Alex_Mineev

Ok, I am going x38 after work this Thursday with a friend. I want to climb prefferably a topropable route in the range 5.6-5.8; We've never been there. Which route(s) would you recommend and how far are they from the parking lot and a brief description of approach or a book that has approach would be very much appreciated! Thanks Alex

You'd have to get this permit: http://www.nps.gov/mora/climb/solo.htm

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB5&Number=216401&Main=210169#Post216401

In good weather this is just a hike, nothing more. And far not the best one due to crowds. If it's going to be a weekend you will always be surrounded by people going/skiing both ways. Most likely hut will be crowded with climbers arriving and leaving and cooking and talking all the night - I'd recommend taking a tent.

Decision to turn back at 1pm probably saved us from a lot of trouble on descent. Summit does not worth the trouble. And I've been on the summit two times this year. If we only had one more day...!

This time of year you can go anyway you want. Normal way is to climb to camp Hazard and then turn left and down for a hundred feet, then turn right and up on 45 degree slope. In the morning hours this would be quite safe and easy. I did not want 'easy' I wanted the cliff. There is also a climbable shelf / ramp on the right side of the cliff 50-60 degree. But I am not sure how it tops.

Climb: Mt Rainier-Kautz Glacier Date of Climb: 5/9/2004 Trip Report: Left Paradise (hm… I like this phrase) at noon. Decided to climb directly to the turtle by traversing Nisqually/Wilson glaciers. It took us 6 hours and a half to reach the base of the turtle (9600ft). All the way to the base we climbed in clouds which made routefinding on the glacier quite interesting. We stopped couple times to wait out thick whiteout in order to make another move between crevasses. Broke thru the cloud deck at 9300ft. There were two big rocks below the turtle (they are very distinctive if looking from the Nisqually glacier). We found a really cozy, flat and protected spot on the lee side of the highest rock. Occasionally clouds rolled in bringing wind and snow, but in general it was clear from our spot up and we could see high winds blowing snow from the summit. Woke up at 3. This was the best night view I ever saw on the mountain. Bright moon, clear sky, white Mountain, thick clouds 2000ft below with Adams, St Helens and Hood in a bluish glow. Left tent at 4.30. Started climbing guts of the ice cliff with the first light of sun. Made two belay stations while on the cliff. Ice was not very good (at least as I expected). Typically it took three hits to securely stick the tool. Aaron leaded with his usual grace. Blue monsters around were constantly crackling making us a bit nervous. Exited ice cliff few minutes after 9 and had a rest for a breakfast. This was the end of the fun part. Starting from 12500ft things began to deteriorate. Aaron got slight AMS, Louise was also touched by altitude so I was the only one to break the trail. The traverse to the Success Point was getting more and more exhausting to me. Sometimes it was 2-3 feet deep powder over melt-freeze ice crust, some times just the bare crust. At 13k Aaron decided to get off the rope and wait for us. We agreed to turn back at 1pm. Later this decision proved to be very correct. The slope slowly reached 40 degrees. I was quite pushing my limits after non-stop breaking trail for 1500ft. At about 14k I did only 4-5 steps between rest-breaks. On each break I put my forehead on top of the ice ax. Each time I closed eyes I felt instantly falling asleep being on the verge of consciousness. Not good, I thought. Loosing balance on this slope would not be fun. It was 1.06pm and 14067 on my altimeter when I decided to turn back. Oh, well… a hundred feet to the summit… Soon we reached Aaron who was dozing in harmony in a little trench on the shining slope. Descended to 12k uneventfully. Wandered for an hour trying to find entrance of the ice chute that descends below the Camp Hazard. The chute with the exit to the Camp Hazard was the most dangerous part of the whole climb. The first problem was snow balling, worsened by the fact that the balling material was the snow powder lying on a stone-hard crust. The second problem was temperature. Rocks falling from the nearby cleaver launched few substantial wet snow avalanches while we were descending the chute. Aaron and I glissaded in self arrest position; Louise fought with snow balls descending face-to-slope (she used Grivel untiballing plates that did not seem to be helping much). The exit from the glacier to the Camp Hazard looked amazing. Huge ice cliff above. Constant sound of dripping water. Huge blocks of blue ice here and there. There was a crevasse in the beginning of the exit chute. It was full of blue ice blocks and red rocks and looked like a cup of candies. For a couple minutes we contemplated climbing rock on the left side of the chute just below the camp, then decided we were too tired for it (I think it was not right decision. Rock looked like 20-25 feet of low 5 class, quite doable). So we climbed Russian Roulette. We Were Lucky! It took us about 15-20 minutes to get out of the chute. We were sitting just above it on the rock of Camp Hazard taking off crampons when a bunch of stones and ice rumbled down. One particularly big stone whizzed nearby and crashed right on top of our boot track. It proved that camp was a real HAZARD and we quickly moved away. Got back to the tent at 5.30, melted ice, had tea, packed and started descent. Followed our boot tracks. I punched thru soft snow into crevasses 4-5 times. Louise had most of the problems with these crevasses since I was quite heavy and broke the bridges and she had to jump over which was hard after the climb and having a full backpack. If she was going first then probably at least one of us could pass them without dropping, but we were too tired and busy running down to stop and rearrange rope positions. Reached the right side of Nisqually at the moment when it became completely dark. This was the end of the climb and beginning of the sufferfest. Aka field of frozen boot tracks - half foot deep frozen holes all the way to the parking lot. Dancing under heavy packs on numb legs three flashlights slowly moved towards Paradise. Surely we missed a turn in the darkness and had to go back uphill to get on the fcking 'trail'. Reached the car at 10.30pm. We saw 5 deers on the way out and I saw a few visual hallucinations before Aaron took the wheel somewhere near Tacoma and I crashed asleep. Wow! What a climb! My best one so far and my first ice experience I lost 7 pounds in 34 hours. 3am is too late. 1am would be just right. Any solution for untiballing would make you very happy on descent. 3 days seems to be more appropriate for this route. Approach via Nisqually/Wilson glaciers is melting really fast. Gear Notes: two tools, one picket per person, 4 ice screws

