[TR] Rainier- Dissapointment Cleaver 7/15/2005

[Kraken]

Climb: Rainier-Dissapointment Cleaver

 

Date of Climb: 7/15/2005

 

Trip Report:

After getting blown off the Kautz last week, I was still itching to summit Rainier again, so on Wednesday, I headed back to Paradise and registered as a 'Hook Up Only' to climb to Muir.

 

On the way up, I met up with a few guys and we kept meeting up every now and then. I was carrying a heavy pack that weighed in excess of 50 pounds (tent, pickets, tools, food, etc) and it took me four hours on the dot to reach Muir.

 

I met up with a guy named Riley, who was in the group with the other two I'd met before. He quickly invited me to join his team (with me included it would be six in all) to climb the Dissapointment Cleaver.

 

I had never climbed that route and although it is known as the standard route, it sounded fun. The last two climbers in the team got up to Muir late, at about 10:45 PM, while the rest of us arrived 3 hours earlier.

 

Seeing as how these guys were going to be extremely tired, we opted to wait a full day and start our summit bid that next night.

 

Thursday was spent sunbathing and relaxing in the sun, it was an absolutely immaculate day. There wasn't a single cloud to be seen anywhere on the horizon in any direction. I got really burnt on my legs, threw rocks at the Camp Robbers all day, and watched the rockfall bombard the path under Cathedral Rock.

 

A shit ton of people came up that day, a bunch of teams attempting the DC. We knew some of them were going to be slow and we had to leave early. We finally decided to be up at 10:45 and on the trail by 11:45.

 

I never slept, just layed there. At wake up time I shook everyone up and we got ready. A team from Stanford college left before us...all nine of them. We left 15 minutes after they did to give them a headstart. By the time we reached Ingraham Flats to put our crampons on, we had been on their tails for five minutes. We couldn't get past them and ended up being stuck behind them for more than an hour...moving at a pace that would drive a slug crazy.

 

The rest of the teams were far below and we could see their lights at the Flats as we were on the Cleaver, at a practical standstill behind the Stanfordians in the rockfall area. Finally...FINALLY, we reached the top of the cleaver. The team stepped aside to change gear and we took a 30 second breather, then promptly stepped out in the lead.

 

There were several awesome crevasses on the route with skimpy snow bridges and it made for a little excitement. I once heard the bridge shifting under my foot...and thought how cool it was to be out there. Weird thought, I know.

 

I was roped in the back and Riley was in the front, as we were the strongest two climbers. The other four were pretty damn tired and slow moving, but we kept them going and held the lead by more than 1/2 mile. We later learned the Stanfordians turned around at the top of the cleaver.

 

We reached the crater rim a few minutes before 5:00 AM, just as the sun erupted over the Cascades. The amazing mountain triangle shadow spread out perfectly to the horizon in the west. It was quite a sight.

 

The trip down was uneventful, we passed a bunch of groups from 13,500-12,000 feet. At Ingraham Flats, an older woman greeted us on the route with a handful of Jolly Ranchers as a reward for our trip. It was great!

 

We arrived back at Muir at 9 AM, only to discover that the other guys' tents were gone...vanished...who knows. Turns out, they had blown away...all the way down the Cowlitz and into a crevasse. My tent was left standing since I had anchored it properly.

 

I packed up and wished them luck with getting their stuff out and rocked it all the way down the snowfield to Paradise in less than 80 minutes.

 

All in all, it was a fantastic climb. Never would I say it was a 'hard' climb in any aspects. It was however, a beautiful climb with incredible crevasses and seracs. I had more fun than I thought I would on it. I was just happy to be up on the mountain.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Pickets (never used them but could come in handy if a snowbridge is out)

 

Approach Notes:

There is tons of rockfall between Gibraltar rock and the Cathedral Gap. Move fast and watch out. Also, there was tons of rockfall scattered around the Cleaver, as is expected.

[graywolf]

Hey, which tent was yours? I had my daughter and a friend using my yellow Sierra Designs Omega Light tent, and I was in a green Bibler bivy. I think I heard you guys pull in Wednesday night while I tried to catch some sleep.

[Kraken]

Heh, I was in the green North Face Nebula and the other guys were in the yellow North Face Mountain 25 and a Walrus tent, on the east side of Muir. Hope we weren't too loud

[graywolf]

I think my daughter shared some of her freez-dried bacon and eggs with one of the members of your party (both of them said it tasted like yellow sponge bits).

[Kraken]

Ohhhh right yeah...I didn't see those eggs, but I heard about them...and I think I smelled them yesturday while roped up...ewwww

[Divot]

Great TR Clint, So whats on the agenda this week..

[Divot]

I mean climbing wise.....

[Kraken]

nothing this week unfortunately...I'm in Washington DC until Saturday, and back on saturday night. I'd like to do the Emmons once I get back and maybe do the Dissapointment Cleaver once more with another group of kids I met from Poland at Paradise. All in all, I just wanna be on Rainier/