Tom_Sjolseth Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Trip: Mt. Rainier - Ptarmigan Ridge Date: 7/23/2010 Trip Report: Ptarmigan Ridge has been on my to-do list ever since climbing Liberty Ridge in 2003. After seeing a few TRs from Ptarmigan Ridge this season, I figured now was a great time to give it a go. Tim Halder (therunningdog) agreed, and so we decided to check it out. We left Seattle at the relatively lazy hour of 9AM Wednesday morning. By noon, we had our permit in hand and were walking up the White River trail towards Glacier Basin and St. Elmo's Pass, our eventual destination for that evening. After about 2.5 hours, we were at St. Elmo's Pass, making camp for the night. The temps were perfect, but the wind was howling, and we huddled behind some rocks to find peace. We enjoyed the 6-pack of beer that I packed up to the pass while getting fantastic views of the mountain. We settled in early that night. Thursday morning we awoke at around 5:30AM. Our goal today was to get to 10,200' on Ptarmigan Ridge, the last safe camping spot before the climb. Crossing the Winthrop, Carbon, and Russel Glaciers was surprisingly straightforward. On the way past Liberty Ridge, we noticed a huge slab that had been recently cut. I would say the crown was in the 3 foot range, but hard to tell from afar.. people definitely heard it. We battled high winds all the way to high camp. I would guess that winds were a steady 35MPH gusting to 65MPH. Our approach had us facing into the wind, and climbing up the snow slopes with heavy packs was very taxing. We got into camp just after noon at which time we boiled water, ate, and prepared for the next day's climb. It was hard to sleep in high winds and blazing sunshine, but we both managed to get some z's. When we awoke at 12:30AM to climb, the winds had miraculously stopped and it was entirely clear and calm. Nice! From camp, we worked along the ridgecrest, eventually downclimbing a rock step to get to a loose, dirty gully. This gully brought us down to the North Mowich Glacier, which we descended about 300' to the base of the route. The route goes up a diagonal 45 degree snow ramp, steepening at the top. The conditions were firm and icy, making for rapid progress. Near the top of the gully, the route diverges. Climber's left leads to two steep, exposed ice pitches. Climber's right leads to a steep ice ramp followed by a rock step. At this point, I looked down, and my left boot was missing a crampon. My guess is the strap broke on my 9 year-old crampons. I have noticed the straps fraying for a few months now, so I should have replaced them but.. here I am perched on a 55 or 60-degree ice slope with one crampon-- my choice is press on with one crampon, or bail and make the long walk back across the N side of the mountain to the TH. I decided to press on, confident in the sticks I was getting with my ice tools. From then on, I would climb up with my right foot, then sink my ice tools to the hilt, then flat foot my non-cramponed foot against the ice while I leaned back onto my tools and walked up. This worked OK and was reasonably secure, but still not entirely safe. Needless to say we did not take the ice chute variation. We got to the rock step and it looked fairly burly for "5.4". I would say if there was more snow it might be 5.4, but with a lack of snow, one starts out quite a bit lower where the climbing is more difficult. I decided to dry tool it. It worked to my advantage that my right foot had a crampon, since that was the side that was icy. I stemmed onto rock and ice, found a good hook, and pulled up. I clipped the fixed piton and continued to stem and hook. Once at the top of the pitch, I set up an anchor - which took some creativity - and belayed Tim up. The top of the rock pitch puts you right onto the Liberty Cap Glacier. From here, it's a 1600' slog to the top of Liberty Cap. We encountered firm snow, and a great deal of annoying neve penitentes. The wind started to pick up as we climbed, and was blowing a steady 40MPH near Liberty Cap. We gained Liberty Cap at 9:30, exactly 8 hours after we left camp. We placed no snow or ice pro on the entire route. The fixed pins on the rock pitch made it so rock pro is unnecessary (we carried some stoppers up anyway). From Liberty Cap, we dropped 300 feet or so, then traversed and climbed 800' to Columbia Crest. The summit was relatively quiet for a nice summer day. I would guess there was about 9 teams on the upper mountain at a time. We descended the Emmons Glacier and got to Camp Shurman at about noon. From here, we took a short break then continued down, making a great 3000' glissade down the Inter Glacier. There are crevasses on the Inter Glacier, so keep that in mind if you decide to glissade. On the way out, we received a pleasant surprise. The new trail is now open. The old trail, built alongside White River, was washed out and featured several rough, washed-out sections. The new trail is well done with a gentle grade, smooth surface, and extensive rock work. Back at the car at 3PM, 4 hours and 15 minutes after leaving Columbia Crest. This was my fifth summit of Mt Rainier by five different routes - Liberty Ridge being my favorite, and this a close second. Heading up to St. Elmo's Pass. Camp at St. Elmo's Pass. Looking across the Winthrop Glacier. Bumming around camp. The view up the mountain from St. Elmo's Pass. Starting out across the Winthrop Glacier on day 2. Traversing the Carbon Glacier. Me ascending slopes on lower Ptarmigan Ridge in high winds. Huge slab avalanche crown on Liberty Ridge. Looking back down on lower Ptarmigan Ridge. Looking up at upper Ptarmigan Ridge and the upper mountain. 10,200' camp on Ptarmigan Ridge. Climbing steep, firm snow high on Ptarmigan Ridge. Dawn. The mountain's shadow at sunrise. The last snow traverse before the rock exit. More views from the route. Climbing with one crampon. The rock step at the exit to Liberty Cap Glacier. More views from the route. More steep snow climbing on Ptarmigan Ridge. Sloggin up Liberty Cap Glacier. Me approaching the summit of Liberty Cap. Tim celebrates on Columbia Crest. All images courtesy of Tim Halder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevetimetravlr Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdDog Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Really great write-up with an awesome set of pics. Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainmatt Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Awesome Tom and Tim! . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicsandy Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 wow...cool trip. great pics....thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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