[TR] Mount Rainier- Kautz Glacier 7/7/2005

[Kraken]

Climb: Mount Rainier-Kautz Glacier

 

Date of Climb: 7/7/2005

 

Trip Report:

I drove up to Paradise after a weekend of wakeboarding and debauchary at my lake cabin in Belfair. It felt good to be back in Washington. I felt a little sore from a few too many inverted wipeouts on the water that weekend and my head was still gathering the events of the past four days.

 

I arrived in Ashford to pick up a few last minute supplies from the Summit Haus. As I walked to my car, I noticed a big group at the RMI house with an older man standing tall above all others. I quickly recognized him as Lou Wittaker. I walked up and introduced myself and told him that I just so happened to be reading his book at the moment. It was nice to meet a man so renouned both locally and worldwide in the mountaineering scene.

 

At Paradise, I bumped into Andy, a fellow CC.comer (Soggyendo34) who I had climbed the Ledges with in March. I was thankful that he allowed me to crash in his room that night.

 

At 5 AM I met my partner, Mark (MarkyD) also a CC.comer in the parking lot and we quickly prepared to hit the trail.

 

By 5:45 we were off. We hiked up to Glacier Vista from the Skyline Trail and descended down the unmarked trail across the stream to the rocky moraine of the Wilson Glacier. We negotiated it quite easily without crampons.

 

Upon reaching the terminus of the Kautz Glacier we located the Fan and the rock gully on the left. We climbed the gully, which reminded me of the good ol' Alaskan 'Chugach choss'. It was a mixture of sand, dirt, and rock with little to no hold. It was like scrambling up a hill of oatmeal. While not hard, it was more of an annoyance.

 

We put our crampons on at the top of the gully and began the trudge up the Turtle. By this point, we were making decent time and contemplated several spots to set up high camp. We opted to stay at about 10,200 feet or so on a semi-protected rock band on the left of the Turtle.

 

We found an old bivy site with a wind wall constructed of rock. I rebuilt it a little since some of the rocks had fallen over time. We set up camp and marveled at the beautiful weather, wondering where and when the storm would come in which had been predicted.

 

We melted water behind a large protected rock and milled around camp. Wind began to pick up at about 4 and I was quite glad I'd brought my down jacket.

 

Wind really began to pick up more and more as the evening wore on. By 7 I was in my sleeping bag, and asleep. Wind was probably at about 35-40mph at this point. The weather was still clear, both the summit and Paradise were still visible.

 

I was awoken at 10 or so to see a lenticular cloud forming over the summit and knew that we were in for a rough night. I also knew that we were probably being robbed of a summit.

 

At 12:45 winds were insane, I was guessing at least 60mph. I was still sleeping but somewhat awake. I heard a huge gust of wind and the rockwall collapsed onto our tent. God knows how stong it had to be to knock it over. Outside it was hard to stand.

 

Our tent was being ripped apart. Poles were bending and we weren't sure we were going to keep hold of it. It was quite impressive. We guyed our tent out more and leaned against the walls as it ripped around in the gail force wind.

 

We saw spindrift coming off the summit and the lenticular forming even more. No summit this time.

 

At first light wind was still as intense as it had been. We hastily broke camp and could only imagine how heavy winds were higher up on the mountain, I'd guess in excess of 100mph.

 

We descended into heavy clouds as the weather moved in and soon preciptation was falling on us, soaking everything. Luckily I had good equiptment and clothes and was perfectly dry and warm underneath.

 

We arrived in Paradise and signed out. Rangers said Muir had winds at 65mph that night, and they were way more protected than our ridge was. Winds on our ridge had to reach at least 70mph, it was intense to say the least.

 

I count this as almost being as much fun as reaching the summit. I'd be suprised if anyone summited on Thursday July 8.

 

I'll come back to the Kautz soon and get 'er.

I'll be back on Rainier on Monday.

Pictures coming soon.

 

Gear Notes:

Ice screws (3)

Pickets (2)

Extra ice tool

Extra guy line for tent

 

(didn't get to use hardware since we were turned back by weather)

 

Approach Notes:

It's important to note features such as the Finger, the Fan, and specific ridgelines on this route. Not too hard to find, but in the whiteout that we had were glad we had made specific note of objects and features.

[thelawgoddess]

ah, yes ... that raging wind has robbed many folks. glad you're okay and not too bummed. looking forward to some pics ...

[Norman_Clyde]

Fairweather pointed out in the plane crash thread that your description of route doesn't add up. The first glacier you cross after Glacier Vista is the Nisqually. Next most parties ascend Wilson Gully to the west and follow Wapowety Cleaver to the Turtle. On this route you don't reach the Kautz till after high camp at 11K. The terminus of the Kautz is way to the west, usually reached via Comet Falls/Van Trump Glaciers.

 

Not trying to be an annoying nit-picker. Just trying to figure out which route you took.

[Kraken]

I took the standard route, may have misnamed hte glacier. You're right though, it would be the nisqually and wilson.