Mount Rainier proposal causes rift among guides

PARADISE, Wash. — Just 12 years old when he first climbed Mount Rainier, Peter Whittaker considers the rugged, glacier-studded peak his back yard. He has ascended the 14,411-foot mountain more than 200 times, and his company, Rainier Mountaineering Inc., leads thousands in summit attempts each year.

For more than 30 years, RMI has held a near-monopoly on guide services at Mount Rainier. But a proposal by the National Park Service to divide services among mountaineering companies has Whittaker feeling like a target — and competitors seeing dollar signs.

“When you’re at the top of the mountain, everybody wants to knock you down. We’re willing to come down a little bit,” Whittaker said, smiling as he holds his index finger and thumb an inch apart. “We’re willing to share the summit. We just don’t want to get knocked back down to the bottom.”

Encased in more than 35 square miles of snow and ice and rising more than 8,000 feet above the surrounding Cascade mountains, Mount Rainier draws about 2 million people each year.

About 10,000 people try to reach the summit each year. Roughly one-third ask America’s first family of climbing to lead the way: RMI was founded by famed mountaineer Lou Whittaker, Peter’s father. Peter’s uncle, Jim Whittaker, was the first American to climb Mount Everest.

The company, which employs about 70 guides, has held the contract for guide services since 1968 and guided more than 60,000 climbers. Now, the Park Service has proposed limiting the number of guided trips up the mountain at 5,350 annually, to be divided among three companies.

The proposal is part of a comprehensive plan to govern commercial services in Mount Rainier National Park, encompassing everything from group camping and firewood sales to glacier climbs.

The climbing proposal has by far been the most controversial. More than 1,900 public comments flooded the Park Service, delaying a decision late last year.

The issue is garnering even more attention during the peak summer season. Whittaker faults the Park Service for failing to first conduct a scientific study to determine how many climbers the mountain can handle each year before setting a maximum number in its plan.

“What should be done is to start with the mountain. The mountain is a resource — it has to be protected. It should be the priority of all the guide services and clients,” Whittaker said.

Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said that number has long been established by the number of campsites at each base camp.

“If anything, the pressures on the mountain, the science, is saying the numbers should be less, not more,” he said.

The changes, Uberuaga said, are a reflection of the Park Service trying to increase competition among for-profit services. In 1997, the park began allowing other companies to lead climbers up Emmons Glacier, a popular route to the summit.

Since then, four companies have led about 190 climbers up the mountain each year, a small fraction of RMI’s market.

Whittaker said RMI supports increased competition, but he has concerns about safety. There need to be assurances that guide companies won’t ignore risks in their pursuit of leading climbers to the summit, he said.

“As mountain climbers, we’re a bunch of alpha males and females. We’re competitive — but when there are risks, we turn back,” he said. “What if someone says, ‘Oh, that guide service turned around. The other one didn’t. We’ll follow the one that didn’t.’ “

Eric Simonson disagrees. Simonson, a close friend to Whittaker, is a former guide for RMI and co-owner of Mount Rainier Alpine Guides, one of the companies with access to Emmons Glacier.

“The fact is everybody does a better job because they know the other operators are watching them,” he said. Simonson pointed to Mount McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park and Preserve, where six different guide services share information and cooperate with rescues.

“It’s not in the public’s interest to have one company controlling all. People will have more services, more options, different options, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said.

The two companies and other guide services lobbied hard for their cause, forcing the Park Service to delay a decision until fall.

But what do private climbers, who make up two-thirds of the summit trips, think? The public comments ranged from those who don’t want to see any commercial climbs to others who wait and follow guides up the mountain because they know it’s a safe route, Uberuaga said.

It’s all about choice, he said.

“It’s not a reflection on RMI and their service. They have been an outstanding concessionaire,” he said. “But what we’ve heard from the public is, ‘We want more choice.’ “