Circumnavigating Rainier on Skis - advice welcome

[Panos]

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A friend of mine and I consider attempting circumnavigating Rainier on skis in late March. Weather permitting, how would such an attempt work so early in the season? Can anyone give an estimate about the optimum average altitude, the total altitude gain, the length of the orbit in miles and the possible main obstacles ? What about the technical difficulty of the most challenging sections ?

 

Any informative references welcome.

Edited March 6, 2008 by Panos

[ClimbingPanther]

I'd shoot for 6-8000 elevation, which keeps you below the really steep terrain but doesn't make the trip unnecessarily long. Just a guess, really. Probably would be ~60 miles, again an educated guess. Sounds like a load of fun! It's something I'd love to do sometime in my life.

[Panos]

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... but most parties attempt it in early summer. Why is not March good or better? One would assume that traveling on the numerous glaciers would be more straight forward before the crevasses open their mounths...

 

By taking a good look at the map it seems to me that the lowest point can be at 7200 (Curtis Ridge crossing) and the highest at 10200 (Camp Muir). The East side of the mountain can be skied quite high at 10100 and the South side by staying near 8000. There are two major climbs: (i) Paradise (5600) to Camp Muir (10200) and (ii) lower Curtis Ridge (7200) to upper Ptarmigan Ridge (9200). Following this path the steepest parts seem to be the crossings of the upper Ptarmigan Ridge (9200) and lower Sunset Ridge (8500). Following my calculations even these slopes are not steeper than 30-35 degrees. The whole thing I guess can be done in 3 days.

 

I suppose the major difficulties would be route finding and avoiding the probable crevasse fall.

In days of clear weather and low avalanche danger this orbit must be something awesome.

Edited March 6, 2008 by Panos

[Couloir]

This is a worthy endeavor Panos. Good luck with it. Here is a TR from TAY.

 

Let us know how it goes!

[Lowell_Skoog]

... but most parties attempt it in early summer. Why is not March good or better? One would assume that traveling on the numerous glaciers would be more straight forward before the crevasses open their mounths...

 

It all depends on the weather. I think the reason most parties attempt it in early summer is because the weather is more settled then. If you can get a good weather period in March with reasonably consolidated snow (that's the other half of the problem), go for it!

 

If you follow the links on this page, you'll find some historical references to Rainier ski traverses and orbits:

 

http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/subjects/R-info.html#mt-rainier-traverses

 

The Molenaar high level orbit (White River to Fryingpan Creek) has been skied in three days but I think most ski orbits have taken longer. The Molenaar route is about 30 miles with about 11,000 feet of climbing.

[Panos]

Thank you very much gentlemen.

 

The route I am thinking of trying does not go lower than 7,200 feet (lower Curtis Ridge at North) and it goes at an average altitude of approximately 9,000 feet. Therefore it saves the traveler from a lot of up and down (climbing less than 8,000 vertical feet total) while at the same time it keeps the distance traveled considerably shorter (conservative calculation less than 30 miles). As you suggest Lowell, all depends on weather and snow conditions... and of course on going light enough.

 

The RMI ski party included Robert Allison, Charles Day, George Westbrook and Gary Vogt and was led by guides George Dunn and Dan Mann. Their trip, from May 13-18, began at Paradise, climbed to Camp Muir, crossed Ingraham Flats, then descended the Emmons Glacier and crossed to Camp Schurman. The dropped onto Winthrop Glacier, circled around the mountain to Curtis Ridge and the Carbon Glacier, then climbed to Observation Rock, where they had cached a supply of food and fuel. They descended from Ptarmigan Ridge and circled to Puyallup Glacier. On their fifth day, they crossed Tahoma Glacier in a whiteout, then decided to shorten the trip (originally planned to end at Paradise) by hiking out the Kautz Creek trail on the sixth day.

This is pretty much the route that I drew simply by looking at the map of the mountain. I believe this orbit is possible in three days starting and ending at Panorama Point. 1st day: Panorama Point to the west side of Winthrop Glacier at 8,000. 2nd day: continuing to Puyallup Cleaver at 8,800. 3rd day crossing the south side of the mountain between 8,000 and 8,400 (rock sections likely) and descending the Nisqually Glacier to Panorama Point. Perhaps some of the terrain I propose crossing will be too crevassed to be safely navigated in the summer months and will have more rock sections than a skier would ever like (from Success Cleaver to Wilson Glacier).

Edited March 6, 2008 by Panos

[korup]

Panos,

 

I am also planning a circumnav this spring/summer. PM if you'd like to co-ordinate.

[Panos]

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We are thinking of going as early as possible in the season so that to take advantage of the snow pack.

Edited March 10, 2008 by Panos