[TR] Mt Rainier ski in-a-day- Emmons 7/9/2006

[Tony_Bentley]

Climb: Mt Rainier ski in-a-day-Emmons

 

Date of Climb: 7/9/2006

 

Trip Report:

Ben called at about 3pm on Saturday afternoon and was wondering if I’d be up to climbing the Emmons glacier Saturday night and summiting sometime Sunday. “Would I? Umm sounds good but you will need to pick me up at 7pm.” He was at the house by 7:15 and we were hiking from the White River campground by 10pm.

 

Neither of us had ever been on that side of Rainier, which was fine considering all of the tracks showing us the way. The irony is that we still managed to go the “direct” way but felt lost once we were looking down and seeing a faint trail heading down. “This feels wrong.” Is the feeling we were getting but just when we decided to take another look a headlamp went on which gave us the clue we needed to continue scrambling down to Camp Sherman. It turned out that the headlamp was our good friend Dave and he just happened to be getting up to use the bathroom and photo op. We were glad that he showed us the way and saved us the time it might have taken to turn around and go the “other” way.

 

After a 30 minute break at Camp Sherman we began heading up. At about 12k the sun was starting to show some sign and the photo ops were awesome!

We worked our way up the Emmons without any problems. No rope needed and plenty of ways through the crevasses. Around 13k I was beginning to feel the elevation and dehydration. The last few hundred feet took forever. After a brief rest on the summit we put on our skis and picked our way down being careful about the crevasses.

 

At one point we were through most of the hard snow and the snow was starting to soften to corn. At about 13k the snow was perfect.

 

 

Ben jumping a snow bridge.

 

 

Emmons Glacier with boot and ski tracks

A nice hour break at Camp Sherman and then an awesome ski down the Inter glacier.

The snow was great and although we both felt worked, it was well worth a 9000’ ski run and a 10,000’ climb. We hydrated at the first grocery store and were home by 7:20pm.

 

Not a bad day trip and a great ski! Thanks Ben for the last minute idea.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Crampons

 

Didn't use ice axes, skins or rope

[DirtyHarry]

Hell yeah! Impressive!

[AllYouCanEat]

Cool. I was looking up there over the weekend and regretted not doing the same thing. Now seeing that you had good conditions, I'm really regretting it. When I did a day trip/ski like yours, I ended up skiing the worst snow I've ever skied.

 

BTW, I have a good route photo for you from sunrise sunday. Let me know if you want it

[Mountainstyle]

Looks like you guys made it! I was one of the two climbers you ran into hiking out through Glacier Basin. Looks like you had some nice turns down Inter Glacier. Way to go!

[Tony_Bentley]

Hey Sarah I mentioned the ice axe to Dave and Amar so maybe they picked it up? Dave frequents this site so he will give a shout if it turned up.

 

Nice job getting LibRidge. You guys are animals!

[olyclimber]

 

damn i gotta learn how to ski

[Mountainstyle]

Tony, thanks for passing the word on the lost ice axe (not a bad price to pay for a great climb). Your photos are great; you guys are the animals for the one day push and ski descent! We watched your progress up Inter Glacier, you guys were hauling.

[skykilo]

Ben, you're a ripper, get outta the back seat!

 

Good job, guys.

[Benk]

Sky thats just me flapping my wings to clear the crevasse.

 

Tony, awesome climb.

 

Sarah, great job on Liberty Ridge. I hope someone finds your axe.

 

 

[Benk]

Sky thats just me flapping my wings to clear the crevasse.

 

Here's some more pics:

[Double_E]

The crevasse-hucking shot is priceless. that'll be on my desktop for a while.

 

Sounds like a damn good time.

[JayB]

Looks like you're tossing in a grab for style on the crevasse hop.

 

Ultimate alpine-jib steeze would require using the RMI ladders to rail-slide over crevasses.