Home > Trip Reports > April 16, Banshee, Cowlitz Chimney, and Tamanos

April 16, Banshee, Cowlitz Chimney, and Tamanos

4/16/13
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
10449
18
Posted by Kyle Miller on 4/18/13 6:48am
It's amazing how the mountains can bring people together from all different walks of life. People from different social classes, religions and beliefs share the mountains with one another. Many years ago I met a guy who goes by the name of Don and posted on TAY as Boot, we were in the Crystal Parking lot, both getting some preseason turns. We quickly realized that we shared the same love for topography and remote corners of the Cascades, we became touring partners from that day on.


A random summer hiking trip

At the beginning of this season we had brief chats over emails and he was stating a lack of enthusiasm to get back into the mountains. It took some motivation and promises of the Interglacier in Powder conditions, but two days before new years he was back on Rainier. He created a tick list of peaks and conditions he wanted to ride in and so his season began.


Skin track stoke on the Emmons

[size=15pt]One of those lines was the Cowlitz Chimney.

We came up with a plan to skin up the Frying Pan Creek and make our way up to the eastern shoulder of Rainier and slowly traverse NE. With around 2 feet of new snow and a tad bit of time for the slopes to stabilize we made our way into the White River. In the end it would be 11 miles and 7300 vert broken down to 3 couloir, 1 avi path and 1 treed run, all of which were NW to NE facing.



The sled ride in was fast. It had been a while sense I was solo on one and it was nice to rally it. Once arriving at Fryingpan Creek Boot checked his watch. It had taken us 30 minutes which was a new record for us. Within minutes we were skinning up the Frying Pan Creek trail. This valley is one of my favorite in the Cascades. There is not much old growth left in the Evergreen state after over a century of logging but this place remains preserved, not to mention there the massive volcano that feeds it.





Glaciers are advancing into the Old Growth

We skinned up the creek for a few miles before cutting up towards the shoulder and ultimately Fryingpan gap. The drainage was direct and quickly became a canyon with numerous waterfalls along the way. The creek was filled in but had some exposed moves to 10 feet deep holes of raging currents. The crux was a 20 foot tall waterfall with a steep snow ramp on the side. Being stubborn I attempted to skin it via veggie belay and some careful footwork but in the end had to boot it. Two minutes later it was official we had made it into the alpine.



Boot, Fryingpan creek and Tamanos



I CAN DO THIS!!!!!!



Welcome to the alpine


The year prior both Jason Hummel and myself had done a traverse from Paradise to Crystal this would be a similar route but with three differences. The exit, the amount of daylight  and the snow conditions. This time there was more than a foot of powder.



A year prior on the



He is in there somewhere


By the time we had transitioned to skinning the clouds had moved it thicker as we were navigating in a white out. Normally I would get out but I felt confident in the terrain. I made a slowly rising traverse up towards a rock ban I could barely see we made our way to the mellow col and navigated around the southern slopes to the Cowlitz Chimney col. Clouds came in and out the whole time.





We sat on top in a white out and patiently waited for visibility. We ate our lunches and chatted about our history with this run. Two years prior we had sat at this same col twice and had been skunked on weather. Third times the charm right? It turns out it is as the clouds lifted and one at a time we dropped into the Cowlitz Chimney with Boot going first.





I have rode the Cowlitz Chimney twice before but not in conditions like that. It was deep, stable, open faceshot top to bottom for 2000 feet, It was like Iceburg gulch at Crystal on steroids. Boots plan delivered big time and we were stoked.





We skinned up a steep section of ridge occasionally looking back at our line. As always the visibility started improving and we heckled the mountain wishing we had been more patient. With a quick descent down the best snow and visibility so far in the trip we started making our way towards Tamanos and the Owyhigh Valley.

Another gem in the Cascades the valley still looked like winter.








With a mellow and well placed skin track we made our way onto the ridge of Tamanos. Once upon the ridge the world opened up around and below us. From our vantage point we could see Rainier to the west and a panorama of mountains in every other direction.








