[TR] Mt Rainier - Liberty Ridge 6/1/2013

[bramski]

Trip: Mt Rainier - Liberty Ridge

 

Date: 6/1/2013

 

Trip Report:

 

My seventh summit of Rainier was destined to be “different”. Goran, Jeff, and I had been seeking a good weather window for 2 weeks prior to our attempt, which was as it seemed, the first attempt for liberty ridge “sans-rescue”. It seems that the 2 prior parties had “broken a leg and caused and avalanche” and “been turned around at Thumb Rock due to frostbite and frostnip”. But those folks didn’t have what we had! More than 2 ice tools (the first party had one pair for 3 people), a good weather window (the party with frostbite went over memorial day weekend!??), and skis. Yes, skis, we carried motherfucking skis over liberty ridge.

 

The skis were a great idea the first day, with our casual 1030am exit time from White River Campground we made quick work of sloppy snow across the interglacier and up to St. Elmo’s Pass. We enjoyed conditions capable of roasting a spring chicken on a fairly lightly crevassed lower winthrop glacier and made a nice leisurely pace to camp on Curtis Ridge and got great pictures of the Carbon Glacier and the route we intended to crush over the next few days. Things were looking really good.

 

Day 2

 

We awoke the next morning to good skinning on nice firm, perhaps slightly breakable feeling snow on our skis. That is, until we got to the first icefall crossing on the carbon glacier and whipped off the skis for a 150ft bootpack, and then, breakable crust. Knee deep, miserable, swearing breakable crust. So we did what any good climber does, we got down on our knees and climbed like beggars 45 agonizing minutes until we could slam the skis back on. Guys, these conditions had better improve, there’s no way we can grovel our way up 6,000ft of breakable crust.

 

[img:right]http://lh4.ggpht.com/-mdFGWYCGiCc/UbIX49ZGDWI/AAAAAAAAeDs/6P5uHsJw6jM/s350-c/01.jpg[/img] Day 2: There’s a brief whiteout, some spicey crevasse crossings, and then we’re dispatching a meandering route up steep snow and rocks up the scenic NE side of the lower liberty ridge. The snow is ankle to shin deep, but we’re taking shifts like a good pace line and making quick work of the bootpack and having a good time of it. Until we decide to meander around for a while, the snow gets deeper, Goran finds an upper side of the ridge that goes nowhere, I end up bouldering on some crumbly overhanging rock that goes nowhere. We downclimb, traverse, and find the route that we really should have followed in the first place. And then we find it, waist to chest deep snow at a cool angle of 45 to 55 degrees. At least it’s not sliding. If you’ve never had the wonderful experience of bootpacking 400 ft in snow this deep, it’s this kind of elaborate dance where you’re burying your face in the snow and just trying to make ANY kind of upward progress with your boots stamping down on the stuff. It’s so exhausting that we arrive at Thumb Rock like 3 big lumps of meat. Not a soul in site, and light wind.

 

Day 3

 

[img:left]http://www.bramski.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/jeff_ice-300x287.jpg[/img] We agreed. 45 minutes of awfulness and we’d turn around. 215am and it’s going reasonably well, mostly shin deep snow. It’s not the fastest, but things are going with some speed. And then there’s more of it WAIST DEEP SNOW. I love to ski it, but now the wallow fest is the biggest curse storm I can remember. We’re committed now, and we keep moving… and then we find ice. lots.of.ice. At a cool 40-55 degrees it’s not difficult ice, but we slow down. I look back at my buddies, and I see something red/orange sliding down behind Jeff. No worries guys, not like we just lost the poles to the tent or anything. I skirt left on rambly ice and snow and slam a picket into some rotten ice and nieve.

 

I think it was soon after this that I realized I hadn’t eaten for a while. Aside from my totally crumbling hunger and exhaustion, the only thing on my mind at this moment is god, I have to poop so badly. So, I drop the pants and while trying to consume my entire flask of gu I drop a deuce into the bergschrund. If you’ve never taken the #2 at 13000 ft, I tell you it’s the most euphoric and enlightening experience I can recall in recent history.

