Mountain climbing: Cascades are easy to get to, hard to scale

People can't order sandwiches at the Lunch Counter on Mount Adams. Passing through the Pearly Gates on Mount Hood doesn't mean you're dead. And most visitors don't turn around at Quitter's Point on Oregon's Mount Jefferson. Climbers, known as an irreverent bunch, commonly nickname areas along routes to peaks. It's all part of the mountain-climbing culture — a culture that is creeping more and more into the mainstream.

"Climbers worldwide are a slightly different breed than the average person walking down the street," said Lloyd Athearn of the American Alpine Club in Golden, Colo. "The climbers of today would have been, by and large, the explorers in centuries past. ... They are not doing it for survival; they are doing it for fun."

It's peak season in the Cascade Range, and despite the stunning toll of at least three dead climbers — plus another missing and presumed dead — on Mount Rainier this season, thousands more will have attempted to view the world from thousands of feet above sea level before the season is out.

From beginning to experts, climbers will be camping in parking lots or along trails, waking long before daybreak and sometimes climbing for longer than a triple-work shift. They're following a 150-year history of mountaineering.

In between forays into low-oxygen atmospheres, mountaineers will make decisions about the best routes to take, how to react in varying weather conditions and what to carry on their backs.

Mountain climbing also means spending on gear, food and places to rest — a shot in the arm of the economy that makes business owners happy.

"We have found through anecdotal research that communities with a high amount of public lands get more visitors who spend more money within the community," said Dana Donley of the Colorado-based Outdoor Industry Association.

"Clearly they spend money on accommodations and food. And climbers don't mind celebrating with a few beers after a summit."

Along the way, accidents will have caused broken bones and perhaps more deaths, rescuers will have pushed their personal limits, Forest Service districts will have collected thousands of dollars in fees and climbers will have seen the world in a different way.

The Cascade Mountains are popular with climbers partly because they are so easy to reach. Alaska's Mount McKinley requires an airplane flight to a snowy base camp. Mount Hood requires a car ride to a ski lodge.

"The Cascades are this string of independent volcanoes," said Hans Castren, chief climbing ranger at Mount St. Helens. "There is a lot of space between Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens that you wouldn't see in the Sierras or the Rockies. These mountains are very accessible."

Mount St. Helens, in particular, is extremely popular. Last year, 13,144 people bought climbing permits for the erupted volcano. At only 8,365 feet, St. Helens — while still a hard slog — might be considered a "starter" climb among serious Cascade peaks. People intent on the summit don't need ropes and often don't need crampons.

But rangers who oversee the public lands that include the peaks don't want to give the impression that mountain climbing is a walk in the park. They emphasize preparation, common sense and competent climbing companions. They expect climbers to carry the appropriate equipment, purchase permits if required and call about weather conditions.

Despite the worry about safety, experts note that mountaineering accidents are rare, even though search-and-rescue operations draw a lot of attention.

The American Alpine Club reports that between 1990 and 1999, there were almost 98,000 attempts to summit 14,411-foot Mount Rainier — the tallest and most difficult major peak in the Cascades — and 13 people died. On Northern California's Mount Shasta, 49,488 people tried to reach the summit between 1998 and 2003, and five people died. Athearn also notes that until now the number of climbing accidents has remained relatively constant — this year's grim Rainier toll will affect that — while the number of climbers has increased.

"You will never be able to get rid of the risks of climbing," he said. "Accidents will happen just as people trip while crossing the street or going down stairs, but on mountains, when things go bad, they can sometimes go bad in a very dramatic way."

Certainly those risks have decreased since the 1850s, when white Europeans ventured into high altitudes. Not only did they lack Gore-Tex, sunscreen and mountaineering boots — mountains were different.

Glaciers have shrunk in the past 150 years, and the amount of snow that accumulates on the mountains is far less than in 1850, said Jeff Thomas, author of "Oregon High: A Climbing Guide to Nine Cascade Volcanoes."

"The impression I get is that it was almost a completely different mountain," he said about reading climbers' descriptions of Mount Hood throughout the years. "The glaciers were huge, the snow never melted and they were having to climb in footgear that you and I would have trouble walking on flat ground with today."

And the outfits couldn't have been less suited to mountain climbing. "You see these women in ridiculous outfits like bloomers," Thomas said. "You just can't figure out how they ever moved. And the men sometimes wore three or four old dinner jackets."

With the changing times and changing gear, the climbing culture has changed. Instead of being on the fringe, climbers now are a more noticeable group of recreationists, Thomas said.

"This is the premiere mountaineering destination in North America," said Mike Gauthier, supervisory climbing ranger at Mount Rainier. "And the main reason is the incredible accessibility to glaciers and high altitude. Many top mountaineers in the world have cut their teeth here."

Jon Nakae, the wilderness ranger for Mount Adams, offers a more visceral reason.

"They draw people because they are the tallest things out there and they are visible from a long distance."

Seattle Times staff contributed

to this story.

If you go

A couple options for aspiring climbers:

Ashford-based Rainier Mountaineering, the granddaddy of guide services for Mount Rainier climbs, offers its One-Day Basic Climbing School daily through August, with some additional sessions through Oct. 2, for $160. The one-day session is included if you plan to join one of the guide service's two-day climbs of Rainier ($770). Both are filling fast for this season. www.rmiguides.com or 888-89-CLIMB.

The Mountaineers outdoor-recreation organization offers its members a grounding in climbing techniques and safety through extensive course offerings. www.mountaineers.org or 206-284-6310

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