Shut down on the Kautz - Mt. Rainier 6/12-6/18/10

[J.Dub]

(Click here to skip all the blathering on and go straight to the pics.)


"Wow, there it is!" Paul said. "Cool!" I replied. From seats 30B and 30C, the mountain was off in the distance, but it was snow-covered and we had heard that you could see Rainier from the plane, so we were understandably excited. The woman in 30A (window seat) let us ramble on like a couple of schoolgirls for a few minutes before chiming in, "That's not Rainier...that's Adams. Rainier is farther ahead."

Mildly chagrined, we put away our Mt. Rainier map and returned to the time-killers of the in-flight movie, Sudoku- and crossword-puzzles until another mountain, farther away, appeared on the horizon. We were a little more reserved in our enthusiasm as we pointed it out to each other. Correctly so, it turned out, as our seat-mate told us, "That's Mt. Hood."

Of course! We knew that! (not....)

"Rainier will be right next to the plane, and you'll know it when we pass it," she told us. And right she was. About ten minutes later, the massive hulk of Tahoma appeared off the port wing, its base obscured by low clouds. As we passed by, we were able to pick out features that we'd learned about via books, maps and online photos -- Disappointment Cleaver, Gib Rock, Steamboat Prow, the Emmons and Winthrop glaciers, Curtis Ridge, Willis Wall, Liberty Ridge.

My overwhelming impression thus far? It's big!


Rewind to the fall of 2009, when my regular climbing partner Paul and I made the decision to make Rainier our first "big" mountain climb. (Living in New England, big mountains are in short supply here these days.) While we had both tackled peaks in the Adirondacks and Whites in winter and were comfortable with our winter climbing skills, this would be our first time on traveling on glaciated terrain, so we decided it would be prudent to go with a guide service.

After looking at the trips available with several reputable guiding services, we settled on International Mountain Guides -- run by owners Eric Simonson, Phil Ershler and George Dunn -- and sent in our applications and deposits to IMG. Rather than taking the Disappointment Cleaver (DC) "trade route" used by the vast majority of Rainier climbers, or even the second most-popular Emmons Glacier route, we opted for the much-less-traveled Kautz Glacier route, which features several pitches of 50deg ice climbing as its crux. As Paul and I both ice climb, we were actually looking forward to this part of the ascent, as well as the the fact that we would likely encounter many fewer people, as the Kautz route only gets something like 5% of the climber traffic. Our choice of route would come back to play a significant role in our trip.

Like many other folks, I made a New Year's resolution to get into better shape. It was much easier to stick to a workout and diet plan having the big goal of climbing Rainier looming over my head. I planned out a training routine that was a mix of aerobic (running), strength (freeweight circuit) and climbing-specific (long hikes with a heavy pack) activities. The program started out modest and would ramp-up over five months, peaking at the end of May to give myself a couple weeks of tapering before the climb. While I wasn't able to fit as much training as I would have liked in by late April and May, the foundation that I had built earlier in the spring served my well on the mountain, and I felt strong the entire time (as did Paul).

At last, our departure date arrived and, thanks to Paul booking us a 5:00A flight out of Newark , he picked me up at 2:30A. (And here I was, thinking that the alpine starts wouldn't begin until we were actually ON the mountain... <rolleyes>) Other than our excitement at seeing Rainier out the window on our approach, the flight out was uneventful. After landing at SeaTac, we humped our loads through the terminal over to the rental car counter. Along with a medium duffel bag, Paul wisely brought a large rolling suitcase, which made for an easier haul than my two-TNF-duffels-plus-overnight-bag carry. We picked up the rental car and drove down to Ashford, making a pit-stop at an REI en route to pick up a couple last minute items (such as isobutane, which is verboten to bring on the airplane).

The drive south through Seattle's suburban sprawl was interminably long -- it was Friday afternoon, after all, and, unfortunately, low cloud cover meant that we had no views of the mountain. We arrived at IMG world headquarters and checked in with Operations Manager Tye Chapman, who showed us to our tent. (IMG rents platform tents for climbers to stay in pre- and post-climb, which is a great service, IMO.)


