President Weekend Climbing

[Mike_Gauthier]

This is the winter to climb Mount Rainier.

 

I've been getting route condition questions but don't have any specific information. The Kautz, Fuhrer Finger, Gib Ledges and Emmons looked great last week, but that was from the air. Those climbers who generally find Rainier to be a slog, may now find it to be more technical, difficult and interesting, as there is a lot more ice on most of the routes. The recent incident involving Ptarmigan Ridge is an excellent case. That route, normally a grade III/IV, is definitely a grade 5. Very icy from the onset, and a lot more challenging. If you're looking for some tough winter alpine climbing, Ptarmigan Ridge, Success Cleaver, or Tahoma Cleaver may be your routes.

 

As a reminder:

 

The weather looks great for climbing this weekend,

There is self registration on the front porch of the Paradise Old Station,

The public hut and outhouse at Camp Muir are accessible,

The road to Paradise has been opening rather early each day.

 

If visiting the mountain this weekend, have a great climb. I’d be very interested in any route reports.

[Couloir]

Hey Mike...any update on whether Chris lost any fingers or toes? Hopefully he's good to go.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Hey Mike...any update on whether Chris lost any fingers or toes? Hopefully he's good to go.

 

I know a relative of his... dropped him a note this week and he says Chris will probably not lose any digits.

[Mike_Gauthier]

I'd wait a while before making digit predictions... Chris is very hopeful and in excellent condition/spirits.

 

What a great weekend, went to Muir on Sunday. At least one team of 3 made the summit via the Ingraham Glacier. A few others were considering it on Monday. Hopefully someone will post some info.

 

There were nearly 75 (maybe more) skiers/boarders/snow-shoers on Sunday enjoying the perfect boot track to Muir. The snow was "OK", a bit firm, and some rocks were definitely exposed between McClure Rock and Pan Point.

 

I'm curious to hear how the guys attempting Little T did... Hope you post.

 

Nice to see so many backcountry users in the park on such a great weather weekend.

 

As stated, this is the winter to climb Rainier.

[climbingjosh]

Climbed Gib ledges 2/22 - 2/23. Found lots of hard snow and ice. The ledges had very hard snow all of the way across, the two sections that are climbed, were hard ice (only front points). Gib Chute, was variable, front pointing with a bit of kick stepping. From Camp comfort again we had changing snow, from short knee-deep sections, to lots of hard snow/ice.

 

We descended the Ingraham and found more ice. 3 or 4 sections, between 10 and 40 feet, front points again, down climbing 35-45 degrees. A lot of the ice was dinner plating.

 

Overall route finding was fairly straightforward. Between 13,000 and 11,000 ft on the descent there were some tricky sections. Lots of small slivers, and a few large crevasses.

[Kraken]

hey thanks so much for the TR. I'm STILL looking for partners to climb with. Come on people. Gib Ledges, sometime within the two week period of March 17-29. Who's in?!?!?!?

[Norman_Clyde]

Gib Chute, was variable, front pointing with a bit of kick stepping.

How does the chute look for skiing potential?

[climbingjosh]

Didn't look good, for us the snow/ice was real hard, only short sections of kick steeping. It also looked like there may have been some slides thru the chute. Couldn't really say for sure, maybe it softens up lower.