Home > Trip Reports > 11-17 December, MRNP (PHOTOS ADDED)

11-17 December, MRNP (PHOTOS ADDED)

12/11/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
14677
29
Posted by dave095790 on 12/17/16 1:17pm
I carved out 14 days in my schedule to fly from the Northeast to the PNW for some serious skiing.  Alex agreed to take two weeks off as well.  We had some objectives going back and forth, but our biggest was a large circumnav of Rainier, hitting all three summits, plus a loop around Little T, and taking about 6-8 days to do it.  We knew we needed snow coverage and weather on our side.  We got some pictures from a fellow at Boeing from 19 Nov, Thanks A!, and we knew we had the snow coverage.  Next, we needed weather.  Our earliest start would be the 11th of December, which proved to be at the tail end of a big snow event, but the weather for the foreseeable future looked promising.  As the 11th got closer, the window got smaller, and smaller, and then was not really a window enough for this undertaking.  So, we opted to operate out of Muir for as long as we could or wanted.  In hindsight, we could have chopped the summit bids and simply done the standard circumnav and likely would have had plenty of time to do it. 

Day 1, Sunday 11 December: Paradise.  The late gate opening delayed our departure from the parking lot.  We dug three pits to catch up on the snowpack in the area.  The goal was Muir to acclimate, but weather was too crappy and it got dark before we could get up Pan Point, so it was back down to the parking lot for the night. 

Day 2, Monday 12 December: Camp Muir.  An early departure with five days€™ worth of supplies.  In very poor weather and almost zero visibility we made it.  It was early bed time. 

Day 3, Tuesday 13 December: Upper Ingraham.  We got started at 0400 and made slow progress.  My layering seemed to always be off, and thus found it hard to keep up with eating and drinking €“ further hampering my temperature control.  We were spectators for an unbelievable sunrise and treated with a perfectly calm and blue bird day on the upper mountain.  We turned around near 13000 feet, knowing that the final couple hours were probably not worth it.  After getting back to Muir, and checking for instability, we added about 1200 vert on the sunny south facing slopes.

Day 4, Wednesday 14 December, 1: Lower Cowlitz and Ingraham.  A sunrise start and light packs got us going for a mega day.  We cautiously skied down the Lower Cowlitz, with tough early-morning light.  We found enjoyable snow, but not the best.  We ascended and then dropped down onto the Lower Ingraham, and found blower, low density snow.  After checking for more instability, we proceeded to add another three laps all the way down to 7300 feet.  The weather and visibility had slowly deteriorated throughout the day.  On our way out we took another stab at the Cowlitz, adding to our lap count.  We followed our down-tracks back up in almost zero visibility, making it back to Muir without needing headlights, and called it an epic-day.  About 6500 vert. 

Day 5, Thursday 15 December: Reset.  We skied the Nisqually Chute down to Paradise and resupplied with four days€™ worth of supplies.  We headed out of Paradise towards Sluiskin Falls, where visibility dropped to about 100 feet.  We then followed Stevens Creek to the saddle north of Cowlitz Rocks, then dropped down to where the Cowlitz and Ingraham Glaciers converge.  After two hours of hard labor we were treated with a glorious snow cave for the night and a very early alarm. 

Day 6, Friday 16 December: Little Tahoma.  With a viciously early alarm of 0200 we were skinning up the Ingraham at 0400.  To our amazement, our skin track from two days before was still in tack and made for fast travel.  We crossed the Ingraham and made for the weakness to gain access to the Whitman Glacier.  We crossed the Whitman and gained the Col leading to the Fryingpan Glacier but found the conditions to be less than ideal.  So, having observed what appeared to be stellar conditions high on the Whitman, leading to the summit of Little T, we changed course.  One again, we found perfect, low-density blower powder.  We once again checked for any instability.  I made three huge laps and opted not to summit; Alex opted for two laps and a summit.  We blasted down the Whitman, crossed the Cowlitz, and made the long slog to Muir €“ a 14-hour day.  About 8000 vert. 

