See out with Katie Bono’s time in mind and confirmed that it is indeed so stout. I’m logging this as an unsupported effort given that Katie received gear at Muir. Realistically though, the support she received was so minimal and likely shaved just a few minutes off her time, if any at all. Stating it for the record: Katie Bono’s time is still very much the time to beat.
report:
I pushed conservatively to Muir and felt so good, but started to fall apart around the Clever. Dizzy, hunched over poles, sitting on the side of the bootpack- it wasn’t pretty. Almost turned around a dozen times but in the end wanted to set a benchmark for myself to maybe try and best one day. I’ll only go back after some concerted acclimatization!
conditions:
Conditions were pretty perfect minus a really cold wind and low vis. Bootpack was great the whole way, nice firm but sticky snow on the upper mountain. Kind of wished it was softer below Muir on the descent. No ladders and just a few reroutes due to cracks. I still don’t know which Rainier’s true summit is so I just did a little circumnav at the top to hit them all.
gear:
10L running vest, 4 soft flasks, lots of gels. I brought microspikes (put them on above the clever), a 20-gram synthetic, light gloves, and no axe, and was willing to turn around if my gear became insufficient. I definitely could have used an extra layer and warmer gloves, never felt the need for more traction or an axe. Other items included: inReach, sunglasses, sunscreen stick (didn’t use, ooops), chapstick, ibuprofen, phone, headphones.
splits:
Paradise to Muir: 1:39
Muir to summit: ~2:20
summit to Muir: 1:00
Muir to Paradise: 0:27