belayerslayer Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Trip: Mt. Rainier - Tahoma Glacier attempt Date: 7/25/2009 Trip Report: Once again I must bombard cc with a conditions report and not an actual summit experience. Prepping for our annual summer Rainier climb, I had been vying to get off the standard routes in favor of something more remote and challenging. In chatting with a couple climbing rangers, they both seemed to agree that the Tahoma Glacier would be the best option on Rainier's west side. Everything else has, or is melting out fast. There were 9 of us, consisting of a mixture of family and friends. Everyone had been eagerly training this previous year, and we bagged several summits over the spring months in preparation for Rainier. On thursday evening of last week, 8 of us packed and organized gear at my house in Des Moines. We left at 5:45 am the next morning, meeting a 9th partner in Ashford and then reaching Longmire at 8:45. Took care of the various red tape chores in the rangers station and drove back down the road to the Westside turnoff. By 10:35 we were packed and hiking up the closed section of the road. me organizing gear The 3.5 miles to round pass took just under two hours. We made the best of our initial journey along otherwise perfect road conditions and lamented when a truck was spotted at the pass parking lot. Took a short break, then hiked in to the south puyallup river trail. Met a ranger at the south puyallup river bridge who mentioned something about a missing 17 year old somewhere in the vicinty on the Wonderland Trail. Anyone know any info on that? From the bridge, the trail switchbacks relentlessly through thick brush and dense trees, until higher up it breaks out along a ridge below some meadows. By 4:00pm we reached St Andrews park - 2.5 miles from the bridge crossing, and approx. 8.2 miles from our car. From here, we continued along the wonderland trail, reaching St. Andrews Lake. After consulting with the guidebook, I realized we were supposed to take a cutoff from St. Andrews park and hike up to the ridge above. With the day coming to a close and slower partners, I opted to make camp at the lake, get an early start in the morning and reach the terminus of the puyallup cleaver on saturday. Rainier, and tokaloo spire in foreground along the ridge Woke up at 2am and began hiking up towards the ridge. We left one partner at the lake. The ridge is actually gained easily from the lake - follow the wonderland trail up to a high-point above the lake with great views of the valley on the other side. Then trend southward toward the ridge, heading up talus and a couple snow slopes to an obvious dip in the ridgeline above. We gained this and began navagating along the rocks, sometimes scrambling, sometimes downclimbing, until reaching Tokaloo spire Tokaloo spire A short distance beyond the spire, the cleaver rises up and the rocks become impassable. A short jaunt down a rock gulley provides easy access to the edges of the Puyallup glacier. We were roped up and on the glacier by 8:05 am following a combination of goat tracks, old climbers tracks(?), and my own gut, we weaved a course along the puyallup glacier, below and to the left of the cleaver proper. Easy going at first, then a steep incline to gain a relatively flat stretch with signs of crevasse openings here and there. I found a couple en route, broke them open a bit wider, then brought the team across. Stepped into two up to my knee and went wide to avoid several others. Mostly it was rockfall I was concerned about - paralleling the cleaver meant we were in line for anything that felt like breaking loose. Coming back, my sister, who was last in line of the first rope team, shouted "rock!" and we all turned to watch a rock the size of an easy chair roll by ten feet behind her Made it to the ending of the cleaver where a couple nice bivy spots were found, just below the lower St. Andrews formation, at around noon saturday. Set up camp and scouted the route. The tahoma glacier looked decent higher up, but the access to it from our camp seemed a bit questionable. Mostly, I was wondering how to actually get onto the thing, as it seemed to have formed a moat between the access gully and the glacier itself and looked horribly broken up throughout. We all chatted and agreed that the first thing to do was to take a nap. We slept for a few hours, made dinner, had another chat, then got ready for bed again. Come sunday, summit day, only 4 of us would be heading up. The rest graciously declined and were content to enjoy basecamp. That evening the winds picked up and blew at our tents. I've never felt gusts that strong - our tent was squeezed inward and with me sleeping opposite the direction of the wind I felt the other side of the tent pushing against me. My dad was totally smothered at times by the side of the tent. We awoke a little after midnight sunday morning and the 4 of us geared up, then headed off. We had decided to try for the sickle variation because it would put us up higher on the tahoma glacier and hopefully bypass the initial broken sections. unfortunately this meant negotiation the long stretch of climbing to bypass the lower and upper St. Andrews rocks. We headed uphill on a steep snowslope until reaching a loose rockband. We belayed each other up through the horribly loose rock and reached a steeper snow wall which delivered us onto a ridge. From guidebook descriptions, this ridge would bring us right up and over the lower st. Andrews formation. The ridge quickly turned from snow to knife-edge rock with the winds howling and raging, the team cried "uncle!" and called it quits. We were just a couple hundred feet below lower st. Andrews rock, still a long ways from reaching upper st. Andrews and the puyallup glacier, and an even longer way from the summit. Worked our way back down to basecamp, snagged a few hours sleep, packed our things and began the descent. My dad, showing how to jump in style over a crevasse Enjoyed a dip in St. Andrews lake, met a few other hikers/climbers, and began the journey back. The hike out was painful but seemed to go pretty quick. Several of our team were able to give their packs to a student conservation group who had a truck and was heading out. This helped the sore muscles! All in all, great trip, a lot learned, experienced, fun to see a new part of the mountain and always nice to be there with my dad and sister :grin: Approach Notes: Trails all fine. Regarding the Westside Road, with 4x4 and enough clearance, the washed out sections are easily driveable. I am currently working on figuring out how to acquire the keys for the gate at the Westide Road closure. Rumor is, special 'conservation groups' are allowed access in...anyone up for doing some "restoration" on the cleaver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtn.climber Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Loved sharing it with you and the group. A great 3 days spent on the mountain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Piston Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 When I went to do that route a couple of years ago, the rangers were actually kind enough to give us a lift in...saved us a couple miles of hiking. Sorry you didn't summit, but I too have bailed due to adverse conditions...wise man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danhelmstadter Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 nice trip and effort! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleMiller Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 When I went to do that route a couple of years ago, the rangers were actually kind enough to give us a lift in...saved us a couple miles of hiking. Not trying to be a punk but posting stuff like this is what gets the park rangers in trouble. Good job on your climb Tahoma is a amazing glacier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.