MtnHigh Posted April 8, 2004 Posted April 8, 2004 Climb: Rainier-Gib Ledges (yet another) Date of Climb: 4/5/2004 Trip Report: It turned out to be a weekend of climbing plans in continual flux. Ivan, Smokeshow and I planned on climbing the Nisqually Ice Fall on Sun/Mon. Smokeshow bailed before leaving his apartment, so Ivan and I left town Sunday morning, debating alternative Rainier routes. Shortly after arriving at Muir I met Girlclimber. She had taken up pernament residence in the hut (she had been there since Friday). Girlclimber and Skyclimb climbed the Ledges to the top of Gibralter on Saturday, but decended from there due to whiteout conditions. Within minutes after just meeting her I invited her to climb with us. Without hesitation she expressed interest. While waiting for Ivan at Muir, Winter, Jen and Jessica arrived from their Ingram climb. Nice climb guys. The new plan was to climb the Ledges in the morning. Alergies were putting the kabash on Ivan. He opted out early Monday morning as we packed for the climb. So what started out as a climb of the Nisqually with Ivan and Smokeshow, turned into a Ledges climb with Girlclimber. The Ledges were in good shape, but are nearing their end for this season. In the Ledges proper snow cover predominates, but it's thin in sections and none existant in others. The upper chute is a kick stepping workout. The weather was great, some high cloud cover, no wind, 10 degrees at the summit. Congratulations to Girlclimber on completing the route on her third attempt. It was great climbing with you. She rocks on the mountain. Photos are compliments of Girlclimber Just above Gibralter Little T and the long awaited sunrise Looking down at the top of Gibralter, the BeeHive (tower on the ridge) and Muir (just left of the Beehive Sunrise at 13,000' Looking south, Adams and the Goats in the background, Tatoosh's in the forground. Low elevation clouds moved in shortly after sunrise The snow bridge at about 13,200' is about to collape. Future climbs will have to skirt it to the left Gear Notes: The usual glacier travel grab bag Approach Notes: The Muir snow field is in prime skiing condition Quote
Winter Posted April 8, 2004 Posted April 8, 2004 Great job guys! Did you happen to rope up with this guy? Quote
turn_one Posted April 8, 2004 Posted April 8, 2004 thanks for waiting around for us at the hut monday. we returned hours after you had left. yeah, guess our speed ascent didn't go as planned however we did make it and enjoyed thoroughly. Quote
MtnHigh Posted April 8, 2004 Author Posted April 8, 2004 thanks for waiting around for us at the hut monday. we returned hours after you had left. yeah, guess our speed ascent didn't go as planned however we did make it and enjoyed thoroughly. We were keeping an eye on you guys once we got back to Muir. After a while we saw you descending the upper Ingram and then decided to head down. It must have been unconfortably warm on the descent. It was getting warm when we descended the lower mountain around 10am. Quote
turn_one Posted April 8, 2004 Posted April 8, 2004 yeah, warm enough to necesitate a couple of naps, figured we'd already blown our 'safety time window'. Quote
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