Day 7, Saturday 17 December: Out.  We slept in until about 0800.  At 1000 we left Muir and headed down the Paradise Glacier, on our way out we saw people for the first time since seeing two slow-shoers on Sunday evening (except for our quick hit to Paradise on Thursday).  We skinned up into the Edith Creek basin for some final glorious turns back down to the road, and a close for this epic Rainier week. 

Gear:

-LaSpo High5 skis w/ 105mm waist was perfect, albeit a little heavier for the first half. 

-LaSpo GT skis and Dynafit Cho Oyu w/ 89mm waist was adequate with more snow settlement for the second half. 

-TLT6 Performance and Mountain boots. 

-Ovenbags ("meats up to 8 lbs") for keeping socks and boot liners dry. 

-Lots of versatile layering. 

-Sunscreen.

-Sat Phone for wx.   

-20 feet of cord to see in zero vis and hard, flat light. 

-Pee bag or bottle

PHOTOS ADDED

Very impressive!  Looking forward to your photos!

Holy smokes! I was ogling Little T from Crystal that very Friday, definitely didn't imagine anyone was up there. Congrats to both you you guys, can't imagine that mountain has seen too many December summits, nor powder descents.

Inspiring trip. Great work!

Wowza, hell of a trip. Stoked to see the pics.

Hell of a trip indeed! Strong work. Pics please!

Day 3 - Muir to the Upper Ingraham and afternoon south facing laps. 

Day 3 - Muir to the Upper Ingraham and afternoon south facing laps (part two). 

Day Four: Skiing the Lower Cowlitz and Ingraham Glaciers (part one). 

Day Four: Skiing the Lower Cowlitz and Ingraham Glaciers (part two). 

Day Five - Reset.  Only pictures were from the descent, and almost all those were from the Chute.  Imagine the rest of the day looking like an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper glued to your glasses ... that was the view. 

Day Six - Little T.  Part One. 

Day Six - Little T.  Part Two. 

Day Six - Little T.  Part Three.   

Day Six - Little T.  Part Four. 

Day Six - Little T.  Part Five. 

Day Six - Little T.  Part Six. 

Day Six - Little T.  Part Seven. 

Day Seven - Exit. 

Day Seven - Exit. 


Inspiring trip, and great photos! Thanks for the writeup.

Looks fabulous! Thanks for the photos!

Great trip and effort, nice photos! Especially this moonlight shot of the upper mountain from an unusual angle on Ingraham Glacier, a view which is rarely seen, day or night:



One thing I'm surprised you don't mention at all is the COLD: your entire trip took place during an unusually cold period in the Northwest, with temperatures well below normal at all elevations and freezing levels just above sea level. Although it was a bit warmer than the even sharper cold snap a week earlier when temperatures at Camp Muir were below 0 °F for most of a 3-day period from December 4-7, temps at Muir still hovered in the single digits during most of the December 11-17 week with only brief incursions into the teens, while summit temperatures were forecast to be below -10 °F from December 11-13 and not to rise above 0 °F at any point during the week. Pretty bold by Cascade standards to make a summit attempt into a forecast of -13 °F, even with light winds, obviously you two are far more cold-tolerant than I am, or even most skiers out here. (Although I've skied lifts in morning air temps of -25 °F a few times and even -35 °F once in New England during my teenage years, days which I somehow survived only by going inside at the top and bottom of every run, I can't imagine ever wanting to make a Rainier summit attempt in these kind of temps.)

Just for posterity, I've appended 3 of the NWS Rainier forecasts covering the entire week:

MOUNT RAINIER RECREATIONAL FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
335 AM PST SUN DEC 11 2016

SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER TROUGH AND MOIST WESTERLY FLOW WILL BRING SHOWERY WEATHER TO MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT WITH ANOTHER 8 TO 20 INCHES OF SNOW ABOVE 2000 FEET. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON MONDAY...WITH SHOWERS DECREASING AS A COLD AND DRIER AIR MASS ARRIVES. SUNNY COLD WEATHER IS LIKELY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...AND THERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE OF SNOW LATE IN THE WEEK.

..WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST MONDAY...

