[TR] Mt Rainier- Disappointment Cleaver 7/13/2005

[snowball]

Climb: Mt Rainier-Disappointment Cleaver

 

Date of Climb: 7/13/2005

 

Trip Report:

Arrival Day

11 July 2005, Monday:

 

Came solo to the mountain. A few days sooner it was raining up higher so i waited until today. Got a Hook-up permit and went up to Camp Muir. Got there late in the day because i had a great lunch at the Copper Creek Inn near Ashford. Walked around the tents and the first 2 people i saw were Wil (30) and his girlfriend (25, Lehia?) whose name i could never remember so i never tried to say it again. Nice couple.

 

Asked them if they could use another person on their rope team. They said sure but Wil said he only had a 30 ft rope. Hummm. Bit short on rope in my book, but i said i had full 60m 9.2mm rope we could use. Asked them if they were climbing that night. No, they wanted to climb the following night and use tomorrow (12 July 2005) as a rest day then summit. I walked around camp and setup my tent site near the Stone Muir bunk cabin. Fresh snow from 2 days ago made for good snow walls and melting for water. Got to sleep around 930pm. Windy all night. Heard climbing teams leaving for the summit that night at midnight.

 

 

 

Rest and Training Day

12 July 2005, Tuesday:

 

Wil and his girlfriend had never climbed the mountain before so i told them what to expect. I also asked them if they had any glacier rescue training before... They said yes but didnt really recall all the procedures. So i went over the basics of roping up. I would lead, the girlfriend would be in the middle, and Wil would anchor. Rope spacing was 25ft between each of us. I figured there would be no way they would remmeber how to set up a Z-pulley or C-Z-pulley (my preference) in case a rescue was necessay, so i focused on reviewing with them the primary requirement of a crevasse fall: SETTING THE ANCHOR FROM SELF ARREST POSITION.

 

We went over this many times on the Colwitz glacier right in front of camp muir. Since they had no pickets or flukes or ice screws, i loaded them half of the hardware i had brought up with me. So now they were set. Part of the mock rescue involve me pulling full force on the rope with them jumping into self-arrest, then Will and his girlfriend settting an anchor. They got good at it and i figured they would be able to save my life if i went into the hole. About 1/3 of the teams returning from the summit bid made it to the top. Not bad. RMI started taking teams up the DC instead of the Ingraham Direct after that RMI 4-person accident happened 4 days sooner. I went to sleep at 6pm. We would wake up at 1030pm and leave for the summit at midnight.

 

 

Summit Day

13 July 2005, Wednesday:

 

Camp muir: Woke up at 1030pm. All stars and almost no wind. Tonight was a good night. For breakfast i drank a liter of my favorite hot drink: International Coffee instant coffee which has a TON of sugar and caffine in it (read energy). We roped up and were the 2nd team across the Colwitz, then at Cathedral Gap we passed a team of 2. We were now the first team headed up to Ingrahams Flat. Wil's girlfriend expressed concern of down climbing all the loose rock at the Gap. I told her we would have shorten the rope for her and keep it tight in the return.

 

Ingrahams Flat: Teams were just waking up. We rested for 10 minutes by one of the camps. Drank water. Wil ate a powerbar which he shared with his girlfriend. We kept moving and the route was wanded to the base of the Cleaver. I had previously climbed the Cleaver but i knew it was always different so i was wide awake as we approached the Cleaver.

 

The Cleaver: There was a fixed rope in the ice/rock that RMI had installed. We clipped in and moverd accross the deathfall that loomed to the right precipice. The fixed rope ended and we continued the traverse of darkness. Then a new fixed rope appeared along narrow snow ledge with another precipice to the right. Fun... The Cleaver was mainly snow 30-40 degrees. Our pace slowed considerably on the cleaver. The light tracks that followed us were now right behind us. Wils girlfriend was slow. Teams started to pass us by breaking trail to the side of the boot trail. Then they stopped to rest. I started to pass on one side by breaking trail as well. Then Wils girlfriend expressed concern about not climbing in the boot track. She felt unsafe on the slopes. This would prove to be the issue that kept us behind slow teams all day. We started to climb a wanded route that went directly up the rocky spine of the Cleaver. She expressed concern about climbing on rocks with crampons esp given the wind that morning. So i had Wil downclimb a 30 degree (Class 2) rocky slope back to the boot track in the snow. I kept him tight then Wils girlfriend followed, then i followed. We were back on the snow moving a descent pace again, until we ran into the many climbing teams now all around us.

 

Top of the Cleaver: Daybreak. Beautiful. I took pictures. Many many team stopped at the rocky outcrop at the top of the Cleaver. I pulled out my parka to keep warm. Will and his girlfriend shivered in their wind shell jackets. They apparently did not have any parka with them. They didnt think it was going to be as cold as it was. I wasnt that hungry but i ate my Goldfish and Cadbury chocolate bar with nuts. Will girlfriend expressed concern downclimbing the snow slopes in the Cleaver. I let her know the hardest climbing was over and we would keep here tight on the descent. Time to move on...

 

Crevassed Slopes above the Cleaver: LOG JAM. Teams waited behind teams in the boot track to the summit. But few teams passed each other. We waited then moved, then waited, then moved. It was quite silly. A party of 2 passed everyone off the boot track and kept a stong pace until they disappeared... I convened a team meeting. "If we are going to make it up there, we need to pass teams off the boot track. This will get us up there early and we can descend while the snow and bridges are still cold. Are you good with this?" "Okay..." So we got off the boot track. Broke trail. Snow was hard then icy then soft. Fun. I kept the pace strong and they followed suit. We started passing teams. 1 team, 2 teams, 3 teams, 4..... "Wait! I am not comfortable off the trail. Lets get back on it...." We lost our lead and were back where we started. Oh well.

 

Columbia Crest: We reached the crater around 9am. We unroped. I ran to the summit. Took some pictures. Signed the summit book. Wil came up 10 minutes later. His girlfriend stayed at the crater.

 

Descent: Uneventful descent. We reversed our climbing order. Wil was first, his girlfriend was inthe middle, i was last. At the top of the Cleaver we rested. I took a solid 10minute nap. I was sound asleep and loved it. Ate a Jolly Rancher and removed all my layers except my base. I felt the first steep snow slope on the Cleaver could be soft (with a deathfall just beyond) so i had us descend the rocky spine of the Cleaver to get past those slopes, then we moved back onto the Cleaver's snow slopes for the rest of the descent. Clipped the fixed ropes again. Snow was soft across Ingrahams Flat. We short roped thru the rocky descent at Cathedral Gap. Quickly waled across the Colwitz back to Camp Muir. Back by 2pm.

 

Good summit day all around. Colder weather than my previous climbs up the mountain. I think every team summited that day (approx 40 people).

 

Gear Notes:

1 60m rope 9.2mm, 2 pickets, 2 flukes, 2 ice screws

Edited July 26, 2005 by snowball

[snowball]

Here are some photos from the TR:

 

 

Edited July 27, 2005 by snowball

[Kraken]

SWEET shots!

 

Those came out really nice.

[rhyang]

fantastic job David !

[snowball]

Hey, thanks Clint and Rob!

 

okay, back to doing what i do best...