May 29, 2017, Little T save yourself the trouble...
5/29/17
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2797
3
I've climbed Little T 3 times, twice via the low crossing of the Cowlitz glacier at 6200' from Cowlitz Rocks saddle and up the Whitman (see Amar's trip reports for a description), once from the Fryingpan. Yesterday 2 friends and I tried to follow the "standard" climbing route described in the Volken book and got completely skunked and a bit scared trying to navigate heavily crevassed terrain on the Cowlitz. The 8600' contour described in the book is definitely only a general guideline. We followed some tracks which looked like they could quickly scoot us past a looming serac to easier terrain. Alas, there we were perched under the serac and blocked by a gaping slot. We boogied out of there, dropped some gear, and had a nice ski of the Paradise glacier on slightly over-ripe corn at 9 am.
Save yourself the trouble and take Amar's choice route if going from Paradise!
Save yourself the trouble and take Amar's choice route if going from Paradise!
Yeah I was comparing those two routes a couple weeks ago. Seems as if the route described in Volken's book is much better suited for non-skiers as it involves so much flat traversing.
I put together some GPXs on caltopo for reference: https://caltopo.com/m/C47B
The blue/purple routes seem to be much more desirable for a skier...
I put together some GPXs on caltopo for reference: https://caltopo.com/m/C47B
The blue/purple routes seem to be much more desirable for a skier...
The blue route is GOld! including going up Golden gate. I'll have to try the purple route next time.
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=21052.0
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=21052.0
The danger zone
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