6/23/08, Mt. Rainier, Kautz g. from 13k+ with vid

I set out from Paradise well before sunrise, not a cloud in the sky. I made pretty good time up the lower portions of the Kautz G. route, a little more mentally tired than usual. Clouds wafted in, wispy at first, then coming in waves. By the time I made it to the top of the Turtle, conditions were mostly cloudy (high clouds). I was intent on skiing the Kautz Headwall, but without sunshine, It would not soften, and there looks to be some water ice in there, which I would want soft. I sat, ate, napped, waited for the clouds to break, since the forecast was calling for MOSTLY SUNNY...

I fell for a sucker window in the cloud cover, and quickly ascended the Kautz ice chute, finding a 20' section of 40dg alpine ice. Conditions on the horizon were quickly deteriorating, high clouds returned overhead, and I could no longer see St. Helens or Adams, I continued upwards, part breaking trail through crust, and part following my old steps from last week, detecting and avoiding several scary hidden crevasses with prudent probeing. I was just below the large crevasse which spans the Kautz (~13300'), and snow started to fall, P.S. drifted in and out of obscurity. The air cooled, and the winds picked up. Time to ski, - like James Brown said "Must have been the right place, but it must have been the wrong time".

The skiing on the upper Kautz was crappy, ice, and crusts. Downclimbed the alpine ice section in the chute, then skied down to the little funky rope thing. The upper Turtle was crappy, suncupped, dirty, then the snow became very good corn for thousands of feet before it got a little sloppy low on the Wilson. I took the loaner walmart cam again, mostly poor footage, I included a short clip which came out descent, of the lower roll on the Wilson Glacier, where Ryan triggered a slab last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa58vSGfKtg