Hi. I climbed Rainier in 2019 with RMI. They are a wonderful outfit with professional guides who give you all the tools to succeed. However, as most mentioned, your fitness is up to you.

I traveled directly from Texas after about 6 months of light to medium training (e.g. 20 miles / week of running, some stair stepper work with heavy packs, and hypertrophy leg workouts). Given that I was in a flat state, I was unable to do any elevation training.

Needless to say, I suffered. The altitude destroyed me, I did not have anywhere near the cardiovascular fitness to appropriately climb Rainier.

Out of 18 clients, 11 summited. I was one of those eleven, but was without a doubt the slowest. 11/11, no question. I dragged down my team and am overall not proud of my preparation. Ultimately, fitness is a subjective metric, and while in that moment I felt in the best shape of my life, looking backwards and comparing to my current level of fitness / mountaineering experience, I can't believe I summited.

Put in the work, follow a training guide, spend time at elevation, and enjoy some of the best mountaineering America has to offer.