Eric Gilbertson Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 (edited) Trip: Mount Rainier - Ptarmigan RidgeTrip Date: 05/28/2018Trip Report: We climbed Ptarmigan Ridge on Monday and found it much more melted out than reports from previous years. Sunday night we camped at the 10,300ft bivy sites below the climb. Monday morning we left camp at 5am and climbed continuous snow/ice to the traverse section. In the middle of the steep traverse is an unavoidable 30m section of exposed frozen mud and very thin ice to cross. The hourglass feature is melted out and requires 5m of mixed climbing. Rock fall occurred intermittently from the crumbling cliffs above the traverse and the hourglass. Snow continues above this to a small belay cave. Above the cave is a full pitch of WI3 with good quality and fun water ice. Snow continues above this, but turns to talus below the chimney. The two pins are still in place in a crack on the right side of the chimney. We topped out mid day, then hiked over Liberty Cap and Columbia Crest and descended down the Emmons. Gear Notes: 4 pickets, 6 screws, 60m ropeApproach Notes: Up and over St Elmo's Pass and across the Winthrop and Carbon Glaciers. Edited May 31, 2018 by Eric Gilbertson add pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthorman Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Nice job and thanks for the report! It sounds like you guys had a fun time up there. Crazy how much drier things are this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Nick Sweeney Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 Congrats! That route looks great! It's amazing how melted out things are. We were on Liberty two weeks ago and I felt that it matched up with typical July conditions for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 funny, i feel older but the route looks just the same... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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