Rainier Prep Course

The day starts with an equip­ment ori­en­ta­tion at a pre-agreed location. Then the group will head to one of the Mount Bak­er trail­heads, Schreiber Mead­ows for the Eas­t­on glac­i­er or Heliotrope for the Cole­man Dem­ing glac­i­ers.

This hike is very stren­u­ous and can takes from 4 to 6 hours to your base camp.

After estab­lish­ing the camp, the remain­der of the day will focus on the skills nec­es­sary for the prop­er use of an ice axe, trav­el­ing in bal­ance, self-belay, and self-arrest.

You will then focus on the skills required for safe and effi­cient glac­i­er trav­el includ­ing roped trav­el and self-res­cue (prusiking) tech­niques followed by a short glacier​ “tour,” enabling you to prac­tice and com­pre­hend the day’s lessons.

Dis­cus­sions late in the day will focus on nav­i­ga­tion with the use of GPS devices, phone nav­i­ga­tion appli­ca­tions and map and compass.