June 19-21, 2011, Mt Rainier, Liberty Ridge
6/19/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
6721
7
Spent a few days on the north side of Rainier with Brian Fletcher and Michael Shaffer (Bird) to ski Liberty Ridge. We had a leisurely start on Sunday leaving White River by noon, making camp on Curtis Ridge with clouds coming in and out around 7K and below. Monday we made our way to the Carbon and enjoyed great views of Liberty Ridge.
We set out early on Tuesday morning under clear skies with light winds. The climbing was fun and we reached thumb rock by 6am. At this point Brian was not sure if he wanted to continue with high clouds coming in and out possibly not allowing the snow to soften, so he decided to hang out around thumb rock. Bird and I pushed on and reached the shrund below Liberty Cap by noon. Once above the shrund anything higher would need to be down climbed due to ice so we decided to head down with high clouds and winds were coming in from the west. After a short rap with a v-thread we were below the shrund. The skiing down to the shield was good with soft wind deposits here and there to find. The upper section of the shield was still icy so we elected to down climb a few hundred feet due to the amount of exposure below, after that we had a mix of ice, pow and corn to the carbon.
We set out early on Tuesday morning under clear skies with light winds. The climbing was fun and we reached thumb rock by 6am. At this point Brian was not sure if he wanted to continue with high clouds coming in and out possibly not allowing the snow to soften, so he decided to hang out around thumb rock. Bird and I pushed on and reached the shrund below Liberty Cap by noon. Once above the shrund anything higher would need to be down climbed due to ice so we decided to head down with high clouds and winds were coming in from the west. After a short rap with a v-thread we were below the shrund. The skiing down to the shield was good with soft wind deposits here and there to find. The upper section of the shield was still icy so we elected to down climb a few hundred feet due to the amount of exposure below, after that we had a mix of ice, pow and corn to the carbon.
a few more pics
Way to play the conditions (conditions are everything I say..).
VERY COOL!!
VERY COOL!!
Holy Toledo.
This TR = lots o' winning.
Nicely played gentleman
I love the "Bird on the shield" photo.
Strong work, thanks for sharing.
Strong work, thanks for sharing.
Rad dudes!
Sounds like some fun climbing.
Sounds like some fun climbing.
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