Führer Finger, Mt. Rainier

The weather looks great—until it isn’t. Cody and professional big wave surfer Ian Walsh attempt Rainier. // [o] @bjarnesalen

The weather looks great—until it isn’t. Cody and professional big wave surfer Ian Walsh attempt Rainier. // [o] @bjarnesalen

 

Elevation: 14411’ 4392m

Aspect: South

Vertical: 4711’ from Columbia Crest to base of Führer Finger, 9000’ to Paradise

Coordinates: 46°51’10”N 121°45’37”W

First descent: Davis, Janisch, Haley 1980

“The Führer Finger is the shortest and fastest of the safer summit routes. Yet beware of avalanche and rockfall hazard in the forty-five-degree main chute in warm spring conditions. A continuous ski descent of 10,400 vertical feet is possible from the summit to Nisqually bridge.” (FCSDofNA)

“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the seas are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.”
— John Lubbock
Mt. Rainier as known as the North American training ground of mountaineering. Which is why professional big wave surfer, Ian Walsh, joins Cody on Mt. Rainier in an attempt to prepare for his goal of climbing and riding Denali, the highest mountain in North America.