Saturday, 6/12 - Crevasse Rescue Class - Day 1 (ground school at IMG)

As part of our trip, Paul and I signed up for a 2-day crevasse rescue class, as this was our first time on glaciated terrain. We had studied various techniques in FoTH and other glacier travel books but figured a hands-on workshop would be time and money well-spent, and we were right. On the first day, the two guides teaching the class -- Andy and Ben -- reviewed knot tying and gave us instruction on ascending the rope using Prussik loops, which is the simplest/easiest way to get yourself out, should you fall into a crevasse (or "going in the hole" in the guides' vernacular). While we could have done without the knot refresher, given that most of the rest of the dozen or so people in the class didn't climb regularly, we could see where it was helpful for them. After lunch, we walked through the basics of setting up pulley systems (2:1, 3:1, 5:1, 6:1 in Z- and C- configurations).


Sunday, 6/13 - Crevasse Rescue Class - Day 2 (fieldwork on Mt. Rainier lower slopes)

The following day, we took the IMG van up to the Paradise trailhead and hiked for about 20 minutes. On the opposite side of the trail from Glacier Vista we pulled up to a 30' or so cornice, which would be our stand-in for a crevasse on which to practice our pulley systems. Before that, however, we spent most of the morning learning about and building snow anchors, primarily in the form of nailed pickets and deadmanned pickets, with a snow bollard thrown in for good measure. (The heavy wet corn snow wasn't really conducive for putting in ice screws.) Paul and I were both amazed at how solid the snow anchors were -- both of us tried repeatedly to make them fail and couldn't, although if the snow conditions were loose, dry powder, things would have been a bit different.

Our practical exam came in the form of roping up as a pair, with a large duffel bag filled with 100lbs of wet snow as the "third rope team member," who had the misfortune of going in the hole . I was at the front of the rope, with Paul in the middle and "Baggie" at the end, perched at the lip of the cornice. Ben told us to turn around (backs to the cornice) and start walking as a team -- we taken all of one step when Andy heaved Baggie into the hole, yanking Paul off his feet. We both got into self-arrest position and were able to hold the fall. I eased up and let Paul hold the entire load while I built an anchor and set up a pully system, and then we hauled Baggie out together. (Fortunately, he wasn't hurt -- just a bit shaken up by his fall.)

 

[J.Dub]

Shut down on the Kautz - Part 2

Monday, 6/14 - Gear check/meet the team

We had planned to take and acclimatization/sightseeing hike up to Camp Muir on Monday morning, as gear check wasn’t until 2:00P. However, the weather was overcast and our motivation wasn’t tremendous, so we slept in and hung round IMG most of the morning, sorting photos on Paul’s laptop and availing ourselves of the WiFi hotspot in the lobby to send e-mails to friends and family. Some of the other team members started arriving and we met a few of them in the lobby. Talk soo turned to the conditions on the mountain, which were not looking promising. Rainier had been experiencing a very wet spring, and the snowpack on the upper mountain was described as a winter/spring snowpack, not a typical mid-June one. Another topic was the massive avalanche that had occurred just days before we came West. While the avalanche was on a different part of the mountain (Ingraham Glacier) than our route, it was a big one, and it caught 11 climbers in its path. Ten of them had been rescued by the time of our climb, but the 11th still hasn't been found.

In happier news, it turned out that Ben and Andy -- our crevasse school instructors, who Paul and I already hit it off with -- were two of the four guides on our Kautz climb, the other two being Brian (lead guide for this trip) and Erica, both of whom we met at gear check. The rest of the team came from all over the country, and all had at least some experience on fourteeners, if not summits. We made some smalltalk and started to get to know each other a little bit as we sorted gear and packed (and re-packed) our packs. IMG has a well-stocked gear room, with just about anything a mountaineer could need available for rental or purchase. Fortunately, my kit was well sorted out and I didn't need to rent anything. All the climbers were issued the famous "blue bags," with which we would be containing our solid waste and packing it back down off the mountain (per Mt. Rainier National Park regulations). As hikers/climbers, Paul and I were certainly familiar with taking care of business out-of-doors, but this was the first time either of us had to haul our crap (literally) with us!


