motsies Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 (edited) Climb: Mt. Rainier-Tahoma Glacier Date of Climb: 6/25/2006 Trip Report: Dates of Trip: 6/23 - 6/26/06 Day 1: Departed Westside Road via bikes to Round Pass, which didn't save all that much time but was heaven when we returned. Hiked to the Wonderland Trail and up to St. Andrews Park, continuing up the ridgeline to Tokaloo Spire to camp for the first night. Approx. 8 hours from car to camp. Day 2: Hiked via the Puyallup Cleaver and Glacier past the 9,200' camp and descended onto the Tahoma Glacier. Lots of postholing in the intense heat and we wanted to relax in the afternoon, so we established a high camp on the glacier ~10,000'. Some snowbridges had already disappeared where you could still see tracks. Day 3: Departed camp in the dark at 2:15 am and followed the established boot track through the lower crevasses and reached to bottom of the hourglass in about 2 hours. Conditions are great and hardpacked as the route is in the shade for most of the morning as we moved up the slopes of the hourglass. No pickets were used. I was slowed by nausea, major digestive issues and dehydration, finally calling it quits at 14,200' while Dan and Joe continued to the summit around 12:30. Almost unbearable heat on the descent with significant postholing across the lower glacier and snowbridges to high camp, to which we arrived at 5:00 pm. A long day. Day 4: Descended all the way from high camp to Westside Road in approx. 9 hours. We were only roped up to get off the Tahoma Glacier and up onto the Puyallup Cleaver; postholing was already a problem by 10 am Summary: Despite missing the summit, this was a wonderful mountain experience and a terrific route if you have the extra time and desire a more wild Mt. Rainier experience. On 6/24, we counted 3 parties and only one other one on our summit day. Not very technical, but offers much glacier travel and route finding. Not sure how much longer some of the snowbridges will last though. It was a very hot weekend as everyone else experienced, so early starts are a must for safer glacier travel. Snow is melting quick as huge sections of St. Andrews Park were bare and flowered upon our return after just a few days. I'll be back to make the summit!! Making our way from St. Andrews Park Sunset glow from Tokaloo Spire Tahoma Glacier and Point Success Dropping down onto the Tahoma Glacier High Camp on the Tahoma Glacier Joe in the sun shadow on summit day Nearing to top of the hourglass and 13,000' Descending the crevasses to high camp Gear Notes: ice axe / crampons probe / shovel 2 pickets each (not used) 2 screws (not used) Approach Notes: Ride bikes to Round Pass!!! Edited June 30, 2006 by motsies Quote
dkemp Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 Ah, good stuff man. Boy I'd like to get up that thing. Good pics. Quote
zoroastr Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 (edited) Awesome! Would love to see the bigger pics....try this: edit your existing TR, only take off the last 4 charachters in the image links that are appended by the script that links your gallery images. In other words, go to your image links and remove the "-med" that appears right before the ".jpg" file extension. If you do this, your full-size images will display, and we won't have to squint at these postage-stamp sized pics. You took some awesome photos from a great route--let's see them the way they really look. Edited June 30, 2006 by zoroastr Quote
motsies Posted June 30, 2006 Author Posted June 30, 2006 zoroastr....i edited the photo location as you mentioned, so now they're a bit bigger...thanks for the advice!!! Quote
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