Reddit reviews Glacier Mountaineering: An Illustrated Guide To Glacier Travel And Crevasse Rescue (How To Climb Series)

A bit late here... Please don't concentrate only on gear! Rainier is a VERY dangerous big mountain and don't let the fact that there are hundreds of people going up it at any time fool you into thinking otherwise. One of our team mates punched through a crevasse waist deep while following a trail that dozens of people went over before us that same day. Practice self arrest, crevasse rescue, rope work, team dynamics, route finding, etc. Next time you walk on the street, just pretend for a few feet that the ground could collapse under you at any second and you fall to your death unless you're prepared. 95% chance you will great weather, nothing will go wrong, and you will have the best experience of your life in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Please be prepared for the other 5%.

Some great resources:
http://www.amazon.com/Glacier-Mountaineering-Illustrated-Travel-Crevasse/dp/0762748621/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.summitpost.org/mount-rainier/150291

Feel free to PM me and I would be happy to talk to you about our trip (unguided) and talk to you as much about gear as you can stand since I'm a gear whore.

Edit: sorry for the mean sounding post... more people than usual in the mountains this year and every incident weighs fairly heavily when you read about people dying while doing the same thing that you do.

I learned a lot from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Glacier-Mountaineering-Illustrated-Travel-Crevasse/dp/0762748621 (despite the silly cover)

As I remember it covers considerably more than the freedom of the hills.

Personally I went outside and found a tree branch to practice hauling on. A gym will work but I found it easier to learn/practice without a bunch of other people around gawking.

There's a really good series of cartoon books about lightweight backpacking and mountaineering by a few guys from NOLS which really helped me adjust what I thought was "necessary".

Mountaineering

Ultralight

General Backpacking

I had a really solid mountaineer once tell me that the key to success on the mountains is camping like a champion. If you're poorly rested, poorly fed or angry with your partners because of a crappy camp setup, you're less likely to achieve your goals.

I mostly do ski mountaineering with some summer stuff thrown in for kicks (I'm in the Canadian rockies so "Summer" is relative). Typically I'll have my ski touring day pack 35L+ and my wife carries a 45L+ bag (she tends to carry but not wear more layers) on any trip where I'm based out of a base camp or hut. We'll drag our gear in on a pull sled or we'll both bring our 65 or 85L bags (depending on trip length) to camp, then ditch em.

I've mostly been practicing it as I go along. The only books I own on the subject are the above and Glacier Mountaineering - travel and rescue