Tamanos has always been Boots and my go to run when heading out to the  White River. With a little bit of creativity and love of the suffer it is one of the quickest big mountain tours in the park.

From the summit ridge we dropped into the couloir one at a time with Boot once again being the guinea pig. When riding we are always aware for potential slides and slabs so when Boot rode in he made his way over to a safe zone. He had caused a 5 foot wide foot deep slab that ran the entirety of the 700 foot chute. While it was small it would have been a sucky ride. Once he was at the bottom I carefully cut into the slope. My cut caused the rest of the slope to go so I waited for it to run and had an amazing ride down firm at first but bottomless pow in the apron.








We smiled and shared our experiences before putting on our skins for the final ascent up to the NW ridge of Tamanos. I made a scenic route up to the top of the old scared avi path. From the ridge there is a 2500 foot direct slide path that runs directly to Fryingpan creek and within a mile of the sleds. We said our goodbyes to Rainier and made our descents in stable pow for the first 2000 feet and smooth slush corn the rest of the way to the creek. It was the best conditions I have ever had that line in, finally it wasn't littered in debris.








Our exit was via Fryingpan creek which is always a pain. there is never a snow bridge and it is almost guaranteed to get you soaking wet but this time it wasn't the case. We immediately found a log jam and made our way across on foot before putting our skis on. From here on out I was able to skin the whole way back to the sleds, stubbornly skinning on rocks across a few creeks but still skinning.





The ride back was a blast until we got to the Mathers Y. It turns out while we were up at the White River the plow driver for WSDOT cleared both lanes of the road. Long story short I don't recommend EVER sledding on 6 miles of bare pavement. It was weak!

A hudge Thank you goes to my friend Boot for putting together this great trip. It has been an honor to be your friend and I look forward to many more years.


Great TR Kyle -- that Cowlitz line is fantastic, though I've only skied it in corn/mush.

Beautiful pics, Kyle. Looks like a fantastic trip!

You must have been a goat in an earlier life. Keep on truckin'

Another rad trip, and report Kyle! You've been getting some epic conditions on Rainier this year

Man your posting my fave lines on the Blindfold Tour..There's going to be a crowd out there now.
WSDOT karma plow was the price to pay for this!
Good on ya Kyle and Boot!

Nice work, dude! Look like it was fun trip!

Nice one Kyle!  This trip is on my bucket list.

Cool trip boot and kyle!

Keep up the enthusiasm and exploring boot, and stay positive.  Ive long been a fan of your out of the box style.

author=alecapone link=topic=28321.msg119153#msg119153 date=1366398458] Ive long been a fan of your out of the box style.


Man I gotta get out of my box on my outta the box style.

Great trip Kyle and Boot! Keep the stoke going Kyle!  8)

I am starting to feel like TAY is becoming more like Go Big and Turn All Year.  ;)




author=Joedabaker link=topic=28321.msg119175#msg119175 date=1366422682]
Man I gotta get out of my box on my outta the box style.


Would that put you right back into the box?

author=alecapone link=topic=28321.msg119185#msg119185 date=1366472130]
Would that put you right back into the box?


Suppose that is a double boxitive.

Thanks a lot Kyle for giving up all the secret spots  ;)

TOTALLY AWESOME TRIP .. who's taking these pix Kyle?  .. so rad .. nice to finally put a face to Boot  ... you guys rock ..

The good ones are mine  :).  Post a few of my favs if I ever get a chance.

Great riding with a great friend and touring partner made for best  day of the season for me.

Joe, we were just glad the sleds didn't catch on fire!! ;D

...........and there is always an entry and exit fee!

author=Boot link=topic=28321.msg119222#msg119222 date=1366597693]
Joe, we were just glad the sleds didn't catch on fire!! ;D


Don't know what your talking about  ;)

Nice pics Boot..
One of my favorite areas and fortunately close to home.
I like the one of Kyle going across the hidden lake at Tamanos. On a solo trip several years ago, I had a little episode with a bear family in there.

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april-16-banshee-cowlitz-chimney-and-tamanos
Kyle Miller
2013-04-18 13:48:05