Mount Rainier

A 4,392-metre stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of Washington State, the highest peak in the Cascades and the most heavily glaciated mountain in the contiguous United States. Rainier holds 26 named glaciers covering approximately 35 square kilometres, more glacial ice than the rest of the contiguous American mountains combined. The mountain dominates the skyline of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area; on clear days, the volcano is visible from Vancouver Island in Canada, 320 kilometres north. The peak is technically active, with hot springs and steam vents in the summit crater, though the most recent confirmed eruption was in the 1840s.

The first ascent came in 1870 by Hazard Stevens and Philemon Van Trump, two members of a survey expedition. The pair climbed the Gibraltar Ledges route from Paradise on the southern flank — a sustained mixed climb at the time, given the limited equipment available. The Indigenous peoples of the surrounding Salish nations had not climbed the mountain in their religious tradition; the Lushootseed name Tahoma is sometimes translated as "the mother of waters," in reference to the rivers that originate from the mountain's glaciers and supply the surrounding lowlands.

The standard route today is the Disappointment Cleaver, an established line up the southeastern flank that takes typically two days from the Paradise trailhead. Climbers spend a night at Camp Muir at 3,000 metres before the alpine summit attempt. The route involves sustained glacier travel, several technical ice sections, and a final summit dome that requires attention to crevasse routing. The fatality rate is low for the volume of attempts the mountain receives — Rainier sees approximately 10,000 summit attempts per year, more than any other peak of comparable altitude in North America.

What separates Rainier from a mountain that is simply popular is the seriousness underneath. The peak has produced the largest single-incident mountaineering disaster in American history — in 1981, an icefall on the Ingraham Glacier killed eleven climbers. Avalanches, crevasse falls, and exposure deaths have continued through the modern era. The accessibility of Rainier from Seattle has produced both substantial volume and substantial casualty rates. The mountain is a serious climb that benefits from being underestimated.