SUNDAY...SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW ACCUMULATION NEAR PARADISE OF 5 TO 10 INCHES.
SUNDAY NIGHT...BREEZY. SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW ACCUMULATION NEAR PARADISE OF 4 TO 9 INCHES.
MONDAY...SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING...THEN SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATION NEAR PARADISE OF 2 TO 4 INCHES.
MONDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE EVENING...THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
TUESDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1500 FEET.

TEMPERATURE AND WIND FORECASTS FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS.

                       SUN    SUN    MON    MON    TUE
                            NIGHT         NIGHT

SUMMIT   (14411 FT)    -13    -14    -13    -13    -13
                      W 35   W 30   W 30   W 25   W 10

CAMP MUIR(10188 FT)      6      4      5      4      5
                      W 35   W 30   W 30   W 15  SW  5

PARADISE  (5420 FT)     26     20     25     12     21
                      W 20   W 15   W 15   W  5  NE  5

LONGMIRE  (2760 FT)     32     30     32     20     27
                      CALM   CALM   CALM   CALM   CALM

++ TEMPERATURES AND WIND FOR THE SUMMIT AND CAMP MUIR ARE AVERAGE
   CONDITIONS EXPECTED IN THE FREE AIR AT THOSE ELEVATIONS.
++ TEMPERATURES FOR PARADISE AND LONGMIRE ARE THE EXPECTED HIGHS AND
   LOWS. WIND IS THE AVERAGE WIND EXPECTED DURING THAT PERIOD.

EXTENDED FORECAST...

TUESDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
WEDNESDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
THURSDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW.
FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW.
FRIDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
SATURDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.




MOUNT RAINIER RECREATIONAL FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
354 AM PST TUE DEC 13 2016

SYNOPSIS...COLD AND MAINLY DRY WEATHER WILL PREVAIL ACROSS MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. SOME SNOW IS LIKELY WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY AS A WEATHER SYSTEM PASSES TO THE SOUTH. COLD AND MAINLY DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED AGAIN FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. A PACIFIC FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL REACH WASHINGTON EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH MORE SNOW AND MODERATING TEMPERATURES.

TUESDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
TUESDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1500 FEET.
WEDNESDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT...BREEZY. SNOW LIKELY IN THE EVENING...THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF SNOW...MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.

TEMPERATURE AND WIND FORECASTS FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS.

                       TUE    TUE    WED    WED    THU
                            NIGHT         NIGHT

SUMMIT   (14411 FT)    -11     -6     -1     -5     -7
                     NW 10   W 10  SW 15   W 10  NW 10

CAMP MUIR(10188 FT)      5      8     13      9      7
                     NW  5  SE  5   S 15   W  5   N  5

PARADISE  (5420 FT)     23     12     20     11     22
                      CALM  NE 10  NE 15  NE 15   S  5

LONGMIRE  (2760 FT)     29     17     23     17     26
                      E  5   E 15   E 20   E 10   S  5

++ TEMPERATURES AND WIND FOR THE SUMMIT AND CAMP MUIR ARE AVERAGE
   CONDITIONS EXPECTED IN THE FREE AIR AT THOSE ELEVATIONS.
++ TEMPERATURES FOR PARADISE AND LONGMIRE ARE THE EXPECTED HIGHS AND
   LOWS. WIND IS THE AVERAGE WIND EXPECTED DURING THAT PERIOD.

EXTENDED FORECAST...

THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
FRIDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
FRIDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
SATURDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
SATURDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
SUNDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. SNOW LEVEL AT THE SURFACE.
MONDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2000 FEET.




MOUNT RAINIER RECREATIONAL FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
402 AM PST THU DEC 15 2016

SYNOPSIS...A WEAK LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ALOFT WILL MOVE SLOWLY SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THIS EVENING. HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WITH STRONG...DRY NORTHERLY FLOW WILL PREVAIL TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. EXPECT A WEAK LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM TO MOVE TOWARDS THE AREA ON SATURDAY FOR A THREAT OF LIGHT SNOW.

IMPACTS... STRONG WINDS NEAR THE SUMMIT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WILL MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO MOVE SAFELY AND COULD PRODUCE LOCAL WHITEOUT CONDITIONS. A HIGH LEVEL OF SKILL AND EXPERIENCE IN ALPINE TERRAIN, INCLUDING USE OF GPS, IS RECOMMENDED FOR NAVIGATION AND CAMPING IN THESE CONDITIONS.

TODAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS.
TONIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 500 FEET.
FRIDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 500 FEET.
FRIDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 500 FEET.
SATURDAY...PARTLY SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS.

TEMPERATURE AND WIND FORECASTS FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS.

                     TODAY  TONIGHT  FRI    FRI    SAT
                                          NIGHT

SUMMIT   (14411 FT)     -5     -8     -8     -3     -5
                      W 20   N 15   N 35  NW 40  NW 45

CAMP MUIR(10188 FT)     10      0      5      1      9
                      W 10   N 10   N 20  NW 25  NW 30

PARADISE  (5420 FT)     22     10     19      5     20
                      CALM   N  5   N  5  NW  5  NW 10

LONGMIRE  (2760 FT)     27     14     22     10     22
                      CALM   CALM   CALM   CALM   CALM

++ TEMPERATURES AND WIND FOR THE SUMMIT AND CAMP MUIR ARE AVERAGE
   CONDITIONS EXPECTED IN THE FREE AIR AT THOSE ELEVATIONS.
++ TEMPERATURES FOR PARADISE AND LONGMIRE ARE THE EXPECTED HIGHS AND
   LOWS. WIND IS THE AVERAGE WIND EXPECTED DURING THAT PERIOD.

EXTENDED FORECAST...
SATURDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW.
SUNDAY...SNOW LIKELY. SNOW LEVEL RISING TO NEAR 1000 FEET.
SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 1000 FEET.
MONDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 1500 FEET.
MONDAY NIGHT...RAIN OR SNOW LIKELY. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2500 FEET.
TUESDAY...WINDY ACROSS THE HIGHER SLOPES. RAIN OR SNOW. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
TUESDAY NIGHT...WINDY ACROSS THE HIGHER SLOPES. SHOWERS LIKELY. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2500 FEET.
WEDNESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2500 FEET.
[/tt]

First, it was brought to my attention that I misspelled Muir, thanks for pointing it out.  I apologize and it has been corrected. 

Second, Big thanks to Amar for posting up the weather data, really cool to have that data to connect with the trip.  We brought a sat phone with us, but was much less concerned with overall air temps and more concerned with amount of precip and cloud cover. 

Third, the temps.  It definitely was cold.  Alex and I had been tracking the temps leading up to the trip, and planning on the circumnav we would be prepared for any temp range, including brutally cold.  When we bailed on the circumnav and decided to stick around Muir, we were already prepared for these very cold temperatures.  Alex has been up on Denali in 2014 and I have been out in the Northeast for the last two years, so the cold temps were nothing greatly new to either of us, just a matter of having the appropriate layer system (and wearing it on schedule, which I did not do very well on Tuesday). 

Something else that was pretty powerful was the thermal affect of the sun, even though it didn't really actually help the air temp, the energy and motivation is pretty warming.  Our very early morning starts and our late afternoon finishes were definitely the coldest. 

The cold temps, and relatively low winds, REALLY helped maintain unbelievable snow conditions.  The snow at multiple times/locations was simply blower, the cold smoke type that you can literally blow into a cloud of smoke from your open hand ... these conditions hardly ever occur in the PNW, and not normally for a long period.  Being higher on the mountain helped keep the temps cold, and finding the sheltered non-sun affected aspects also helped find the goods. 

The snow seemed very continental, although with a maritime snowpack; we did not see any of the avalanche issues normally associated with such cold snow/climate.  We found none of the PWL that was reported, and found pretty well bonded layers with improving stability.  Friday on Little T the snowpack was about as trucker as you can find, but with epically good surface snow. 

We have some more early morning shots from the lower Ingraham I'll try and post up tonight or tomorrow. 

Wow, great pics. Love the Lil-T turns. Solid effort.

Lower Ingraham. 

Lower Ingraham. 

Lower Ingraham. 

Reply to this TR

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11-17-december-mrnp-photos-added
dave095790
2016-12-17 21:17:05

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