Rainier's Kautz route on 7/24 (down DC routet)

[bubzilla]

My partner and I climbed the Kautz on Sunday-Monday (7/23-24). Accessing the glacier is not too bad. There is a fine rappel of about 30 feet, or a down climb/rappel of about 20 feet. Both end on ice, so have your spikes on if you do it anytime soon. The lower steep section of the glacier is not too bad (one axe if fine). I think we put in a couple screw as running belay. Then you hike to the second "face." We climbed the right side (better rest and belay spots). We did it in 3-4 full pitches and used about 2 screws per pitch (not including the belay spots). I'd say we climbed a few short sections of pretty steep ice (maybe 60 degrees, but btwn 11 and 12,000 feet!) which would have been too steep for me with only one axe. After deciding it'd take a long time to do however many rappels would be needed to get down the ice, we decided to descend the DC route to Muir. The RMI guide trail on that route now goes way over on the Emmons and contours back to the top of the DC below some pretty scary looking seracs (debris was over the trail when we crossed under it -- quickly and quietly!). At Muir, we decided to not cross the upper Nisqually to get our camp (who knows it there would have even been a route, much less solid bridges), so next Saturday I'm headed up to grab our gear. (If you're up there please add a rock to the top of my purple and grey tarp. I'm sure it'll be fine, but a few extra rocks would be super. Actually, we also left another small stash around 8 or 9000 feet (food, booties, etc.) so an extra rock on top of that rock pile/gear stash would be good karma also!).

 

Awesome climb with a great partner. Only ones on top, which was cool and wild.

 

If you do the Kautz anytime this summer, I'd definitely recommend taking an ice tool along with your axe (or just two tools). Have fun.

[catbirdseat]

Oh my god! It's one double rope rappel to get down the second ice step. That's it! There's a fixed double picket anchor there for you. What were you thinking?

[rhyang]

Maybe they didn't have double ropes... we didn't either. Took us three raps on our one 50m to get down from the fixed anchor. We probably should have downclimbed at least some of the way, and / or done a belayed downclimb, but ended up slinging an ice horn and leaving some of those crappy Ti screws (hope someone picked up the booty ) I brought a v-threader, but there was so much water running down the ice that afternoon that I didn't really find any good spots to make a thread. Anyhow the weather was so good I guess farting around rapelling just seemed like the thing to do

 

We both brought an ice tool for the second pitch. I led it with a tool in one hand and an axe in the other, and placed maybe 3-4 screws for a total of about 40m of glacier ice (not particularly hard nor brittle, of course it wasn't all that cold that day either). I don't know if it was 60 degrees - maybe 40-50 ? It seemed like there was the potential for taking different lines. Very fun in any case, and made for a nice break from the slogging ... nice work you guys

 

My understanding is that the route changes over time as the season progresses - I read that a month before we went up it (8-July) the whole thing was a snow slope.

[scottk]

We're heading up on Friday with plans to summit on Saturday. Did you take the Fan on the approach or head up the Nisqually to access the Turtle snowfield? If we see your gear we'll make sure it's well pinned down.

[SplashClimber]

Good luck on your climb. We might be doing Kautz on 8/5 & 8/6 so let me know how it goes! I am curious on how long the whole thing would take with doing a carryover (of course answers and results very dependent on conditioning, but still wondering on some sort of range of hours). Not sure if I want to be climing the ice with a 40 pound pack though!

[catbirdseat]

Bring two skinny 60 m ropes or a better yet, a skinny 60 m rope and a zip line. Barring that, you could also chop ice bollards to make an intermediate rap anchor if you don't want to use the Russian ice screws. The ice is likely too grody for a good Vee thread.

[slothrop]

You could leave one of those ropes, your second tool, and the ice pro at the top of the ice, too, if you take catbird's suggestion. That way your packs are much lighter for the slog to the top.

 

We did a carryover via the DC in 10 hours from high camp to the Paradise parking lot, including a nice break at Camp Muir.

[ericb]

I did it as a carryover in late June and it wasn't too bad. 5 hours camp to summit, ~ 4 hours down to muir(stuck behind a crowd on the DC, and 2.5 hours from muit to paradise. We had really warm temps, much like it is now, so I had a 1# bag, 7 oz sleeping bag cover, and 14 oz ridge rest. This and my 1# share of the stove/gas meant our packs were only 4# heavier than they would have been otherwise. Some like to bring a stove, and emergency bag/bivy to the summit on big mountains, so the incremental weight on the carry-over is even less.

[ericb]

CBS...seriously....we're not all pros here, and don't have perfect information when we start out. Maybe when we all have as much experience (and gear) as you we can post to CC without getting shat on...until then, it's WTA.org I guess.

[catbirdseat]

The rangers have all the information and will tell you if you ask. In our case, we were going on the route description in Gator's book which was dated. It did make it clear that rappels would be necessary. With our party of four, we could have gone on one rope, but we took two at my insistence and were glad.

 

I felt bad about Rob. He rushed up and down the route hoping to catch us in time to use our ropes, but those crazy Czechs were going so fast. He missed us by about 20 minutes.

[rhyang]

Brian, don't feel bad. It was a magnificent day. We didn't rush. We had sufficient gear, etc. to get down with no problem. We had a most excellent time on the mountain. My only regret is not being able to buy you and your friends beers

[pu]

Good Job Fellas! Just a couple notes. My buddy and I did the Kautz on 7-17/18.

1. The fixed picket rappel at the top of the second ice wall was only in about eight to twelve inches per picket. We backed it up with a very solid V thread. The thread was not equalized with the pickets. I ripped out a picket on the rappel. Who knows if the other would've held.

 

2. The route was in excellent shape when we were on it. I lead the ice with one axe.

 

3. My very rock timid partner who does not care for "Monkey on a string operations" climbed back out of the Kautz via the little 20' rock step with no problem by sticking to the gulley on climbers left.

[chris]

We're heading up on Friday with plans to summit on Saturday. Did you take the Fan on the approach or head up the Nisqually to access the Turtle snowfield? If we see your gear we'll make sure it's well pinned down.

 

Scott- I'd strongly recommend taking the fan approach. I've witnessed numerous serac collapses from the upper Kautz scour the Turtle snowfield, from about centerline and right. Anyone taking the direct approach to the Turtle would be in the potential line of fire for hours.