bdud Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 2 friends and I have tickets to fly to Seattle Jan 17th. We're headed back to the east coast on the 25th. We had hoped to do one of the above routes. We understand the mountain is getting pounded now but we hope things settle down for us. Coming from the east coast all we can do is pick a week, buy tickets and hope. We've all had experience to 18-20,000 feet in the Andes, Alaska, or both, all have been to the summit (or close) of Rainier, but none of us have been to the Cascades in the winter. I've read the recent Winter Ascent thread - thanks for that info to all who posted there. Some specific questions if anyone has the answers.... Gib Ledges - I've gotten some good info searching the TRs. It looks like most try to go up and back from Muir in a day. The Gauthier book mentions a bivy spot at the Beehive. 1. Is it big enough for a three man tent? 2. If on descent you get to the top of Gib Rock and don't want to go down the chute (avy) or the ledges (rockfall) is Camp Comfort an option in winter? We'd have a Mountain Hardwear Trango 3. Too exposed? Kautz Cleaver - This would involve a longer approach but staying on the ridge line most of the way seems like one of the safer (but longer) ways to the top in the winter. The guidebook mentions bivy sites at 9K on the Wapowety Cleaver and 10,200' on the Kautz Cleaver. 3. Again, are these "bivy sites" big enough for a 3 man tent? 4. From the slope angle in photos I've seen it looks like we'd be travelling unroped in exposed third/fourth class terrain. Is any of this route 5th class/need to be pitched out? At the top maybe? Wilson Headwall - If the snowpack stabilizes this would be the hardest route we'd try. 5. Any beta on campsites/winter rates of progress would be appreciated. Reading lots of posts about winter attempts I'm realizing if not this year...next year...or the next... Thanks! Bill Dudley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Is it too late to change your tickets? Change them to correspond to the days before and after Presidents Day. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Gib Ledges would be safest in my opinion plus you stand at least a snowball's chance of finding your way down in a storm. Liberty Ridge was a good descent route in a storm after FWA of Willis Wall; hard to get lost and low av danger. A long walk out though - :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdietsch Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 my suggestion would be go with the ledges first and the Wilson second ... if there is avy danger, getting over to the Kautz can be just as risky .. regardless .. come with alternatives such as rock climbing at Smith or ice Climbing in BC or AB ... we would all sincerely hate to see a repeat of the Hood incident 2 years ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdud Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 Thanks to everyone for all the info. Man, your weather out there is making the national news. Looks like the long range forecast through the middle of next week is definitely getting better so we're still holding out hope. Our tickets are on Southwest so we don't have to cancel till the day before. I think we could all make it the week before President's Day so that will be our fall back plan if we have to cancel this month. Again, thanks for taking the time to help us out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skykilo Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 I want to hear from this guy again. For winter on Rainier your chosen window of dates sure struck the lotto! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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