Rainier via Kautz Route (June 7-8, 2014)

I hadn't done in a trip with Gerhard in a while, and knowing that his usual climbing partner was out of commission with a broken hand, I asked him if he'd like to get out and do something; Rainier was one of the options I threw out.

He responded that he might be interested in Rainier; he suggested Liberty Ridge as a possibility.  I didn't know the specifics of the Liberty Ridge route, but when news broke the next day that six AAI climbers were missing from the Liberty Ridge route, I suggested that maybe we consider other options.

The Kautz Glacier ended up being our route of choice for the weekend, and the weather forecast held... and so it was that we found ourselves getting permits at the Climbing Information Center around 11 a.m. on Saturday June 7.  When we asked the ranger if anyone else was heading up the Kautz Glacier who had registered, he replied that there was a party heading for the Kautz Headwall, but no one for the Kautz Glacier.  When I expressed surprise at how few people were planning on heading that direction, he double-checked and realized that indeed, there was a party of 6 heading for the Kautz Glacier the next morning.  (We later saw 9 on the route.)

Fortunately, a recent trip to The Sisters had reminded me how heavy an overnight pack can feel and how much of a challenge altitude can add.  So when our pace up the Turtle can be was turtle-like, I wasn't too surprised.

Neve Penitentes by a bivy spot on the ridge.

There were at least 4 tents already in place by the time we arrived at 7 p.m., but we found a decent spot half-covered with ice; we added snow to level out the spot, started making water, and were in bed at 10 p.m.  Winds were light to non-existent; the temperatures dropped only a bit below freezing (evidenced by freezing in my hydration tube in the morning, which had been stored in my pack).

View from our tent site.

We planned to wake up at 4 a.m. and start moving at 5, but since our neighbors had left later than they planned (around 4:30 - 4:45), I didn't mind getting a slower start (we actually left at 5:20 a.m.) so that we could let them get through the gully near camp (which has a fixed line) before we got there.

Gerhard checking out the fixed line near camp to get to the glacier Saturday evening.

After rappelling the gully and then roping up we started up the ice steps.  The ice sections were OK, but I wish I would  have sharpened my Grivel air-tech axe.  (Or perhaps that that wouldn't have helped?)  Certainly the Petzl Quark was much more effective.  Gerhard led the way, placing a single screw (on the 2nd pitch, which we agreed was more challenging). Gerhard also threaded the rope through the neve penitentes so that the rope would catch if he did fall.

After we got through the ice sections, it was about 7:45 a.m..  This brought us to 12,000'.  (800' of progress in 2.5 hours.)

The ice steps, as viewed from near camp  Some of the snow is just a thin layer over ice.

The route was much more straightforward from here, and in the next 2.5 hours worked our way up another 2000'.  Despite having skis and skins with us, conditions dictated that we'd have to carry them... and so we huffed and puffed our way up to the top.  Like the guides say:  "Pole, pole".

Perhaps the most surprising sight of the day was a fox that Gerhard spotting heading toward the crater rim (away from us). I had no idea they went that high on the mountain!

The wind was quite strong at the crater rim, and even stronger at the true summit.  (I'd guess 30+ mph.)  Just 20' below we found a much friendlier spot, relatively wind-free.  We ate and stowed the rope, sat down, and watched other groups reach the summit.  It felt really very nice to be able to just sit and relax there.  We weren't in any particular hurry, since we were hoping that the snow would soften up a bit before we headed down.

At the top, trying not to be blown away.

After close to an hour we left our perch.  We chatted with a group of our neighbors and decided to take a slightly different route down; this route was the route that's actually shown in the Gauthier guidebook; the route that we had taken up had seemed like the obvious way to go, but is on the other side of the Wapowety Cleaver.

The "standard" route has the advantage of being southeast facing, and given how icy our route was on the way up, we weren't certain that it would have corned up in 90 minutes for the on the trip down and liked our chances better on the "standard" route. Given how icy the snow was when we flipped over the ridge at 13,000', I'm glad we made that choice.

Our route: Red is up, Blue is down.  (Accidentally turned off GPS around 11,700' on the way down)

The snow off the top was actually what could be described as "packed powder".  Down lower there was some snow transitioning to corn.  Unfortunately when things were in ideal corn shape, we were futzing our way down the ice chute.  Things were quite sloppy down low (below ~8000').

We opted to belay the downclimb of the last 20-30 meters of the 2nd (upper pitch of ice), rather than rappel, using a V-thread.  (Backed up with 2 screws for the first down-climber).  The lower pitch was bypassable on climber's left.  That is, on that side we could use the neve penitentes as steps / handholds in many places.  It was my first time downclimbing ice like that before!