 

Then Jeff “The Ice Man” Hebert springs to life like a locomotive. Goran and I are feeling half drunk and exhausted but Jeff just goes, “I’ll send these last pitches of ice!” And he floats up an 80 degree pitch of ice and the two of you second up the most wonderful ice, and top out on, a crevasse. And a bergschrund. So you follow up with the world’s worst belay. A one screw anchor, a 120ft traverse to the other side of the schrund. But it’s waist deep snow again! Nobody falls, you wander your way drunkenly up to the liberty cap with 40mph winds. Not too shabby.

 

But here’s where shit goes really wrong. It’s 4pm, you boil some water with a bit of gatorade, slap the skis on, and make a quick ski traverse to the emmons/winthrop shoulder. The sun is eclipsing over the side of the shoulder, and the winds start to pick up to hurricane force, 100mph gusts blowing over the shoulder and down the emmons shoulder. We swap skis for crampons but we’re being hammered to the ground by spindrift and winds so strong if you stood up you’d fly off the mountain like a kite. GO, is all that’s in my head each time the winds let up enough that vision and movement is possible. My sunglasses keep filling up with so much snow I can’t see at all. I’ve been down this glacier 3 times before and I’m just really praying I can get our asses over to the ramp. 2 and a half hours of adrenaline pumped crevasse navigation and I find a wand, it’s a fucking wand! Oh, our asses are saved.

 

We crash an extra night at Shurman. The ranger thought we were wiped out in those mega-spindrift blasts on the upper mountain. He loans us 2 tents to sleep in, and some water. The ski out the interglacier and walk to the car is bliss. We stuff our faces with fried chicken at the safeway. Summit number 7 and liberty ridge achieved.

 

Gear Notes:

Team of 3, One 60m rope. 3 screws each. 1 picket each.

 

Approach Notes:

Lots of snow. Plenty of skinning. No marmots.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Are these conditions the normal/expected for this time of year? particularly the amount of ice? I'm a bit surprised by the variable conditions you encountered (and am hearing about subsequently/more recently)

[tvashtarkatena]

late season wet snow + temp drop = burning calves.

 

[ivan]

don't think i've ever climbed rainier and not felt like it'd hurt me far more than i'd hurt it

[KaskadskyjKozak]

late season wet snow + temp drop = burning calves.

 

 

 

I'm hearing rumors of a lot of ice. Seems unusual at the beginning of June is all.

[markwebster]

Nicely written, cool pictures!

[obwan]

Good job guys - this qualifies as an epic adventure, good thing you all kept your head on straight. Congratulations!

[DPS]

late season wet snow + temp drop = burning calves.

 

 

 

I'm hearing rumors of a lot of ice. Seems unusual at the beginning of June is all.

Yesterday I spoke with a friend back from Lib Ridge. He reported ice from 12,500 to Liberty Cap. Love the annotated route photo.

Edited June 15, 2013 by DPS

[ScaredSilly]

Are these conditions the normal/expected for this time of year? particularly the amount of ice? I'm a bit surprised by the variable conditions you encountered (and am hearing about subsequently/more recently)

 

Conditions on the ridge always seem variable. When we did it in the late 80s in early June I remember crossing the Carbon was not bad. But gaining the ridge was a snow wallow so we climbed the scree which was slightly better. Once on the ridge it was a crap shoot. We wallowed in the snow in places and climbed on the ridge line in other places. Above Thumb Rock it was great névé or ice (right side). The shrund at the top going left had a crack but was straight forward.

 

 

[bramski]

Talking to a lot of folks this doesn't seem terrifically unusual. Z-man said that a few years before when they did ptarmigan it was ice for nearly 3000 ft. Sometimes you never know on rainier. Been a light year according to the rangers on the upper mountain.