what was best for us. Feeling weird overall, I yelled behind them that they should continue without me. They shouted back that I should go on as they knew I usually come around.
Since a long traverse followed I thought I might recover but by Ingraham Flat (around 11000 ft = 3350 m) my engine light definitely came on. Altitude played some role too and once more I waved at the boys to go for it without me. Nick had the rope, so they didn’t really need me.
Here is how Nick and Eric were dealing with the altitude,...
Read the full trip report over here.