Home > Trip Reports > June 8, 2008, Unicorn Peak, Mount Rainier National Park

June 8, 2008, Unicorn Peak, Mount Rainier National Park

6/8/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
5136
10
Posted by iluka on 6/8/08 12:45pm
Headed out with Scott (scottk) and Chris today to see if we could find some nice weather and potentially some good turns. We decided to head to the Tatoosh with no specific objectives in mind but as the day unfolded we ended up heading for and skiing Unicorn Peak.

The drive into the park was marked by heavy clouds but the occasional sun hole raised spirits a bit as did a nice view of the summit from the bridge over the Nisqually. We parked at Reflection Lakes and hit the trail in a thick cloud. No shortage of snow at the roadside. Following some tracks laid in yesterday, we made it to the saddle east of Castle Peak within about an hour, breaking out into the sunshine and blue sky about 3/4 of the way up. We weren't too impressed with the snow quality on the way up (breakable crust or mush) and thought it might take time for conditions to improve. So... from the saddle, we eyed Unicorn in the distance and thought that might be a nice objective for the day.

We opted to stick tight to the ridge heading over to Unicorn but that proved to not be quite right. Rather, the best route in retrospect seemed to head towards the peak of the ridge but about 100-150 feet shy of the top, take a traverse on a high bench and/or slopes just to the west of the ridge. Eventually, after some time route finding, we found ourselves at the low point on the ridge best for dropping onto the Unicorn Glacier. There were many cornices on this ridge, some of which had already been sloughing in the sun but we found a safe place to drop in and had  no problems skiing across the glacier. From there, we skinned up the steeper slope leading to the saddle west of Unicorn's summit. The snow was firm but softening up a bit and it was easy to get good purchase and we kept skis on the entire way.

From the saddle, we were able to keep skis on all the way to the summit, although technically, we stopped at the easiest of the points on the summit ridge and didn't go for what looked like the actual summit as it didn't look very inviting. We took a quick lunch as  the clouds rolled up  out of the valley before heading down. The trip down was great as we found nice corn snow down to the saddle and as well as from the saddle down to the glacier. Hard to know how much fell on Friday up there but it seemed like a lot of stuff might have been blown off the high ridges, leaving a nice firm base that softened up nicely. Despite a lot of sun and warm temps in the morning, the snow stayed really nice for this entire section.

Once back at the glacier, we retraced our route back to the ridge. We dropped down a bit on the west side of the ridge hoping to find a nice traverse back up to the ridge near the Castle saddle but kept finding obstacles and soft, mushy snow so we eventually started to head back up to the ridge before gaining a nice traverse line across the slopes. At this point, the west facing slopes were softening up a bit. Lots of sloughs caused by tree bombs and melt off rock faces but we didn't release anything besides some pinwheels off the skis of the first person on the traverse. Probably about 5-6 inches of pole and ski penetration. As we neared the little lake east of Castle saddle, Scott and I headed back up to the top of the ridge for some more turns, finding more great corn snow on the way down. From the lake, we decided not to go back to Castle saddle and, instead, dropped off the ridge right near the small lake. We found soft snow but the turns were actually pretty nice and, aside from the gully, which had lots of sloughs in it, had soft but very turnable snow all the way back down to the road.
Looks like a nice tour - good job!

Funny, I was contemplating heading to the Tatoosh today.  We probably would've ran into eachother again Iluka.  Why did I stay home???!  Nice one.


"From the saddle, we were able to keep skis on all the way to the summit, although technically, we stopped at the easiest of the points on the summit ridge and didn't go for what looked like the actual summit as it didn't look very inviting..."

It's a fun little pitch. So close but yet so far...
http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=18245&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6509

That looks like it goes at 5.5 or 5.6 maybe?  How long is the pitch and what's the rock quality like?

author=Keith_Henson link=topic=10271.msg41440#msg41440 date=1213120031]
"From the saddle, we were able to keep skis on all the way to the summit, although technically, we stopped at the easiest of the points on the summit ridge and didn't go for what looked like the actual summit as it didn't look very inviting..."

It's a fun little pitch. So close but yet so far...
http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=18245&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6509


I should have clarified things a bit further... "Didn't look very inviting to climb with mixed snow and rock, tele boots and no rope!"

author=Stugie link=topic=10271.msg41456#msg41456 date=1213135172]
That looks like it goes at 5.5 or 5.6 maybe?  How long is the pitch and what's the rock quality like?


The photo sure looks harder, but Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guide, p. 130 says:  "The final 50 ft. of the tower may be ascended on the south (solid rock) or SE sides.  Class 3."

author=vogtski link=topic=10271.msg41524#msg41524 date=1213228436]
The photo sure looks harder, but Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guide, p. 130 says:  "The final 50 ft. of the tower may be ascended on the south (solid rock) or SE sides.  Class 3."


I booted over to it a couple weeks ago from the south summit and took these photos.  It is the thumb below Rainier for those who haven't been there.  2nd shot is a close up.  Even the gully/crack was a bit of rock climbing in tele boots, I'd say near vertical class 4 with big solid holds.  I didn't get far off the ground.  Further to the right looked like a solid 5.0, about 40 feet or so.  Definitely nothing class 3.  Becky must be talking "old school" class 3!  --Just didn't bother with a rope.
John

author=John_Morrow link=topic=10271.msg41526#msg41526 date=1213231004]
... I'd say near vertical class 4 with big solid holds.  I didn't get far off the ground.  Further to the right looked like a solid 5.0, about 40 feet or so.  Definitely nothing class 3.  Becky must be talking "old school" class 3!  --Just didn't bother with a rope.
John


Yeah beckey sandbagging a bit. It's solid and pretty fun and low 5th class but I sure wouldn't do it without a rope mostly because I wouldn't want to down climb it and hat's off to anyone who can climb it in tele boots. It feels quite exposed.


Thanks for the beta everyone!  I thought, and quite possibly because of earlier photos, that it looked like an easier 5th class...some people call that 5.0, some 5.5, it's all subjective I guess.  It definitely looks exposed.  Judging from other becky routes I've jumped on in Pistachin Pinn. area, Washington Pass, and such, I'm guessing it's for sure sand bagged and needing some rope.  Looks really fun!

i didn't want to get too off topic, so I started a new topic in the random tracks area about some other cascade climbing inquiries.  Sorry iluka, wasn't trying to hijack your thread!

author=Stugie link=topic=10271.msg41537#msg41537 date=1213246051]
i didn't want to get too off topic, so I started a new topic in the random tracks area about some other cascade climbing inquiries.  Sorry iluka, wasn't trying to hijack your thread!


Not a problem by me on the thread hijack... I was wondering the day we skied the peak, what class the climbing would be on the summit block. Smoot's Climbing Washington's Mountains describes it as Class 4-5 but I don't recall offhand which particular aspect he was referring to for the climb.

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2008-06-08 19:45:50