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[TR] Mt Rainier - Gibralter Leges 12/28/2012


dave schultz

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Trip: Mt Rainier - Gibralter Leges

 

Date: 12/28/2012 to 12/30/2012

 

Trip Report:

The goal was a summit ski descent via the Gib Ledges, the standard winter route. Partner would be on snowshoes, and this would be my first time with a mixed snowshoes-ski party … more on that later. The plan was an overnight at Muir, summit with second night at Muir, then back down on Sunday.

 

Saturday started off pretty late, with the idea that our speed would not be too slow and that a descent in the dark would be acceptable. This plan would give us a full night’s sleep, plus maximize what little acclimation would occur overnight. We headed up the Cowlitz at about 8am; budgeting about 2 hrs to the ledges, 1 hr for the ledges, 1 hr for the chute, and 2 hrs for the final snowfield to the summit (6hrs) with about 3 hrs of fluff before sunset. I felt this timing to be a little on the slow side for a ski plan, which I thought might be appropriate for a ski and snowshoe group – I was wrong, big-time wrong. We ended up taking a little over four hours to reach the ledge system (noon); and then after a long break moved about a third of the way across the ledge system by 1pm; with some quick math my estimate was about half of the actual time which meant summiting at about 8pm vice 2pm. After some chit chat about the situation we decided that it would be best to head back down to Muir and call it at that and made it back to Muir by 3pm. I broke trail cutting switchbacks up the Cowlitz all the way to the ledges; this may have been the wrong route selection, possibly heading along the ridge more climber’s left might have been better, but at the time it seemed you would be taking the same angle and similar distance. Weather started okay on Saturday morning, nothing great but nothing too bad; some wind but nothing your goggles and gor-tex can’t handle. I was able to use skis all the way to within about 100 feet of the ledges; when on ski crampons and balancing my way across final 100 feet of hard snow and ice part of my crampon broke (evidence discovered later) and I immediately started the accelerate down the slope. After about 100 feet I was finally able to arrest my fall with a single whippet (Austin had my second one). The avi conditions on the Cowlitz seemed calm: the slope appeared to be stable, no crack propagation, a breakable wind crust on top of powder made for slow and painful travel (at least for non-skiers), and frequent isolated columns yielded nothing of significance. On our way down the conditions deteriorated into a white out, and the skiing was not very enjoyable – in good visibility the Cowlitz would be a great 1500 feet of steep skiing. I stayed in my tent Saturday night, but Austin decided to head to the shelter. The freshly fallen and wind deposited snow forced me to shovel snow from away from the tent twice.

 

Sunday started early enough to ski down at sunrise. SpO2 Sunday morning was 91%. The Muir snowfield was a mixed bag of powder pillows and breakable wind crust, probably pretty good shape compared to what it could have been. It made for sections of forgettable skiing and sections of outstanding turns. Saw a couple of groups on Muir snowfield, one was just out testing their gear another was on their way to Muir and then the summit. The weather was excellent. I was able to scout a couple super steep ski runs that I will have to take a look at from below before dropping in. The Fuhrer Finger across the Nisqually looked like a stellar route; the Turtle Snowfield also appears to be a great line with lots of smaller lines below it; the Gib-Nisqually chute (once crevasses are a little more filled in down low) also appears to be a stellar big route.

 

Other items of note: I was the only person of at least ten who were heading for the summit on skis, I was very surprised to see such a high number of snowshoers going for the summit, especially with a high camp established only at Muir and not any higher. I was also very surprised at just how slow snowshoeing is, I had never been a part of a group with snowshoers and after this experience I don’t think I will ever try it again. Skiing is just so much faster and so much easier. Even though the summit ski descent did not happen many valuable lessons for future climbs were learned, and it just leaves the summit open for another attempt. All cooking was done inside the tent, using a jetboil SUMO, we used about 4oz of an 8oz canister. This was Austin’s first winter climb, my first winter climb besides Japan and the Northeast. The Nisqually River is close (if not ready) to be skied down to the bridge, giving 10k vert from the summit.

 

Pics:

 

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Parking Lot at 11am

 

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Gib Rock from just above Paradise

 

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Gib Rock from Muir near dusk

 

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Tent with wind protection

 

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Heading up the Cowlitz, we were having some snowshoe technical difficulty at this point

 

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Looks like great skiing on the way down

 

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Taking a break about 1/3 of the way across the ledges; this was our high point

 

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Sunrise from Muir on Sunday

 

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Mt Adams at sunrise with Austin trying to get a head start

 

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Looking back up to Muir with my fresh tracks at dawn

 

Gear Notes:

Standard glacier gear. I brought two screw and several pitons just in case I had an opportunity to place them. We never even broke out the rope.

 

Approach Notes:

Drive to Paradise?

Edited by dave schultz
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Nice to see a TR of any kind finally... Thanks for posting up.

 

It was good to see that you learned a lot on this attempt. I always felt that was the most important thing, the learning part... Surviving, getting better, smarter...

 

Many ways to calculate success in the mountains. Always beginning with survival.

 

d

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