Tuesday, 6/15 - Paradise (5,400') to Camp 1 (7,500')

Tuesday morning we awoke to the sound of....wait for it....RAIN! Yes, after several days of nice weather, the trademark PNW precipitation greeted us as we poked our heads out of the tent. Our excited mood on the van ride up to the Paradise trailhead was tempered a bit by the weather, but there was still a fair amount of chatter going on, and guide/chauffeur Ben told stories about some of his climbs in South America and the Himalaya. At the Paradise visitor's center, we donned our plastic mountaineering boots (bidding adieu to our comfortable shoes for the remainder of the week), shouldered our packs and started up the trail in fog and light drizzle.

After about a half-hour of hiking, we dropped down onto the Nisqually glacier, which required us to rope-up. Erica must have drawn the short straw in the guides' meeting, as she got Paul and me as her ropemates. It was our first time doing roped glacier travel, but it's not rocket science. Really, there's only one thing you need to worry about -- managing the slack in front of you. If you let too much slack build up, it can A) cause you to trip over the rope or B) cause a longer fall if you punch through into a crevasse. If the rope is too tight, however, (called "short-roping") you can be pulled off balance by your rope mate.

Traveling roped-up through more snow/fog/whiteout conditions, we played the "follow the snake" game...i.e., watching the black-and-yellow striped rope slither through the wet snow. We did have one exciting moment when Rob punched through into a crevasse up to his hip, and had to contort himself into some Gumby-esque positions in order to pull his leg out. While Rob put himself back together, Ben scouted further up the glacier and reported finding a crevasse that we would have to skirt around, which we all did without further incident. By late afternoon, we arrived at the location for our Camp 1 and started digging out tent platforms while the guides set up the "kitchen" and started making dinner. As part of the IMG package, breakfasts and dinners were provided, while we were on our own for lunches/snacks. I have to say that the guides did a great job cooking for us, the food was tasty and there was plenty of it. After dinner, we had our "hots" (tea, cocoa, coffee), topped up our water bottles and turned in for the night.



Wednesday, 6/16 - Camp 1 (7,500') to High Camp (9,400')

The next morning we awoke to about 3" of new snow. After getting some breakfast and much-needed coffee, we struck camp and headed up towards the Shark's Fin, a rock formation that looks like, well, a shark's dorsal fin when viewed from Glacier Vista. The additional accumulation and warm temperatures didn't do anything to improve the snow conditions, so we continued to post-hole our way up the Nisqually. Once we got onto the ridge above the Shark's Fin, the footing was somewhat better, and as we broke through the low clouds and fog into the bright sunlight, our spirits picked up, even if the heat sapped a bit of our strength.

We approached Castle Rock, a rock formation near the bottom of the Turtle snowfield, which was to be our location for High Camp. In another turn of good luck, a guided group from Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. had used the same camp the previous night and it was now vacant. This meant we could use the already established tent platforms that the RMI folks dug, with just a little bit of clean-up. It was much less work than the full-scale excavation that we had done at Camp 1, which was good, as that meant we could set up, have dinner and get to bed a little more quickly. The guides whipped up a big, honkin' pot of spicy Thai noodles -- interesting choice for dinner before summit day, I thought at the time -- with some pre-cooked General Tso's chicken nuggets tossed in. It was a tasty combination of Asian flavors, though by the third helping I was starting to get stuffed. (Andy and Ben quickly learned that if there was extra food to dispose of, they could usually count on me to have an extra plateful or two, or three, for the greater good.)

