[TR] Mount Rainier: - Condition photos: Mowich Face and Ptarmigan Ridge 6/27/2015

[Greg_Malloure]

Trip: Mount Rainier: - Condition photos: Mowich Face and Ptarmigan Ridge

 

Date: 6/27/2015

 

Trip Report:

We went for a hike up towards Mowich Face with the intention of climbing the central face. As always Spray park, flet glaciers and observation rock make for a stunning landscapes. And in some ways it is worth it to go up there just to see all that. However, our goal was the central mowich face. Sadly, the face did not go for us and I am not so sure how long the face will stay in - if anyone would like to climb it soon in two weeks I would be game with the right partner and could be a really fun outing. I think right now it looks like the lower sections has some rock bands in it but the upper section is almost all snow. You can see some darker off white areas that may be ice. Additionaly, along the way I snapped a photo of ptarmigan ridge which is melting out pretty fast, the traverse pitch looks like it is all rock now. If you look closely in my photos you can see that the Edmonds headwall will be difficult to gain; the bergschround is completely seperated from the rock wall above. The climbing rangers reported one party having trouble with that and then climbing the Sunset Ridge instead. All in all a good day out.

 

Ptarmigan Ridge:

 

Mowich Face

[ScaredSilly]

Yikes ... conditions look terrible. Bowling for climbers.