I think that another good option would be to hike to Anvil Rock and break off across Cowlitz Glacier just below the rock. That way you spend less time on glaciers and gain most of the approach elevation using the beaten trail.

Yes, that's the gully above the Kitchen

Do you guys think Devils Kitchen is in good shape? I am going to give it a try this Sunday...

3 days ago when I did Gib Ledges at about 5.30 I did not see or hear anything falling. Although I did see a lot of killer stuff that was ready to fall like big icicles hanging right above the trail...

What a stupid questions I used to ask!

http://www.pentaxusa.com/products/cameras/camera_overview.cfm?productid=18047

Nice tr, Tom! You know I could not write it better Thanks for the 'platforms' Regarding the rainfall in the hut - it started at about 9pm and was caused by warm air produced by stoves that run almost constantly till 10-11 pm... Next time I would stay closer to the snowman or sleep in the tent. Great climb but it's melting out rapidly. I can only imagine how good it was few weeks ago with more snow. Tom and Aaron: Crater rim:

Snow was very good before noon. At noon it turned to slash that was sliding down here and there - quite scary, especially on the east face that we used to descent.

http://www.winisp.net/al%5Fmineev/Hikes/20040403McClellanButte/descr.htm

What is TNF? The North Face? web site?

IMHO slack is never good. The amount of time it gives you is 'compensated' with greater force you'll have to hold. Also, I can not imagine how would you keep that slack? Hold the coils with one of your hands? If you do this you are not climbing steep terrain cause otherwise you'll need both hands. If glacier is not steep lack of slack let's you pull the victim before he falls too far...

Chris, check PMs

No, it is not safe. Find a rope mate.

1) Do what Bug says. 2) Take Crevasse Resque class by RMI This would be few times cheaper and will give you the exact skills you want (but hopefully will not need on the summit day). 3) Go Emmons. No rockfall. Fri/Sat. There will be crowd but it will be less than Sat/Sun. This plan brought me to the summit year ago.

Wise man. Either this or balls diameter. Don't know...

I climbed the couloir on Sunday up to the summit block but did not summit. The rock looked a little bit too exposed and I was solo and if I did it it would be my first time experience climbing real rock outside of gym... So I spent about an hour traversing left and right under the summit block trying to make a decision. Seen both the 5.6 and 4 class variations, touched the rock and even put my ice ax in the pack ... and decided to not take the risk of a couple hundred feet fall. Down I climbed face-to-slope til the angle decresed to 40 degrees... I'll make it. Next time. When not alone