 

[J.Dub]

Shut down on the Kautz - Part 3

Thursday , 6/17 - Summit Day

Starting summit day with less that two hours sleep wasn't something I was planning to do. After dinner, we climbed into our tents around 7:00P, though it was closer to 7:30P by the time I got settled into my bag. Paul was already starting to doze off while I tried to calm my thoughts enough to allow for sleep -- the excitement of the impending summit climb had me pretty wired-up. Unfortunately, just about the time I was able to fade off into dreamland, Mr. Sniffles showed up.

Now, Paul claims it was due to the altitude or that he was 'flushing keytones" out of his system or some other crock of you-know-what. But all I know is that, from about 8:00P to when we woke up at midnight, he would sniffle about every thirty to sixty seconds, thus keeping me from ever falling asleep for an extended period. Really, I love the guy, but at this point I wanted a different tent-mate! <shock> Midnight arrived much too early. We got dressed and had breakfast, and pulled out of camp around 1:30A, roped up with Ben this time. One of the team didn't feel like he would be able to make the summit, so he stayed in camp. Andy lost the rochambeau with Erica and ended up on babysitting duty, while the rest of us headed to the upper slopes. Mercifully, the snow conditions were firm and we had none of the postholing nonsense that plagued us lower on the mountain.

The first part of the climb out of High Camp was surreal. We were all climbing by headlamp with very little in the way of conversation...just the snick-crunch-crunch sound pattern of our ice axes and crampons against the firm snow. While we were three rope teams traveling together, the quiet, the dark and the calmness of the night allowed one to exist within their own six-foot circle of illumination. We switchbacked our way up the edge of the Turtle and reached the Rock Step at just about dawn.

The Rock Step was an important landmark, as we would be lowered down about 30' onto the Kautz Glacier and then have severl pitches of steep ice climbing before the angle mellowed out higher up. In our pre-summit bid meeting the day before, the guides spelled out that this would likely be the last individual turnaround point (unless the entire team had to turn around due to poor conditions or injury, etc.) Once we dropped in, we were committing to a long summit day. Paul and I were both feeling strong, even after the four-hour climb from High Camp to get to this point, and felt confident that we could finish out the 12-16 hour summit day. Unfortunately, the mountain had already made our choice for us -- we were going no higher.

The team stomped out platforms in the steep slope to sit an take a break while the guides checked out the conditions. Things didn't look good -- what should have been a 30'+ lower to the glacier was essentially a walk-across, as the Kautz Chute was filled with about 25' or more of snow. While the snow may have been solid enough for us to get up to the summit, by the early afternoon when we would be decending the Chute, the avalanche risk would have been off-the-charts. And, being in a gully, any avy would likely have swept the entire team off to our demise. So, we turned around at 11,300' and headed back down to High Camp. Was I disappointed? A little. But the rest of the trip had been going so well that the summit really didn't matter all that much. (Plus, not summiting provides a GREAT excuse to come back and climb Rainier next year!)

Upon returning to camp, Paul immediately crawled into his sleeping bag -- without so much as taking of his shell jacket -- and promptly fell asleep. I stripped off my shell and lounged a bit in the tent, dozing intermittently. As the sun rose in the sky, the tent grew ever warmer. Every 15-20 minutes I needed to take off another layer, until it got so warm that I was laying on top of my bag wearing nothing more than my briefs and boot liners. (Scary outfit, that!) After a couple hours of stewing in his own juices, Paul finally stirred and, upon waking, got an unfortunate eyeful of my pasty whiteness. Shocked at my lack of clothing, he assumed I was trying out for a mountaineer beefcake calendar!

Naps done, we needed to decide what to do with the rest of the day. One option would be to move camp lower down on the Nisqually, to make for a shorter hike out the following day. However, that would mean spending the afternoon/evening down in the clouds/fog layer below us, which nobody really had much interest in. So, we decided to stay put at 9,500', enjoying the sun and the views. Brian offered to show the group how to build snow anchors. Since Paul and I had just spent a full day doing this as part of crevasse rescue school, Andy offered to show us some advanced techniques and let us practice our skills. We both jumped at the chance...literally, into a moat next to Castle Rock!

