[TR] Mt. Rainier, Fuhrer Finger & Kautz 6/21/06

[thomashouse]

My brother and I climbed the Fuhrer Finger route on Mount Rainier from June 18 to June 22, 2006. The plan was to make our high camp at 9200' near the Castle, ascend the Fuhrer Finger and descend the Kautz Glacier direct.

 

Our trip began on Sunday with a long drive. We tried to get into the park from the northeast, only to find out that the single road into the park had been taken out by rockslide. After an interesting drive through the small towns and unmarked roads we made it into the park through the southeast, through Longmire and up to Paradise. It took a long time getting into the park due to the Search and Rescue effort that eventually found the fallen woman near Longmire. We spent most of Sunday day-hiking with friends around Paradise, making our way almost up to the Glacier Vista.

 

Paul and I left Paradise around 4pm to make our way back toward Glacier Vista. The clouds were thick and visibility was only a few hundred feet up the mountain. We luckily had a GPS and a good map that sent us right past the marmot to Glacier Vista without any problem. We dropped onto the Nisqually Glacier and found a slightly used path and steps that led to a break in the rock band fifty feet above the glacier on the eastern edge of the Nisqually. We found a used camp site on the snow, south downhill along the rock band, so we didn't have to dig out much snow to lay the tent. Of course, we brought one of the biggest/heaviest/comfiest two-person tents on the market (Mountain Hardware Trango 2), so of course we had to dig a little.

 

Monday started with more clouds and very limited visibility. We had yet to see more than two hundred feet up the mountain.

 

 

Good thing the GPS was still working. We found a path across the lower Nisqually and our limited view of the glacier didn't show many crevasse dangers, so we decided it would be a waste of time to rope up. We easily made our way across the glacier and directly into the base of the Fan. The Fan was very dirty, but we didn't suffer any rockfall in the morning. From the middle of the Fan, we could barely see the base of it, and definitely couldn't see the top.

 

 

The cloud cover was thick all day long. We passed a pair of climbers around 7000' who were descending from their camp at 10,500 on the Turtle snow field. They had planned to climb the Finger, but decided it was too dangerous to enter the Finger lower on the Wilson and they didn't have time to make their way across the middle section. This didn't give Paul and I much hope for our plan of the Finger Direct and a descent of the Kautz. The climbers did warn us of the sun and heat at 8000'. They were happy to be back in the clouds, and we were eager to get above them and see the mountain. It was a long slog up snow to 9000'. And we still hadn't seen anything more than clouds. We had moments of almost sun making it through the thick fog, but nothing until we finally broke free of the clouds just below the Castle rock and our high camp. It was a long time coming but we were above the clouds for the remainder of our trip.

 

 

We made our way onto the Wilson Glacier in the sun and up to 9400' to get a good view of the area. We then made our way back down through the rockband of established camp sites above the Castle rock on the Wapowety Cleaver and settled on the lowest and largest site around 9200' . We also found a pair of Leki trekking poles and a 2qt pot in the next site up. They looked brand new. We left the poles for three nights and took them with us on our hike down on Thursday. Special thanks to whoever left those poles for us!!! They'll be well looked after (and used) in our local Appalachian Mountains.

 

 

We spent Tuesday climbing on the Wilson Glacier, setting GPS points and planning our route up the Finger. We found a good path that would avoid end-running any crevasses and place us nicely at the bottom of the Finger. We didn't climb up toward the Kautz, hoping it would be easy to find that route on the descent. A threesome aiming for the Kautz Route climbed up that afternoon and camped a couple hundred feet above us. We cashed in early on Tuesday to prepare for an alpine start on Wednesday morning.

 

We woke at 12:00 midnight Wednesday to clear skies and a beautiful night. It was relatively warm and very calm. We left camp at 1:15am to make our way across the upper Wilson Glacier. The path we marked on the previous day was easily navigated and the snow was solid. It made for a very easy walk across the glacier and the one snowbridge and we were navigating rock bands in the finger by 2:00am. The route was easy to find, though there weren't any tracks to follow. Avalanche runout and debris littered the hourglass and lower finger. We used a timer on my watch to be sure to eat a Gu every 30 minutes during the climb. We could see three headlamps following us lower on the Wilson Glacier. We stopped to rest and adjust gear on one of the rock outcroppings at about 3:30, and I changed my headlamp batteries. We didn't experience any rockfall or icefall in the Finger. We could already see the sky beginning to brighten as we made our way up to 11,000. By 5:00 it was pretty bright and headlamps weren't needed. I guess it's a benefit when you climb during the summer solstice! As we got higher on the mountain, the toughest sections ensued and we were lucky to find old steps kicked in the very solid snow. The Nisqually is pretty crevassed around 11,000' with some large seracs but there is a good line near the western rock avoiding most issues. There were a couple dicey sections between a rock band on the left and crevasses below to the right, where the grade was up to 65 degrees.

