The
main climbing route on Mount Rainier via Camp Muir and the Disappointment
Cleaver can be described as a "zoo". Not only this is
the most common route for climbers, tourist like to take the hike
up to Camp Muir and back as a day hike. The trail can be packed
with hikers shoulder to shoulder. On the other hand, the Kautz
Glacier route is less popular with climbers, and it requires that
one crosses the Nisqually Glacier with it's many open crevasses,
leaving the tourists behind.
After
crossing the Nisqually, our route ascended steeply to the ridge
above the Wilson Glacier, and we set up our first camp on a large
flat snow shelf at elevation of 7,800 ft. It rained on us a bit
that evening. Starting early the following day we continued up
the ridge along the edge of the Wilson Glacier and up through
the "Turtle Snowfield" to Camp Hazard.
They
say that camp Hazard is named after a person, but I think there
is more too it. Camp Hazard is located on a high ridge at 11,600
ft. The rock ridge continues for additional several hundreds of
feet to a point where it is covered by the open edge of the Kautz
Glacier. Looking from below, it is amazing that the entire glacier
doesn't simply come crashing down and cover the entire area, but
it doesn't, if flows to the left and to the right leaving the
ridge bare.
We
didn't plan to go all the way up to camp Hazard. It was a mistake,
which cost Ted his summit bid, but of course we didn't know that
at the time. Melting snow into drinking water is a laborious job.
We had spent a couple of hours every night doing just that. Near
camp Hazard there were 2 sources of running water, apparently,
glacier melt. Ted traverse the snow field to our right to try
to catch some of this water, and while collecting water some rocks
came tumbling down hitting his foot. Even though he was wearing
plastic boots, the injury was too great for him to feel comfortable
to push for the summit the following day. After watching the rock
fall activity for 2 days, I think the topography of the area creates
2 natural drainage paths, running either side of the ridge, which
supports the camp. These drainage paths carry everything the glacier
releases down the mountain, water melt, chunks of ice, and rock
debris. You want to collect the water; you are likely to collect
some rocks too. The camp itself is protected by the unusual topography,
but I understand that it does get hit every so often, hence, the
ranger recommends against staying there.
Friday
dawned clear and bright, but we didn't wait for dawn. We were
up at 2 AM and started climbing around 3:30. The route descends
a couple of hundred feet to skirt a long ridge of seracs then
climbs a steep chute on the other side. This is the crux of the
route. Estimates on how steep the chute is vary from 35 all the
way to 55 degree. My inclinometer showed 35 degree for the entire
chute and 42-44 degree for the steepest section, but it was icy.
We setup a series of fixed ropes in hopes of easing the climb
for some of the less experienced in our group, but they used only
one of them on the way up. Since I thought that self arrest in
the steep section of the icy chute was almost impossible, I set
up a series of running protections which where removed by Joe,
who was the last person in my group, except for those protections
which were also used for the fixed ropes. I wander; the other
rope team climbed one of the steep sections without any protections.
The chute in my mind is simply the back of the Kautz glacier.
At first look, it is no different then many snow chutes in other
places, but it is way too icy and broken up to be simply last
season's snow. There are many small cracks throughout, but nothing
more than an inch thick.
Above
the chute our route kept angling to the right till we finally
hit the Columbia Crest (the rim of Rainier's crater) at the same
point the standard RMI route does coming from the Disappointment
Cleaver route.
We
got to the summit around 10:00 AM. It was bright and clear with
visibility of several hundred miles in every direction. The temperatures
must have been in the 40s despite the light wind. We took pictures,
ate summit chocolate and headed down. Back in the chute, now soften
by the warm sun, everybody used the fixed ropes to rappel, and
I down climbed while Maxym gave me a belay from below. Down-climbing
was not terribly hard, except for the few spots where hard glacier
ice appeared unexpectedly through the snow. One group, which came
behind us, used a boot-axe belay to descend the steep sections.
Back
at camp by 3:30 PM, we decided to spend a 3rd night on the mountain
and descended back to Paradise the next morning.
Generally, this is not a very hard mountain to climb, but the
weather is the major factor. We were lucky this time. The following
day, the weather turned ugly again with high wind and thick clouds.
Participants: Huy Nguyen, Joe Budman, Maxym Runov, Nathan Trinknein, Paul Doulkas, and Ted Raczek. Leaders: George Van Gordon, and Ron Karpel.