We spent the next several hours practicing crevasse rescue for two-man rope teams (which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be), as well as learning some tips and tricks on how to improvise anchors, rachets and ascenders based on what gear one has available. It was extremely useful -- now I just hope we don't forget it all before winter, when we'd be practicing this stuff! After crevasse rescue practice, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the rest of the team and just relaxing. After yet another delicious dinner from the guides, we had our hots and bedded down for our final night on Mt. Rainier.


Friday,6/18 - High Camp to Paradise to IMG HQ

The next morning, the cloud layer had risen to somewhere around 13,000', giving us our first glimpse of Paradise and the rest of the valley since we had been on the mountain. As the clouds were moving in from the northeast, the morning sun lit up the leading edge, resulting in some cool photos. We could see the Paradise visitor center and the road snaking down into the valley, though both were pretty tiny, illustrating just how high up we were. We ate breakfast and proceeded to strike camp, making sure not to forget our used, and now frozen, blue bags (or, as I preferred to call them "Crapcicles").

Roping up with Erica again, we started our descent. After the first half-hour or so of firm snow conditions, as we descended lower and the sun moved higher in the sky, we once again found ourselves in postholing hell, often punching through up to our knees and occasionally up to our hips. Several of the other rope teams were moving slowly, as one team member had some issues with spasming quadriceps and another got very fatigued from postholing deeply with nearly every step. My trick of stepping in our previous footsteps from our ascent (which had firmed-up thanks to two days worth of freeze-thaw cycles) yielded much better footing than trudging along through virgin snow.

After several hours, we came off the Nisqually and were able to unrope. We made the short uphill climb to Glacier Vista and then followed the well-worn trail back down to Paradise. One extra bonus on our descent was passing a pair of marmots just a few feet off the trail. They had come our of their winter burrows and one was sitting in a tree branch sunning himself (and probably wondering about all the weird hoomans in their brightly-colored clothing and big backpacks holding little digital cameras up to their faces). Reaching the Paradise visitor center, we took off our packs for the last time (a most wonderful feeling, that...) and deposited our blue bags in the trash barrel used exclusively for that purpse. And, almost as welcome as putting on my comfy low hikers after four days in my plastic mountaineering boots was the cooler full of sodas and snack bags of potato chips waiting for us in the IMG shuttle van.

Upon arriving back at IMG HQ, we spread out our gear on the lawn to dry out, took our first showers in four days, snapped team photos and generally enjoyed the post-climb high. One-by-one, folks started heading out and we said our goodbyes. Paul and I were driving back to Seattle that afternoon, to catch a Saturday morning flight, so once our gear was (mostly) dry, we re-packed it one final time and loaded up the rental car. After tipping the guides, trading e-mails and business cards and saying our goodbyes, we drove north, discussing the climb in detail during our ride, which we often do when coming home from climbing trips.

Once we had mobile phone coverage again, I called my wife and gave her a brief synopsis of the week (which probably took less time than it took you to read all this, LOL). At the end of our conversation, she posed the question she was probably dreading to ask: "So...<long pause>...how long before you're gonna want to do this again?"


"Soon," I replied...


Full photo album.

 

[mirabela]

Great report. Good luck with maintenance of skills & fitness, and on your return!

 

[Darl58]

Thanks for sharing such a detailed report!
Love all the pics, amazing shots!!!

It's not always about the summit, does give us reason to return to the Mountain and with a little more knowledge and expectations.

 

[Chip]

Great report. Glad everyone was safe, it's been a bad season there this year.

 

[dangergirl]

Your pictures are awesome! They really came out nice! It looks like you had an awesome time! Some of my most memorable and warmest memories are from the times we didn't summit!

 

[leaf]

good stuff. thanks for sharing!

yeah, i think i slept 2 hours myself before summit day.. but it was more my nerves then tent-mates that kept me up!

now to plan for the return, eh?

 

[Chugach001]

Great story and photos. I've been on Rainier twice and have yet to get above the crater's lower rim.

Enjoy your return trip.