10 Day Rainier Baker Mountaineering Course Planning

Having a hot breakfast is important, especially in cold weather environments. Most climbers go with instant or quick cooking hot cereals like oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, or dry cereals and powdered milk mixed with hot water. All of these meals taste better and provide more calories when fortified with dried fruits, nuts, honey, butter, even chocolate chips! Tastier (and heavier!) breakfast ideas are included below.

For your course you should have 5 breakfasts. About half of these should be basic meals to carry higher on the mountain and the remaining can be more luxurious meals at the beginning if the trip when we are lower. Don’t forget your hot drinks!

Breakfast Ideas

1 cup of granola + freeze dried fruit + 3 tablespoons of powdered milk mixed with hot water
2 packs of instant oatmeal + dried fruit + nut butter
Dehydrated breakfast meal (check serving and calories)
2 packs of instant grits + bacon crumbles + cheese + butter + salt and pepper to taste
2-4 powdered eggs + 4-6 strips precooked bacon + tortilla

Lunch begins just after breakfast and ends just before dinner. It is the most important meal of the day and needs to have enough variety to keep you happy over your trip. Continuous eating of small quantities will keep up your energy levels for the whole day, especially on big travel/summit days where we will be on the move for 8 hours or more.

For your course you need lunch food for 10 days. Determining the amount of lunch food to bring is difficult to gauge on your first mountaineering expedition. General guidelines are given below. The rule many guides work with is the weight of your lunch food should be equivalent to the weight of your breakfast and dinner food added together.

Each day it’s nice to have a “real” food item. You may consider some of these tasty sandwich/wrap combinations:

1. Start with a hearty bread product: flatbread, bagel, naan, flour tortilla, croissant, or pita pocket
2. Add protein: hard cheese, Laughing Cow cheese wedges (no refrigeration needed), cured meat, black beans or hummus, nut butter (we like Trail Butter because it comes in a squeeze pouch), tuna pouch, or smoked salmon
3. Add flavor/texture: dried fruit, chips, hot sauce, mustard, or pesto. Also consider, a hearty pre-made sandwich, leftover pizza, or a burrito for the first day of the course

In addition, pack snack foods to supplement any sandwiches or wraps, such as:

• Nuts (cashew and almonds are our guides’ favorite – can buy in 1lb quantities at Trader Joe’s)
• Jerky – beef, turkey, bacon, salmon, and tofu jerky are all great options
• Dried fruit (Trader Joe’s has an excellent selection prepackaged by weight)
• Peanut butter filled pretzel chunks
• Trail mix
• Cheese sticks/squares
• Plantain chips

For summit day or big travel days (approximately 4 on a 10-day Course) focus on energy rich food. On these days we travel for roughly an hour between breaks. At each break you should be eating 200-300 calories (or about 1 energy bar). These days can have 4-8 breaks.

These foods include:

• Energy bars – focus on bars with real ingredients. We love Probars, Pure Organic, Kit’s Organic, Larabar, and Chia Bars. If you are ambitious, try making your own!
• Energy chews (Shot Bloks etc)
• GU’s, Cliff Shots, etc.
• Candy bars (Snicker’s are a favorite)
• Gummy bears

Not sure where to start? Check out this video to see what we pack for lunch on a 3-Day Mount Rainier climb. It’s a great starting point for planning your own mountain menu.

For the greatest preparation and cooking ease, freeze-dried food is an option. Usually, these foods only require adding boiling water, and are ready within minutes. Downsides to freeze-dried food are the cost, an increase in single-use packaging which must be packed out, uninteresting flavors or textures, gut issues from poorly re-hydrated meals, constipation, etc.

With slight more effort but vastly reduced cost, any grocery store can be tapped for a wide variety of wilderness-ready prepared foods. Items like Knorr rice or pasta entrees in envelopes cook in 5 to 10 minutes, and are very tasty. It is best if you experiment ahead of time at home, so that you know which you prefer. For those with a culinary creative streak, very tasty meals can be made up from scratch with only a minimum of additional effort. Items such as quick brown rice, quick or instant white rice, bulgur, instant precooked or dried beans, dehydrated vegetables, packaged or bulk sauce mixes, smoked salmon, exotic cheeses, and whatever spices and herbs you like or want to experiment with can be combined for tasty meals.

You will need 5 dinners for your course. Many guides bring soup packets, like instant miso soup, for each meal (unless the meal is already soup-based). These make great pre-dinner hot drinks and help us hydrated. Don’t forget your hot drinks!

Dinner Ideas

• 1 packet instant ramen noodle soup + sweet and spicy jerky (shredded) + parmesan cheese + dehydrated vegetables
• 1 pre-pouched Indian Meal (we like Tasty Bites) + boil in the bag rice + coconut oil (vegetarian/vegan depending on meal choice)
• 1 box mac and cheese + sundried tomatoes + tuna packet + red pepper flakes
• 1 box cous cous + sundried tomatoes + pine nuts + chunks of salami

It’s nice to have something sweet to eat while relaxing after dinner, perhaps enjoying an alpine sunset. Some consider sweet hot drinks dessert (hot chocolate), while others prefer instant Jell-O pudding, cookies, candy, or chocolate. Jell-O no-bake cakes or specialty cookies can also make a great dessert.

Vegan

Breakfast Options

• Breakfast grains + healthy fat (nut butter or coconut oil) + dried/freeze-dried fruit (strawberries, apricots, figs etc.)
• Granola + powdered coconut milk

Lunch Options

• Tortillas + dehydrated hummus + “cheezy” kale chips
• Bagel + nut butter + dried fruit

Dinner Options

• 1 box vegan mac and “cheese” + sundried tomatoes
• Dehydrated lentil soup + nutritional yeast flakes + hearty bread
• Tortilla + dehydrated black beans + boil in the bag rice + TVP

Vegan Freeze-Dried Options

• Alpine Aire: Santa Fe Black Beans and Rice, Veggie Burrito Bowl, Wild Quinoa Pilaf
• Backpacker’s Pantry: Louisiana Red Beans + Rice
• Mary Jane’s Farm: Lentils, Rice, & Indian Spice
• Good To-Go: Smoked 3-Bean Chili, Bibimbap, Herbed Mushroom Risotto