International Mountain Guides

Fabulous experience climbing Mt. Rainier with IMG. I did the 3.5 Day Disappointment Cleaver climb, with a summit day on 7÷3÷14.
The positives:
Pre-​climb…
1) Much of the gear is able to be rented without pre-​ordering
2) Fast responses to questions via email
3) Extremely thorough gear check. None of the items on the list are optional unless specified — you really will need all of it.
During the climb:
1) IMG maintains shelters/​camps for both Camp Muir and Ingraham Flats, so no need to carry up tents.
2) The pace is s-​l-​o-​w. If you’re nervous about physical performance, the IMG’s 3 day climb is much more relaxed than some of the other 2 day ones offered.
3) The hot dinners were really delicious! One of the other guide services require you to bring your own food. After a long day on the mountain, we were glad we had something tasty to look forward to.
4) Guides are FANTASTIC. On the last night before attempting the summit, we were short a guide due to a member of our team reaching his physical limitations and not being able to continue. George Dunn, one of the co-​owners and current record holder for most Rainier summits, made the hike all the way up from Paradise and then filled in for the climb to the top.
5) Mountaineering class on Ingraham Flats the second day was very informative and provided more time to acclimate and really enjoy the views on the mountain.
The ONE negative:
1) No pre-​arranged rides from Seattle/​Portland airports
Recommendations:
1) Bring TP, lots of it. You’ll get familiar with the wonderful practice of «blue bagging» on the mountain, and for the sake of your sanity, it’s always better to have more rather than run out.
2) Bring 3 pairs of socks. One the first day (and to dry out for summit morning), one the second day, and one for switching out on the way down at Camp Muir. Dry socks were critical for preventing blisters.
3) You will have to force feed yourself as your body loses its appetite at high elevations. I found that bagels and smoked meats were a lot easier to get down than energy bars, and I was absolutely craving snacks like potato chips and candy.
4) Energy chews were a lifesaver for the last day as you summit and then have to climb all the way back down. The extra boost was essential as my endurance started to flag at the end of a 14 hour day climbing.
5) Ditch the Camelbak — the lines will freeze. Two large Nalgenes are all that you’ll need for water.
And most importantly… have fun! IMG really turned me on to mountaineering. Looking forward to doing some expeditions with their company in the next year!

Summited Mt. Rainier on 6÷20÷13 (3.5 Days DC Climb).
For my climb, the weather forecast didn’t look good. so we expressed our concern to the lead guide. She let us know that weather on Rainer change and based on feedback from the team that were already on the mountain, we have a good chance. She was right. It rained and snowed, but we were above the clouds the whole time. 4 guides that lead us were very nice and made great efforts to get to know us and makes us feel safe the whole time. Guides cooked us great «real» meals (not dehydrated kind). Many information and instructions were given through out the climb which made it possible for me to finish the climb safely.
Climbing Mt Rainer was be one of best highlights of my life. You should try it too.

I feel compelled to write because I totally disagree with person who gave IMG the crap review. I just finished doing the 3.5 day Rainier summit climb via the Disappointment Cleaver (summiting successfully!). I have also participated in a mountaineering day school with them, and have done an Everest Khumbu trek through one of their affiliates. I have had nothing but positive experiences with them. They hire the most competent guides in the business (two of our group’s 4 Rainier guides had summited Everest, and 2 had done more than 100 ascents of Rainier). The whole Rainier trek has a very safety-​oriented schedule (you eat, rehydrate and reapply sunscreen every 1 ½ hours that you are on the trail, and spend 2 rather than 1 nights at altitude to better acclimatize). Their goal is to get you up and down the mountain safely and intelligently – sometimes this means keeping a rigorous pace, or turning around if weather pulls in, but I felt absolutely well taken care of and looked after. Given the scant number of reviews, people are not exactly flocking to Unilocal to search for mountain guiding companies, but I just wanted to offer my opinion.
You are literally trusting these people with your life, so it’s good to do your research, but I feel completely confident in IMG and will hopefully be climbing more mountains with them in the future.

Did the 3.5 day Disappointment Cleaver route with IMG this past weekend (8÷20−9÷2). It was a good experience and I do recommend them and this 3 day climb to get to the summit of Mt Rainier. Having a lay over day, where we learned skills and only moved camp another 1,000 higher above Camp Muir to Ingraham Flats made it a much more enjoyable trip for me. I did not envy the group hiking with the other guide company who were doing the summit in only 2 days.
I like the way IMG ran the trip. Having 1 guide for every 2 clients made me feel very safe without having a lot of crampon or rock climbing with crampon experience beforehand. They did a great job of making sure we had the right clothes and equipment at the pre-​check meeting. They explained what we were doing and why very well. The food was good (Chicken burritos 1^st nite, Sausage stir fry the 2^nd nite)
I have a few minor disappointments.
The tents at Ingraham flat had only 2 ridgerest mattresses on snow. This caused 2 problems.
1) The floor was very unlevel because the body heat of prior campers had melted in deep depressions
2). I could feel the cold coming up thru the mattresses. Both these made harder to sleep.
Another disappointment was with the rental Koflach boots. IMG was wise to tell us to keep them loose to avoid shin bang on the way. but this did not prevent calf bang on the way down.
I was disappointed we could not stop more frequently for photos while on the upper mtn. We were only allowed to take photos at the official rest stops and the summit. No stopping to take pics of the sunrise on the way up or any of the glaciers or closeup of crevasses on the way down.