Rainier routes

Anyone have any good suggestions for Rainier routes to hit mid July? Would Liberty ridge still be good or is rockfall a hazard this late?

By mid July LR will be out of shape due to the break up of the Carbon Glacier. The lower part of the ridge could be slag heap. In addition to the std. routes, routes like Kautz Glacier are worth pursuing.

Not interested in any of the standard routes. I'm really looking for more technical routes

July is just too late for technical routes, and that's not just speaking for Rainier. A lot of routes are melted out by then. If you want to climb technically challenging routes you either have to get them in May/June, late September/October, or go full-on and hit them in winter.

Tried Liberty last summer in mid July, failed after a pretty tough 36 hour push. Go earlier in the year.

Like others have said way to late. Then what do you view as technical. LR isn't exactly what I would call a technical climb and there really aren't to many on rainier

I'm aware the routes are far from something I would consider technical in Colorado. What I mean is something technical for Rainier, i.e not all snow slogging

I have climbed the technical routes on the north side of the hill in late May to mid June. These would include Curtis, LR, Ptarmigan, and Mowich (the Willis in March if you want to count that). I think the latest I have been on the hill for any of those climbs in third week in June. People do sneak in later in June and into July but then you are dealing with rock fall or big open cracks. So pretty hit or miss. Thus initial suggestion on the easier routes which not have those issues. I think the latest I have climbed any technical Cascade Volcano route is the first week in July. That was the N Face on Hood. Amazing conditions for that time of year.

As such, if yer coming from Colorado in late July and want to do a Rainier route you will need to think about other routes. That is you can plan for one of those routes but have a back up. I suggested the Kautz because it can be done then, has a nice camp at 11k, has a fun section to start the morning, various ways to top out, and can be done as a carry over.

Check out the trip reports over CascadeClimbers.com.

North Ridge on Baker.