sweet day on rainier

[ivan]

spent 3 days on rainier, getting back last night

 

2 days fending off serious mountie hordes while my friend bowe and i practiced crevase shite w/ a big heavy sled in prep for alaska...moral of story: don't fall in a fucking crevasse w/ a sled...camped on the nisqually both nights, quite tranquil...highlight of this time was the mountie teacher screaming at student: "this is important...you need to be a lot more serious." whatdaya think you're doing this for, fun or something?

 

we took so much time practicing in the slots and not being serious we didn't move our camp up to hazard as we'd planned on sunday...instead we decided to do an alpine style climb and just do the whole fucking thing from 6000 feet...left at 1:30 a.m. shortly thereafter bowe came down w/ a chronic case of what we, in the south, refer to as "the trots" there aren't enough blue bags in this world to clean up all the mess bowe continued to deposit from there to 13k. enjoyed the approach to hazard at night as it's a welcome change from the muir snowfield...a marine layer of clouds formed at 6k and lasted the entire day reached the ice cliff and rather than run down the disaster zone to go around the corner, we cut strait across and climbed up an ice block, about 60 degrees, which cut a lot of time and sketchiness...motored up the chute on the left side of the cliff, with much help from huge incut footsteps...by the time we hit 12k the sun was out in full force...every step become more annoying and aggravating...by the time we hit the rocks at 13k we were pretty played out...altitude effects sucked...my head felt like it was about to spin off my shoulders...we were walking as fast as old people fuck...when we realized it had taken us 15 minutes to climb 100 feet above the rocks, and that the slush level of the snow had rendered crampons useless, we had to admit it was time to go down...bowe left one more present for the mountain god, and we descended...rather than reverse the ice block portion of the kautz icecliff we went down to the bottom, then i noticed a real short rock step that looked promising (we weren't exactly gonna be able to fly up the crash zone, and it was hot, hot)...turned out there was rappel rope already in place at said rock step, and we crawled up the break to rest in the sun (bowe crawled into the tiniest shadow on the mountain and contemplated vomiting) rest of the descent back to the nisqually sucked...very deep soft snow....lots of glisading, but my pants are so hammered they fill with snow after each slide...took a 2 hour nap at a stream at 9500, bowe with his head under the waterfall...made it back to camp 15 hours after leaving, packed the sled up then hauled it up the moraines...the final insult came at home when we discovered the liter bottle of olive oil we'd brought along had exploded in the sled pack, totally saturating the tent.

 

nice mountain...just a tad bigger to hood...running up it one night is a little more challenging

[Bug]

There is nothing funny about all the krap you left on the mountain for others to see, smell and eat. If you were a true mountaineer you would go back up there with a gross of blue bags and clean it up. Until then, you're summit does not count.

Next time eat more

Rookies!!!!!

[ivan]

shit happens

 

don't think i ever met a real mountaineer...i've resigned meself instead to be a jackass mountaineer...gonna print up my own t-shirt and everything

 

if you read the t.r. you'd notice the summit didn't count anyway, as we never made it (another symptom of the jackass avenger)

[rbw1966]

Walking about as fast as old people fucking? Dude, you need to get a TV or stop peeking in Trasks windows.

 

[Bug]

After ten years of not seeing my older brother anywhere but weddings and funerals, he and a friend came up to follow me up Rainier. I was to be the fearless guide and glacier skills expert. They drove up from Oregon and I drove down from Redmond to meet at Paradise in the morning. I grabbed a burrito at a quick stop and popped it into the microwave for the specified time and jumped back into my van. The first bite should have been enough. The outside was piping hot and the inside was frozen. Hungry already and needing carbs for the hike to Muir, I ate it down. Big mistake.

The rumbling began in the Paradise parking lot. As we passed the last outhouse I could no longer fart safely. As the day progressed, I visited every tree, stump and rock between Paradise and Muir. No time for blue bags. These were emergencies. My brother and his friend were a little concerned with their choice of guides. My brother descended 1500 ft to help me with my pack. They both thought I was totally out of shape and a complete idiot. By morning I had evacuated the exploding burrito completely.

We summited easily and they both had a hard time keeping up.

I was exonerated of all accusations except for multiple counts of defecating in public.

I need to be more careful with the tone of my posts. But just in case I forget, don't ever take me seriously.

[ivan]

Bug said:

But just in case I forget, don't ever take me seriously.

ya, bowe was in that dangerous fart zone too...think he's gonna have to throw them undies away

[JayB]

ivan said:

rather than reverse the ice block portion of the kautz icecliff we went down to the bottom, then i noticed a real short rock step that looked promising (we weren't exactly gonna be able to fly up the crash zone, and it was hot, hot)...turned out there was rappel rope already in place at said rock step, and we crawled up the break to rest in the sun

 

Good info. I want to make sure that I totally understand what you did though. Did you just keep descending straight down once you hit the base of the ice chute, then just veer to the (descending) climber's left once you cleared the intermediate rock band? How far below the chute is the rock band? Which side was the rope on?

 

I'm trying to piece this together based on what I remember of the route. The big picture - keep descending then climb the break on the left - makes sense but I can't quite place the rock band.

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

[ivan]

on the way down from the chute, homeward bound, descend to the level of the bottom tongue of the icefall, then cut strait across the debris path to the far wall (to the east, towards muir) the far wall is safe from ice/rock fall from the ice cliff, but itself could have rock fall from above (there's a real nice cave area though, big enough for two people, and a source of shade in the hot afternoon with a wild view of nature gone mad just a few feet away)

 

this area you cut strait across is at the same level where you'd turn the corner if you were climbing the route, had run down the debris path, and were then turning back up hill

 

once you've crossed to the eastern wall and are largely out of danger, stick tight to the wall and go downhill about 50-100 feet...i assume this area might form a moat in later season, as the rappel line that's fixed was locked into the snow and was protecting what was a pretty easy climb...the rock portion is a little awkward in crampons, but still simple...it takes you out onto a snowfield that connects over to camp hazard

 

we didn't see anything come crashing down from the cliff, but there's no shortage of evidence to the contrary in the blast zone...this way is definitely the fastest to cross danger area (i still think our variation on the way up was more enjoyable though)

[JayB]

Got it. Thanks for taking the time to spell that out for me. Definitely sounds like a much safer and more enjoyable way to exit the upper Kautz than slogging up the Chute O' Death underneath the icecliff. I'm not a real fan of unnecessary exposure to objective hazards, so the trip back under that thing was probably the least enjoyable part of the day for me, including the puking.

 

Thanks again,