The Mountaineer 37 
A NEW ROUTE UP MT. RAINIER 
Dora KEEN* 
Probably no other high mountain in the world can offer 
an approach as beautiful, as wild, and as easy as that from 
Fairfax, Washington, to the foot of Mt. Rainier. An hour after 
leaving the railway, the giant cedars and Douglas firs of 
Rainier National Forest close in on a trail so unfrequented as 
to seem all but untrodden, yet of easy grade and “good” for 
the region traversed. By night Crater Lake may be reached 
and early the next day Spray Park, at the foot of the moun- 
tain. Here one may camp with wood and water, and grass 
for the pack horses, in the loveliest of natural parks. 
Could the mountain be climbed by this northwest side, 
and if so could we get to the summit and back in a day? These 
were the problems confronting our little party of three, all 
experienced mountaineers and keen for the fray. Our eleva- 
tion was only 6,100 feet. We had reached the last wood and 
water and the pack horses could not well go higher—although 
in Alaska they would have gone much higher. We could camp 
no higher, therefore, unless we were to waste the precious days 
of clear weather in relaying up wood, bedding, etc., on our 
backs, or go without them. It was mid-September. Daylght 
lasted only fourteen hours and the nights were chill, but on the 
other hand the summer’s avalanches had nearly ceased and new 
snow had made travel fairly easy on the glaciers above. This 
side of the mountain was considered impossible because of the 
almost continuous avalanches from its steep ice walls during 
the summer, bnt now there was frost at night and the day’s 
heat was brief. 
To reconnoitre, to study the mountain with glasses was the 
first step. At 7,500 feet our view was complete and was near 
enough for a satisfactory survey, so down we sat to plan our 
route in detail, and to watch for avalanches. We were looking 
across the North Mowitz glacier from half way up Desolation 
ridge, and when each of us had picked out his route, we found 
that we all agreed, not only in our judgment that the mountain 
*Miss Keen is a world-famous alpinist whose latest feat was the first 
ascent of Mt. Blackburn, Alaska. 
