Good news for Camp Muir and Rainier climbers

Listen for the mitten-slap of high fives echoing from Camp Muir, up at 10,080 feet on Mount Rainier.

This old stone shelter is among historic structures that will stay at Camp Muir on Mount Rainier. Less scenic structures will be replaced. (photo by Mike McQuaide, Special to The Seattle Times)

Days are numbered for the ugly “black box,” a so-called temporary structure that for decades has served as a shelter for up to 36 climbers at the base camp on the mountain’s southeastern flank. About 500 climbers a day visit the camp during peak climbing season.

The National Parks Service has approved $700,000 in upgrades that will replace the black box and other non-historic structures at the camp. No worries: The camp’s scenic, rustic stone buildings will remain.

And climbers can breathe another sigh of relief, so to speak. Among new and improved structures to come in the next three to five years are something not found at the tip of every moraine: public toilets.

Comments | More in Northwest | Topics: camp muir, climbing, mount rainier

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Kristin Jackson, travel editor at The Seattle Times, grew up in Italy, went to university in Britain, and worked as a journalist in London and Vancouver, B.C., before migrating back to Seattle where she’s happy at her desk but way happier on the road.

Brian J. Cantwell, Outdoors editor at The Seattle Times, is a Seattle native who chose not to leave -- except for every chance he gets to go someplace interesting or adventurous. He lives on his sailboat at Shilshole Bay Marina.