We knew that one of the obstacles to getting back to camp would be the gully that we rappeled down on the way up in the morning.  We had the option of bypassing this and skirting the icefall above us, but instead we opted to prusik up the fixed line.  I finally got to put that prusiking practice to good use!

Things were faster than I expected getting back to the car from camp.  Only 90 minutes back, including the climb up to Glacier Vista!  At 6:30 p.m. we were back at the car, satisfied with a challenging but fun third trip up Rainier.

Many thanks to Gerhard for a great trip.

Timeline
Saturday -
7:45 a.m. - Leave Seattle
10:45 a.m. - arrive Paradise
11:45 a.m. - start from Paradise lower lot
4:40 p.m. - base of Turtle
7 p.m.  - Arrive at camp at 11,200'

Sunday -
4 a.m. - Awake
5:20 a.m. - Leave Camp
7:45 a.m. - Done with Ice steps
10:20 a.m. - top of Kautz Glacier (near Point Success, 14,000')
11:00 a.m. - Arrive Summit
11:50 p.m. - Depart summit
2:30 p.m. - Done with descent of first pitch
4:30 p.m. - back at camp
5 p.m. - Leave camp
6:30 - back at Paradise lower lot

Equipment:
* 60m 8mil rope
* Petzl Quark ice tool
* Grivel Air Tech Evo ice axe
* 6 screws total (used max of 2 at once)
* Skis, boots, poles
* Beacon, shovel, probe
* Lightweight 3-season tent

Weather: 

Some clouds (mostly below us, except on Saturday)

Summit: around 20 degrees, 30-40 mph winds (less just south of summit)

Link to more pictures on flickr!

Play day on the Sulphide

Ever since I'd heard of skiing the Sulphide several years ago, the idea sounded intriguing.  Back in 2007 I summited Shuksan via the Fischer Chimneys route (I didn't even own any skis at the time; we were on foot).  And I'd been curious about what the rest of the Sulphide Glacier looked like (from the Fischer Chimneys route, one only gets a glimpse of the upper part).  And unlike many skiers, I really enjoy flat, mellow runs that I can straightline while I watch the scenery go by.  Glaciers can be really good for that.

So after three days of good weather (Saturday - Monday) entered the forecast last week and Carla suggested the idea of doing three days of skiing, I didn't mind taking a vacation day.  June is a great month for skiing in the Pacific Northwest: long days and snow starting at 4000' or lower.  The only tricky part is finding good weather windows; our dry summers don't really start until July 4.

So after an easy, short day from Heather Meadows (around Table Mountain) and a moderate day on Mt. Ruth, we drove to Shuksan from Bellingham, departing at 5:15 a.m. and arriving at the trailhead at 7.  (We stopped for gas, coffee, and bathroom en route.)  I had never driven to that trailhead (Shannon Ridge) before, and had never been that far down Baker Lake Road.  What a fun drive!  Until the pot-holed, dirt section began.  The potholes in that section threatened to swallow the Saturn whole.

There were two other cars at the trailhead, but by about 6000' we'd seen both parties descending (on foot).  We had the entire mountain to ourselves!  We didn't see anyone after that until we were nearly back at the cars.

By 7:15 we were on our way.  The trailhead is at 2600' and patches of snow started around 3000'; by 4000' it was consistent.  We put on skis and skins when we got to the start of the ridge at 4600'.

The snow was a bit firm and steep just below the col at 5400', but fine without ski crampons.  The view of the steepish slope that we needed to traverse after leaving the col gave me pause.  It looked really steep!  I threw on ski crampons, though they really weren't necessary, and a pre-existing skin track made things easier.  The soft snow was well-enough behaved for our traverse.

We continued onward and upward, doing some heavy snacking at 6400' before continuing up to the base of the summit pyramid.  The views of Jagged Ridge and Mt. Baker did not disappoint.  The views of the summit and the sea of white below lured us on.  The summit itself looked steep enough to be impossible to climb.

Around 12:30 we made it to the base of the summit pyramid: 8400'.  I have to admit that getting there was a bit anitclimactic.  Clouds had started to roll in; enough to obscure views.  And we hadn't brought equipment (ice axe, rope, etc.) to go to the summit, since we figured we wouldn't have the time or energy to do so.  But it was still a wonderful day in a beautiful place.

As clouds near us started to get taller and closer, they helped motivate us to start moving from our lunching high-point.  Around 1:15 we started down; at about 2:30 we were taking our skis off at 4000'.  At 3:30 we were back at the car, trying to figure out what to do with ourselves and the rest of the day.  Enjoying the other awesome thing about June - the lack of mosquitoes - we lingered for about an hour at the trailhead, drinking our beer and ginger ale, doing some reading, even making a cell phone call.  (Yes, there was cell reception at the trailhead!)

What a fun day!