Home > Trip Reports > July 3-4: Success on Independence Day (Rainier)

July 3-4: Success on Independence Day (Rainier)

7/15/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
5134
11
Posted by jesski on 7/6/11 9:48am
Katuz Cleaver Ascent/ East Success Glacier Coulior Ski Descent

Casey and I set out from the Commet Falls/ Christine Falls TH (3600') with the intention to climb either the Kautz Headwall or the Kautz Cleaver, dependent upon conditions that might present themselves via closer inspection. I was particularly concerned about , and the sun came out. While I hadn't expected to consume more than 2 liters of water (I hadn't even completely filled my platypus), I had brought along a stove for this eventuality, upon which Casey and I both had planned to rely. However, when I went to spark not one but both of the bic lighters I carried with the stove (both of which had worked earlier that morning), neither would light-- it was if the flint was completely cashed out. This made both Casey and I decidedly grumpy, for we knew that without some measure of inventiveness, we'd likely not get any more water until our return to Van Trump Creek.

It quickly became apparent that Casey's fitness surpassed my own, and as we had chosen to climb unroped, I suggested he continue at a pace he saw fit, and that we would rejoin one another upon the descent. I was concerned, too, that with my slower pace, the sun might warm our snow beyond perfection as well as the rocks around, which had shown signs of letting go of rime ice and possibly rock even in the early morning radiation. In addition, I had felt that the style-y-est way to do the line would be to climb to point success, skin across to the crater rim, luncheon in its relative shelter after reaching the true summit (it was quite windy from the W), and then ski from the summit down. Dehydrated and slow, I didn't know if I could sustain said stylishness with what was in me that day, but didn't want to deprive Casey of the pleasure, who clearly could make it in plenty of time. Casey agreed and we continued onward, switching to front-pointing and occasionally drawing a tool on the firmer terrain.

Above the juncture with the East Success Coulior, and just below the last cliff band on the Kautz Headwall proper, Casey traversed to the upper Kautz while I topped out at ~13,600. He then proceeded to skin to the summit as planned, which he reported was a windy enough skin that he donned his puffy for the whole time, and later rejoined me via careful downclimbing followed by skiing across the exposed traverse. We attempted to solve our dehydration difficulty by putting some snow in one of Casey's vessel/sig-style metal waterbottles, in hopes it would melt in the sun.

I clicked in and together we dropped down the upper Kautz Cleaver for some well-inclined turns on less than optimal "snow." At the juncture of the cleaver & the Eastern Success Glacier Coulior, we opted to ski down the Easternmost Success Glacier Coulior for the remainder of the descent. With cramped quads and feet, I was relieved to ski the less challenging and more open terrain, even if we had dropped in "blind." To be honest, it wasn't until about 9k that my legs began to relax and I started to get out of the back seat at the end of my turns. Casey, on the other hand, was ripping in style, completely hucking an ice choke of less than a ski width. In contrast, I descended the same section with decidedly less style and it left me veritably hyperventilating under duress of altitude.

We crossed the schrund/crack at the base of the coulior, and then traversed back to camp, only having to gain elevation to cross the Wapowerty Cleaver in the same place as before, packed up, and skied/ walked out. Nothing was more welcome than the view of the Van Trump Creek, where Casey stretched his long arms under the bridge to catch the passing flow of water. H20 never tasted so good :)

Generally, I conclude that the East Success Glacier Coulior and Kautz Cleaver are both worthy objectives that, given good conditions, could yield 11k of beautiful turns. I look forward to returning to either in perhaps earlier season conditions and with a bit more rest and a set of stormproof matches. 

Hopefully Casey will chime in with any photos of the day, as the few I captured were taken with my iphone, are not particularly good, and all from the same rest stop where I discovered that the stove did not work. Best phone photo:

edit to add: I don't know why the below photo keeps turning out upside down. It isn't upside down in photobucket. I will ask someone who is web savvier than me for some help. Yuck.




Route Photo:
Blue line=descent variation
Pink line= ascent; Jessie top-out
Purple line= Casey€™s continuation
Photo used & modified with permission from Amar Andalakar:


Nicely done!  Was up on the 4th as well and skied from Point Success to Wilson HW.  Plans were to ski the Kautz HW the next day but when we saw the route we had the same thought, not a skiable line.
^ Yep. So frustrating too, because it looked soooo good earlier in the season...
Great choice in a line and congrats!
gettin' Vertical Woman.. Way to go Jessie!

Great write up.

author=jesski link=topic=21399.msg91540#msg91540 date=1309999725]
Katuz Cleaver Ascent/ East Success Glacier Coulior Ski Descent
It quickly became apparent that Casey's fitness surpassed my own, and as we had chosen to climb unroped, I suggested he continue at a pace he saw fit, and that we would rejoin one another upon the descent. I was concerned, too, that with my slower pace, the sun might warm our snow beyond perfection as well as the rocks around, which had shown signs of letting go of rime ice and possibly rock even in the early morning radiation.   


Regardless of fitness, I'd be lucky not to suffer from hypoxia just thinking of trying to climb Rainier. :)  I must say; commendable!
Thanks, Kyle, Scott & Donn. That line definitely deserves some more skiing in its future!
Nicely written report Jessie and way to nail it at the last minute. Bet you are glad you skied that instead of the Bend camping/party. I guess we kind of had a little party to celebrate none the less albeit late. I would so love to add a photo from that but best not.  ;)

I am curios at what month the photo from Amar was taken and how similar to your current said conditions it is? It looks like August type conditions.

Nice work to you both!  8)

DAMN, Jessie!  Way to get after it, girl. :-)
@Lisa: Thanks, Lady! It was great to see you and hear about your stories from the same area. The photo came from this TR: Amar Skis the Kautz Glacier via the DC mid-July 2010. To me, visually, it looks similar to the coverage we saw, but considering how much fatter things have generally been this year, I'd say we probably had significantly more coverage than the photo. Thanks for mentioning that; I should have indicated that in the original report, above. The contrast has been turned way up on my version of the photo in part so that I could accurately draw our lines of ascent & decent on it, and for clarity.

@Juya: Thanks! Way to get after it yourself! Hope you guys had a blast on the Ptarmigan!
Congrats Jesse. Big effort and commitment on that for sure. Awesome!

Reply to this TR

8893
july-3-4-success-on-independence-day-rainier
jesski
2011-07-06 16:48:45
Login
Register
Support TAY

Contribute Now!