[TR] Mt. Rainier- Mowich Face 6/22/2006

[ScaredSilly]

Climb: Mt. Rainier-Mowich Face

 

Date of Climb: 6/22/2006

 

Trip Report:

Just a little story about a few old guys on a big hill ...

 

Because it had been several years since I had topped out on Rainier I was hungry for a climb. Last year I corrupted my friend Brent to trying to get on Rainier's Willis Wall during the winter. We made it about half up the wall before retreating due to being up high in strong winds. The year before John and I got to the base of the North Mowich headwall before being stormed off. This year John sneaked out with Peter and got on Mowich again. However, they got snagged on top of Liberty Cap for two nights in a storm before getting down the hill. During the same storm Vince and a friend were trying to get on Liberty and had to bail. Two weeks later a high pressure was setting up so ...

 

Vince, Brent, and I headed out for a little hike. Unlike most climbers on Rainier we start at Itsup Creek which is low, damn low, real low, 2300 feet low. Most climbers hate starting this low. But we look at this way, where else in the lower 48 can someone get in 12,000 feet of up over a long weekend? Besides it is all training. After doing the hike up through Seattle Park we bivied at our usual site under Echo Rock. (Brent's second time, my third, and Vince's first). The is a nice pebble rock site with running water.

 

The next morning we head up to Ptarmigan Ridge and crossed over at about 8200 feet. This was the same place John and I cross over at two years before. However, this time we able to stay high for a very long time as we traversed and eventually end up at about even with the second bench in the North Mowich Glacier. From there we went across the bench and up along the left side of rock buttress that we previously passed on the right. This was much easier and we found a few tracks from Peter and John. From there we crossed under the Mowich Ice Fall and turned up to our bivy site at about 10k feet. (Note this site is not listed in the books but is a great site protected from the slopes above by a rock out cropping and just left of the bergshrund at the start of the route. It also had running water).

 

By 5:30 the next morning we started climbing. The temperature was probably about 40 degrees. Brent and I decided to do the climb in two pitches, he would take the first and I the second. The hourglass was running water so we climbed a short (15') ice pitch to the right that lead to the upper slopes where we climbed just to the left of "Arch" Buttress which separates the North and Central Mowich routes. (Amazingly the buttress does have an arch in it). The climbing was mostly soft neve' with a few post holes here and there. The conditions were soft enough that no pro was needed. Just past the top of the buttress at about 12k feet we decided to instead pick up the Central Mowich Face route and followed it to the top so I took over the lead. We decided this for a couple of reasons, at this point the North Mowich route goes under the serac tongue and with the warm temps we thought it would be safer on the Central (which has the same problem but lower down). Also the upper Central looked "easier" than traversing through rock bands.

 

So at this point we made a sweeping upward traverse to the right. Because we were getting up there and the terrain was a bit steeper I decided it was time to place a bit of pro here and there in the rock. After traversing under the rock band we turned the corner an into a gully that was about 60 degrees and ended with a short 80 degree section of brittle water ice. From there the climbing got interesting as we emerged on to a 45-50 degree slope that had about 6" of snow on top of ice that was not well bonded and the sun was now beating down on. To make things more interesting Brent pulled out the last good screw before I got in the next good screw. From there we traverse up and around the last rock band which finished with another short step section of rime ice that was good fun. Once on top of the ice tongue we walked up to Liberty Cap for the obligatory photo. This was Vince's first "north side route", Brent's second and my forth (hee hee).

 

From the top we could see in all directions as there was not a cloud in the sky. It also appeared that no one had come up from Liberty Ridge over the past few days as the tracks seemed fairly old. That soon changed though as soon after we left the summit a couple of folks popped up. We did the usual descent via the Emmons which was very mushy, rolling in around 4pm or so. After spending the night at Sherman the next morning we headed down the Winthrop. Though it was in great shape we were highly suspicious of the crevasse crossing as the snow conditions were very sloppy. (This is another descent that is not typically done but then again there were a few tracks from a party that came up the glacier and from John and Peter's descent two weeks prior). As we traversed back to Carbon River we saw a dozen goats, numerous marmots, and to top it all of a big old black bear. We finished the hike out with a bath in the Carbon River

 

Attached are couple of photos I stole from Vince.

Looking down the face from about 11.5k

 

 

Heading up the final headwall

 

 

 

High up on the face (The picture is rotated about 5 degrees from vertical so it is a bit steeper than it appears)

 

 

Gear Notes:

3 Pickets

3 screws

4 Med/small cams

4 small nuts

[Chad_A]

Thanks for the report. I hope to get a chance to spend some time up on that side of the mountain this year. Thanks for posting the pics!

 

Also, what was the bergschrund crossing like? I'm excited to know that there's a campsite at 10k; the highest in Mike G's guidebook is 9200 on the nunatak.

[ScaredSilly]

The bergshrund was open but the crossing was easy, a step up and over. Not sure how long it will last but farther a long there was anohter crossing that will be good for a while longer. Depending on the temps the bergshrund will probably not be the crux but the rock band. Not sure how long the ice will last but I am sure there is a rock alternative that is workable.

 

Yeah the bivy is great. A fairly flat spot and running water from Hourglass.

 

Enjoy

[olyclimber]

Nice! Thanks for the TR.