snowball Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 Climb: Mt Rainier-Camp Muir Date of Climb: 3/4/2006 Trip Report: Nothing special here.... Hiked to Camp Muir (MARCH 4/5) with Ingraham Direct on our itinerary. Under clear blue skies, me and another CascadeClimbers.com member Bill went up to Camp Muir. Partner said he was gonna rest instead of climbing any higher, so while there i met another climber in the hut named Geoff (Denail solo climber). Ironically, his partner was gonna pass on climbing higher as well. Geoff and i planned on climbing the Gib Ledges. Before hitting the sack, we discussed roping up for with his 60M 8.5mm half rope and using ice screws to protect the ledges traverse if needed. We both discussed our crevase rescue background and felt satisfied with our experience. We also reviewed our avy beacon use. Mountain started to get socked in by evening with thick fog. By 4am Muir was in a snowy whiteout with high winds. We all descended back to Paradise. Storm hitting Rainier right now. Should dump a good deal fresh snow for the next week. On the approach to camp i had a closeup look of Gibraltar Chute. This would be sweet to climb possibly by next week (March 12-???). Will post another partner request... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arc Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 So you didnt go?......What the heck?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlegV Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 snowball, did you need snowshoes to get to Camp Muir? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowball Posted March 9, 2006 Author Share Posted March 9, 2006 Nope... we did not go higher cuz i did not feel like dying in an avalanche with the new snow dumping on us and 50ft visibility. Wind and snow was blowing all night. By morning there was already 6inches of new snow. Getting down from muir in 50-80ft visibility and blowing snowfall was interesting to say the least. Descent was all by compass/landmark. We basically followed the "ridge" down to paradise. By elev 7500ft, we finally broke out from under the clouds, tho it was still snowing. Snowshoes.... Snowshoes were particularly helpful the first 2 miles or so, then after that they were not totally needed but only because a handful of climbers ahead of us had already stomped a snow trail up to muir. After this storm tho... I would suggest bringing them. My partner Bill and I were using those older plastic MSR snowshoes. Those things sucked and were falling apart on me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kit_from_Montreal Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 That remembers me that I DO have to post my TR ... I hope I'll have some time tommorow Anyway, I was on the Gib Ledges on Friday March 3. ( I talked to two guys on my way down friday night, maybe you were one of them snowball ????) Ice screws would be useless to protect the ledges (at least on Friday they were) as I did not see any ice. The snow was too soft as well to take snow pickets. Your best luck would have been with rock protection (nuts and blades) which we did not have .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman_Clyde Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Without rock pro, did you feel uncomfortably exposed, or was the soft snow forgiving enough to stop a slide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraken Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 we summited via the Gib Ledges on the 25th of March, last year. We never placed any protection on the ledges, and although there were a few sketchy spots where it would have been nice to have placed a little pro, we were never too worried, just careful. I was more worried about the rock fall, which was pretty bad on the descent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arc Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Anyway.... I solo'd this route....... But this is his TR, so lets not get the penis thing going guys....We all should be happy another climber has a desire to share this stuff with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kit_from_Montreal Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Without rock pro, did you feel uncomfortably exposed, or was the soft snow forgiving enough to stop a slide? A fall would have been impossible/really hard to stop whitout protection but the footing was not so bad. We had to be really carefull for some sections though. One exception .... there is a wind lip that did form at the end where the ledges get larger (about 50 feet from the chute). We did not feel that this lip could be crossed safely without protection. A snow picket burried under the snow may do the job, but rock protection would be better for this section. We already knew we did not have enough time left to get to the summit at that point, so we did decide to turn around and not waste the 20-30 minutes it would have taken us to safely cross that section. If anyone feels like I am trashing this post, I am really sorry. I felt like these information would be useful to anyone (including snowball) heading for the Gib ledges in the next few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowball Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 good info kit_from_montreal. n, that wasnt me who you talked to but probably Bill... the guy i went up to muir with. he said he did a recon hike up there on friday and that he spoke to 2 guys coming down from camp muir. arc, nice solo. when did u climb it? this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arc Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Feb 15 2003 10 LB Sack 1 Ice Axe And a pack of Marlboro Lights... ....Anyway, thats enough of that war story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.