 

 

We were still roped together from the first moments of the day, and we weren't running a belay; a fall would have been hell for both of us.

 

We topped out on a crest to find a helluva wind had picked up and the temperature was definitely cold. The most technical sections of the route were behind us now. The route was clearly established once it met with what we later learned to be the Kautz Glacier direct route. Higher on the mountain, above 13,500, the wind was heavy and the route was swept clean. We were both suffering the effects of altitude, wishing two nights at 9200' had made a more significant impact.

 

 

We finally topped out on the summit crater at 9:00am, out of breath and nauseous. The altitude was affecting Paul more than me, but we were both really struggling. I couldn't catch my breath and it took all my effort to take ten steps, even stopping for a breath before each one. We enjoyed the spectacular views for a few moments, trying to name the peaks that appeared above the endless blanket of clouds. Our detailed map didn't provide any assistance so we quickly began backtracking our way down the mountain. We both started feeling better below 13,000'.

 

We met the group of three headlamps from earlier as they made their way on the upper mountain. They had also ascended the Fuhrer Finger and planned to ski back down the mountain along the same route. It took them a while to catch us due to their heavier load, three-person group, and two-hour nap. We followed our own footsteps back down the mountain to the junction with the Kautz Glacier route and rested at the top for a short while before descending to the first belay.

 

 

The route on the upper Kautz is well travelled with a few large crevasses near the top easily passed. We remembered that there are two belay sections on the Kautz and found what appeared to be the first relatively quickly. It is so much quicker to descend. Paul anchored in and I began to descend on belay, setting protection every 60 feet. We knew that the rope wasn't nearly long enough to make it all the way down, and it of course ended right in the middle of the steepest section. Whoops! We spent more than an hour belaying from above and bel! ow with limited protection. The top pitch was still all snow. There was about a 40' section near its bottom where the ice only had 2 - 8" of snow cover - only easy placements for screws. By the time we got down the first section we were both pretty tired and getting frustrated.

 

 

We climbed to the lower belay section and, after a brief discussion and a look at the route, decided the easiest route was a glissade. The run out area was pretty large, but it looked a lot flatter from above than it did when we tried to tiredly arrest. It was a VERY exciting glissade, but probably not one that is highly recommended. We had the benefit of very soft snow at 2:00pm.

 

 

We climbed below the ice cliffs, through the lower icefall and above the rock cliffs toward Camp Hazard to make the top of the Turtle snow field. We found a small snow cave and decided to rest for a few minutes before making our way back to high camp. The cave has two small entries (too small as I snagged Paul's new gaiters with my crampon). Sorry about that again, Paul. The last 2000 feet of descent was a breeze as the snow was perfect for a never-ending glissade. We quickly arrived back at camp, soaking wet from the soft snow, but all smiles. A group of two guys passed through high camp that afternoon planning on carrying over the next day to Muir via the Kautz.

 

We packed up camp on Thursday and left at 9:30am for the descent to Paradise. The mountain was out in full force and the views were beautiful. The clouds continued to clear as we descended.

 

 

We made it to a crowded Paradise at 12:05, just in time to drop off the blue bags, sign out, and meet our ride toward Tacoma for a great big cheeseburger and a beer!

 

 

Gear Notes (per person):

2 ice screws

2 pickets

60m rope, pulleys, prussiks, biners and runners

helmet, crampons, one axe, one pole

 

Great Route - Great Condition!

[pbelitz]

Congratuations on your climb! I was one of the three skiers that you passed on your way down, glad to hear you descended the Kautz successfully. What a fun route! I'm still amazed by the lack of rockfall and the incredible snow conditions.

 

Cheers,

 

Paul