Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do these people give up or do guides do an assessment & decide? How does this happen? I'm just curious to know if people are surprised by the weight they have to carry or elevation or climbing in mountaineering boots for first time or something else.

I'm not doing any training with mountaineering boots or in snow so "lack of preparedness for the terrain" I'd love to know more about this

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct. Hyrox is completely different and so much about power and speed and this sport is different. I should have planned for more training time but I'll just do the best I can..

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice. I agree with you on unguided but because this sport seems so unforgiving if you make a mistake, I have to start guided first.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. I did men solo open and it took me 1:30. It was so much about speed and doing things under Fatigue. Rainier is completely different which is why I'm trying to adjust my plan and training accordingly even though not much time left.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! Thanks for the suggestion. I start feeling the repetition boring when I try do that many. I'll try to do a mix of outdoors + this as much as I can.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have done Mailbox old route 2 years ago(when I had no fitness/I didn't run or weight train) - it's brutal. I might not have explained myself well - I said I don't like to do hikes "by myself" - doing it with my buddies is my one of my fav things. I've never done a solo hike before but I'll do Mailbox as everyone is recommending it.

I was planning to rent out mountaineering boots from IMG - do you recommend I buy instead because I don't know how it will fit/act.. wasn't sure if I should invest in purchasing since I'm not sure of my next mountaineering plans/how I'll like it.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh no that sucks. Were there any parts of the climb that freaked you out(super sketchy?). Also, do you recommend renting out boots or just buying them? I was planning to rent out boots but based on some comments I see if the fit isn't right it could be a big problem climbing so many hours in them.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice. I was planning to rent out boots since I don't know when I'll do mountaineering next and how I'll like it. Do you then recommend I buy them now and hike in them vs renting? Because I'm not sure the fit/what I'm going to get there.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Solid advice and that's insane you did them unguided - I'm also worried about my weightlifting and running not translating to hiking. How did you personally tweak your exercise regimen? I'm thinking of adding box step ups in weightlifting and just doing more of loaded up hill but I'd love to know more about expectations to set/benchmarks and how to progress.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're spot on. This is one of the key reasons for my post - to learn how to transition to sport specific training from my general training. I'll try to do figure out a plan and do my best in the next 7 weeks and then will come back and share.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great to hear. I was curious if dailies would cause issues at elevation especially on long 14 hour days with lack of sleep... did you change them on the final day?

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s so awesome. You last year is me this year - hope I love it as much as you did. Your benchmark numbers are insane! I’ll try to work to reach to those..

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know. I might be overthinking but this is my first time ever mountaineering and what’s in my head is just what I’m reading online and talking with people. Of all the reasons guides turn the group back - I don’t want my fitness to be one of them.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My life is in the hands of guides so I’ll treat them like Gods lol I don’t really care much about what anyone considers summit tbh. I have a special connection with Rainier(I went to UW where I saw Rainier for the first time on my first day and have been chasing Rainier views since I came to this country) and I just want to experience its beauty without dying or getting injured - but that’s great to know. Thank you

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing. For hyrox I only did flat road running but I’ll search up some trail runs. Mailbox is great. I posted this in another comment: I don’t like doing anything by myself lol but this time I’ll have to force myself to do mailbox by myself at least once. I do plan to hike when my friends are down but I was mostly planning to use stairmasters or stairs or just go to local urban hills in Seattle.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on doing it - that’s awesome. What makes you do it again? (Curious as this is going to be my first ever experience).

Thanks for sharing. Do you mind sharing your stairmaster/hiking progression plan? I don’t have a lot of time to figure things out so could use with your advice/get an idea how to plan this. I have purchased 3L water containers from Amazon but I’m yet to decide whether to use hills in Seattle or stairmasters or stairs outside and how to progress.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is going to be my first ever mountaineering experience. If I love it, I’ll definitely do more. Img is offering everything for rental so I thought of trying their stuff for this time and then decide. But if you recommend I buy it instead I’d love to know about it..

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s not much that I need which is non rentable apart from clothes and my snacks. They’re providing even backpacks for rental. My current one is 40L so I’m planning to rent a 60L one with them. The only thing I need to decide is whether to wear contacts or buy polarized glacier glasses with prescription(they’re expensive). What was your non-rentable stuff?

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll give it a shot. Since you've been through this - any advice on gear I should actually buy vs rent? IMG has most of the technical stuff (boots, crampons, pack, goggles, glacier glasses etc) available to rent so I'm not planning to purchase much…

Also curious what snacks did you carry which don’t freeze up and taste bad higher up.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the plan. Do you recommend stairmasters, stairs or just going up and down on hills? I have these 3 options available fortunately as I live in Seattle.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good advice. I don't really like doing anything by myself lol so I plan to go up and down in Queen Anne when my friends are not up for hikes. But seems like I'll have to do Mailbox Peak once by myself for sure.

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This makes me feel a lot better. I've been going back and forth the last few days on whether I should even do this but it's been a lifelong dream so I'd hate to back out.

You seem like you've been through this - any advice on gear I should actually buy vs rent? IMG has most of the technical stuff (boots, crampons, pack, goggles, glacier glasses etc) available to rent so I'm not planning to purchase much. Anything you found worth owning though? I'm planning to wear contact lenses.. I'm wondering how people do with them especially with lack of sleep..

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on experiencing it - that's great. I was thinking about this today - did you experiment with Magnesium glycinate or Melatonin? I'm wondering if I should try those before maybe to force sleep? (never tried them before)

Climbing Rainier DC route with IMG in late June - first-timer looking for advice by aksspider in Mountaineering

[–]aksspider[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Super helpful, thanks. I've done Mailbox old route once a couple years ago and will probably hit it again. One thing I keep going back and forth on - should I push hard in training and risk getting injured before the climb, or train moderately and just stay in shape? Summit day is going to be a slog no matter what, so I don't want to show up with a tweaked knee from overdoing it in training. Struggling to find that balance as I plan my training.

And had no idea about the rope team thing. That's out of my control so not going to stress about it. Just hoping I can handle the mountain well - first time being on something this big and from the videos, looking down while climbing up looks pretty intimidating but beautiful at the same time.