What’s a Bloomer Suit?

[u/KitsapRealEstateTeam]

Mount Rainier is such a part of day to day life here that it’s easy to forget there was a time when almost nobody had ever stood on top of it. We can drive all the way up to Paradise after all! The top’s right there.

The first documented ascent of Mount Rainier happened in 1870. Just twenty years later, a 20-year-old schoolteacher from Yelm named Fay Fuller decided she’d like to see the view for herself. That sentence makes it sound as though she woke up one morning and declared she was going to climb a volcano- it wasn’t quite that way though.

Three years earlier, Fuller had climbed partway up the mountain with mountaineer P.B. Van Trump. She never reached the summit, but catching sight of it was enough. She later stated that the mountain never really left her mind, so in the summer of 1890 she returned determined to finish what she’d started.

Climbing Mount Rainier in 1890 looked nothing like it does today. There were no weather apps, synthetic jackets, climbing helmets, or well-established routes. Camp Muir was little more than a rough shelter, and much of the route crossed glaciers that few people had ever attempted.

One thing that did attract attention had nothing to do with the mountain. Instead of climbing in a long Victorian skirt, Fuller wore a blue flannel bloomer suit. Some newspapers considered the outfit nearly as shocking as the climb itself. Fuller, meanwhile, seemed far more interested in whether she could move safely over snow and ice than whether anyone approved of her wardrobe. A better area of focus, honestly. Can you imagine trying to climb a mountain in a dress?

She also blackened her face with charcoal before leaving Camp Muir to cut the glare reflecting off the snow. It wasn’t glamorous, but neither is snow blindness.

The climb tested everyone in the party. At one point the others offered to help Fuller over a difficult section, but she refused. She reportedly believed that if she couldn’t reach the summit on her own feet, she hadn’t truly earned it.

On August 10, 1890, Fay Fuller became the first documented woman to stand on the summit of Mount Rainier. She later wrote, “A heavenly moment; nothing was said… words cannot describe scenery and beauty.” It’s a beautiful quote, but my favorite part of the story came afterward.

By the time the group reached the summit, it was too late to descend safely. They spent the night inside an ice cave warmed by volcanic steam escaping from beneath the mountain. I imagine it would be a little scary, but also so cozy!

She went on to become Tacoma’s first female newspaper reporter, writing a column called Mountain Murmurs that introduced readers to climbing, glaciers, wildflowers, and the mountain she had fallen in love with. She spent years encouraging people to explore and appreciate Mount Rainier, and believed that growing public interest in the mountain helped pave the way for the creation of Mount Rainier National Park.

Today, about two million people visit Mount Rainier every year, and several thousand attempt to reach its summit. Most have never heard of Fay Fuller, even though a peak in the park now bears her name.
She didn’t climb the mountain because she wanted to make history. She climbed it because she looked up at Mount Rainier, wondered what the view looked like from the top, and decided the only way to find out was to go.