Climb: Mt Rainier-Kautz Glacier
Date of Climb: 8/11/2006
Trip Report:
Bill (ClimbingPilot) and I decided that we wanted to do a Rainier climb on some route other than DC or Emmons to avoid the crowds. Based on the time of year and our climbing interest, the Kautz Glacier got the thumbs up.
I had contacted the climbing station after reading Phillip Edmonds report for additional beta. Both Phillip and Andy, who had climbed a few days earlier, were extremely helpful and kudos to the Climbing Rangers at Mt. Rainier. They had just done a work climb and had cleaned up camp sites and taken out garbage in addition to climbing the route and providing first hand information.
We left Portland on 8-11 around 4AM to get permits and such at 7AM when the station was open. With permits in hand and fresh info on camp sites, we headed out with the intent on a carryover and doing the DC back. Plan A was to climb and carry over and out the next day, Plan B was to climb over and spend a night at Muir.
We crossed the Nisqually Glacier and got up to the Wilson via the fan. This was simple route finding exercise and the fan was relatively free of rock fall. I took advantage of running water to top up. We made our way to the recommended campsites and set up camp at 10,900 feet. This site and several others lower all had running water. Choosing 10.9 seemed like a good idea so we would be really close to the fixed line and start of climbing in the AM. The campsites are really in good shape. On top of this, outtside of a couple of climbers from Durango who were heading down, and a group on a longer term stay from RMI, we saw no other traffic.
Like all good ideas, the difference between theory and reality can be a gaping crevasse. We decided to hit the fixed line at sunrise. Our optimistic plan said that we could get up at 4AM, break camp and be on our way before sunrise. Instead we left camp with all our gear at 5:30AM. So we were a bit behind form the start, but not drastically so.
We descended the notch with the fixed line choosing to rap with our rope and managed to hang the rope up, so we fiddled around there too long, and then proceeded to pass by the ice cliffs post haste.
The lower chute was fun with solid sticks and a good warm up angle. We made good time up this section and headed to the steeper and longer chute. This section was more challenging, especially with a pack. However, I had enough adrenaline, oatmeal and Gu to carry me through. I led two pitches and then we did a running belay when the angle mellowed. I think that a more experienced party could do running belays the whole climb. The second chute had some very steep ice (and it was all ice), but plenty of good rest spots to set pro. Somewhere around 12,200(ish) the angle really tapered off substantially.
We followed some pronounced boot track up to the summit plateau area, and by then the sun had warmed things a lot. We were in (poly) T-shirts and really warm. Unfortunately this meant the snow was really soft too, and moving got slower. We got to the plateau and the winds kicked in, and more layers came on. The summit was pretty chilly and I went from short sleeves to an insulated jacket.
We descended the DC; it’s pretty hard to miss it right now! Back to the car late and back to Portland for a 3 hour drive to end a long day of climbing. Good job Bill for managing to be more alert than I.
The Kautz is in good shape and we had a great climb. I don’t have any decent pictures to post since I only took a few and they were not of the climbing since we focused on the climb. We set no speed records, but again we did have an awesome time and this was one of the most enjoyable routes I’ve done. The weather of course cooperated perfectly which helped immensely.
Gear Notes:
Standard glacier travel stuff. 2 Ice Tools. 8 ice screws (way too many).
Don't be shy about wearing your helmet a lot, there is plenty of rockfall all over.
Approach Notes:
Good straight forward approach via the fan. Bivvy sites are pretty obvious and most have running water now.
