July 3, 2009, Emmons cornfest
7/3/09
2537
4
Saw the forecast for high temps this week, so we decided to give Rainier a ski try. Got an early start Thursday after making sure to arrive at White River in time to get a permit and complete the required interview and form filling. Interglacier was skiable up from 6000', only 100 yards from the Glacier Basin camp! The traverse across to the Emmons around 9300'(?) was almost perfectly level, much less worrisome than I recalled, still not wise to cross roped eh?
Chatted with Amar after dinner, got good advice on the route. Off at 7AM Friday, nice safe, unroped skiing (with crampons just in case) up to 12000' where we found the interesting snowbridge and a handy picket for a belay across it. Beyond there the slope seems to change aspect slightly more northerly and became icy. Knowing there would be much traversing, more icy slopes near the top, and tiring altitude were all the excuses I needed to bail and enjoy the perfect corn we had skinned up. The phrase "When I stop having fun, I turn around" was in my head, thanks Ron (or was it Zap?)
Great smooth run down to the flat area around 9200', always staying skiers right of the bootpack and avoiding Camp Sherman. Then experienced the most dangerous part of the Emmons route when a hiker began descending directly to the dirt traverse from Camp Curtis, sending rocks down. Once across and on to the Interglacier with our full packs, we found the suncups nicely softened and following each others tracks fairly smooth. It was a rare treat to get a 6000' run on continuous excellent snow.
Chatted with Amar after dinner, got good advice on the route. Off at 7AM Friday, nice safe, unroped skiing (with crampons just in case) up to 12000' where we found the interesting snowbridge and a handy picket for a belay across it. Beyond there the slope seems to change aspect slightly more northerly and became icy. Knowing there would be much traversing, more icy slopes near the top, and tiring altitude were all the excuses I needed to bail and enjoy the perfect corn we had skinned up. The phrase "When I stop having fun, I turn around" was in my head, thanks Ron (or was it Zap?)
Great smooth run down to the flat area around 9200', always staying skiers right of the bootpack and avoiding Camp Sherman. Then experienced the most dangerous part of the Emmons route when a hiker began descending directly to the dirt traverse from Camp Curtis, sending rocks down. Once across and on to the Interglacier with our full packs, we found the suncups nicely softened and following each others tracks fairly smooth. It was a rare treat to get a 6000' run on continuous excellent snow.
Bob S, Ari Lazier, and I were up there on Friday too. We too saw Amar (who did an amazing day) as we were booting up at 6000 feet. We went as high as the col between Liberty Cap and true summit when time and energy levels were both running low. We started down at around 2:30pm.
There are two gapers that had us concerned enough to "belay". The first at the top of the corridor, which is straight, wide, and smooth. It required trusting a 1' wide snow ledge on very steep snow with a cravasse above, and looming below if you are unwise enough to slip. Both the ledge and the crack had noticably deteriorated during the warm day. About 800 feet higher was an easy step across bridge with a 20' wide chasm looming below and to climbers right -- that didn't seem like it would last for long. In between these two crossings was the icey terrain you mention. Above was surprisingly very hard packed snow.
There were 7 skiers who had made the summit from Glacier Basin. As we were at Camp Curtis packing our gear, we were quite sure we saw these seven skinning back up from what looked like a left turn when they should have turned right on the descent. They were a fit and strong group, but that looked like a helluva detour.
Route is still in reasonable shape, but melting out quickly. I think next time I try to climb Rainier, I'll climb it and leave the skis at home. That is a lot of work hauling that extra gear up the mountain.
There are two gapers that had us concerned enough to "belay". The first at the top of the corridor, which is straight, wide, and smooth. It required trusting a 1' wide snow ledge on very steep snow with a cravasse above, and looming below if you are unwise enough to slip. Both the ledge and the crack had noticably deteriorated during the warm day. About 800 feet higher was an easy step across bridge with a 20' wide chasm looming below and to climbers right -- that didn't seem like it would last for long. In between these two crossings was the icey terrain you mention. Above was surprisingly very hard packed snow.
There were 7 skiers who had made the summit from Glacier Basin. As we were at Camp Curtis packing our gear, we were quite sure we saw these seven skinning back up from what looked like a left turn when they should have turned right on the descent. They were a fit and strong group, but that looked like a helluva detour.
Route is still in reasonable shape, but melting out quickly. I think next time I try to climb Rainier, I'll climb it and leave the skis at home. That is a lot of work hauling that extra gear up the mountain.
author=Cornfed link=topic=13782.msg57586#msg57586 date=1246766940]
I think next time I try to climb Rainier, I'll climb it and leave the skis at home. That is a lot of work hauling that extra gear up the mountain.
I thought the same thing when I was hauling my skis up- but when I skied down it was totally worth it!
Nice work Silas! Glad you got the goods -- that's a helluva nice corn harvest...
I'll piggyback on Silas's thread since our summit ski was the same day.
The skiing above where Silas turned around was indeed just transportation skiing -- on the descent, once we passed that most sketchy crevasse (with the picket in place), it was like passing through to the Kingdom of Corn.
Our pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/20090703FromTheTop
Also, some video footage from our partner Loren --
Heading up from Camp Schurman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzS6QfzIY8
Reaching the summit (and jumping to get higher!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc5bQxvWl-E
First turns off the summit. The snow here was pretty bad (if you want to see just how bad, I could have posted the footage of Jeff too!), but fortunately the pitch was minimal, and the exposure was nonexistent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxRiaOeGIHw
The skiing above where Silas turned around was indeed just transportation skiing -- on the descent, once we passed that most sketchy crevasse (with the picket in place), it was like passing through to the Kingdom of Corn.
Our pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/20090703FromTheTop
Also, some video footage from our partner Loren --
Heading up from Camp Schurman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzS6QfzIY8
Reaching the summit (and jumping to get higher!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc5bQxvWl-E
First turns off the summit. The snow here was pretty bad (if you want to see just how bad, I could have posted the footage of Jeff too!), but fortunately the pitch was minimal, and the exposure was nonexistent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxRiaOeGIHw
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