February 10-11, 2004, Rainier, Kautz Headwall

2/10/04

WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)

4029

7

Posted by TeleRoss on 2/12/04 6:45pm

Started Tues. at Van Trump TH. Nearly 7,000 v.f. and 6 1/2 hours later was at camp on Wapowety Cleaver. Beautiful day, but really warm. Shorts and tee shirt would have been nice. Got up Wed. morning and began climbing at 2:30. From camp, descended snow slope down onto the Kautz Glacier, directly below the lowest lobe of the ice cliff. From there asceded the open slope to 13,000'. Climbing was really fast and straightforeward, firm frozen snow with some areas of a punchy crust with some loose snow below. Right below a rock band where rock bands begin to criss cross the headwall, decided to take a rest. Dug a little platform by the rocks and just hung out and watched the most amazing sunrise, as the peaks were one by one illuminated by the sun rays...truely an awesome morning. Thought a bit about continuing to Pt. Success, but was having such a sublime experience wathing the sunrise that I decided just to hang there for a while. Ended up sitting there for a few hours, finally decided it was time to ski. Skied from 13,000 down to ~10,000 where I had to ascend the slope back to camp. Broke camp and skied back out to the car, for nearly 10,000v.f. of skiing.

2/12/04 6:53pm

andrew-carey

Regine says Wow! She climbed MR by that route in 92 but wouldn't ski it [left her skis at the top? ;D]abc

2/12/04 10:32pm

charles

I second that "wow!" Did you do this by yourself, and if so, what did you do to minimize the weight of your overnight gear? And how was the snow along your descent with respect to skiing?

2/13/04 6:40am

snowboarder_john

Nice jaunt although you are going to scare away some potential weekday partners - like me ;-) with TRs like this.

2/14/04 8:08pm

teleross

Charles, yeah I was solo. My partner bailed the night before with a cold or something....??? Bummer for him. Anyway I used my standard solo winter overnight stuff: ID singlewall, 20deg. bag, and bibler wintersac. Has worked really well for me. Although on this trip the weather was so calm that I probably could have done without the tent. But I like tents. And it was fairly gusty from ~ 11:00pm to about 1:00am. So it was nice to be in the tent. Also I figured that after that approach I wasn't going to want to have to dig in for protection if I was just going to bivy. So I was pleased to have the tent when I reached camp, even if it added a pound or two than if I had just carried a bivy sac.
-Ross

2/14/04 8:47pm

teleross

As for the skiing....well on the headwall it was firm/icy with some pockets of punchy breakable crust. Below camp it was pretty much more of the same, with a few areas of nice and soft. Below about 7,000' it was either frozen crust or super soft slush depending on the aspect. And once I was below Mildred Point, descending down through the trees towards Van Trump Creek, it was really nasty glop...So pretty much the typical Rainier winter mixed bag o' fun.
-Ross

2/15/04 2:39am

alan-brunelle

Charles,

Regarding your question on overnight solo equipment, I would like to know how different people on this forum solve their individual problems.

I just aquired a nice light down jacket and a down "half" bag with no zipper that is very light and seems quite packable. I had always carried a tarp and it is my hope that some of the frustration of hoofing it all day for a couple of thousand ft. of vertical (like Coleman Pinnacle and Rainbow glacier) would vastly be improved by staying the night and getting an early start for a full second day. Don't get me wrong, I really do like the day trips but..... :) I carry it all on in a Bomb Pack.

This topic probably suits Random Tracks so maybe when I get the time I will repost it there.

Alan

February 10-11, 2004, Rainier, Kautz Headwall

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