May 15, 2018, Mt.Rainier, Success Glacier Couloirs
5/15/18
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2975
4
This is a repost from TAY FB Page. I figured i should start giving this the site more love.
Last week Greg Malloure and I skied from Point Success down the upper Success Cleaver to the Success Couloirs. The Ingraham Direct Route is in fine shape. Made from Muir to the summit crater in 4 hours. It's pretty...direct.
After brewing coffee on a calm, sunny summit we skied over to Point Success. We dropped in around 11:45am. The upper slope, which isn't too steep was "soft rime" if that's a thing? A bit worried about catching an edge, but still carvable.
The first cliff band had a couple snow/rime fingers that we down climbed. A more daring skier could probably have sent it. But that's not me. The down climbing was a bit sketchy because the snow was pretty soft. But it wasn't quite sketchy enough to rap.
Below the cliff and above the couloir entrance the snow was pretty fun. A bit chunky, but it had softened well. We wove around cliff bands and managed to avoid the second down climb by keeping left.
We skied the east-most couloir. It was fabulous corn. A bit overcooked, but not grabby at all. 2000ft of awesome. The Success glacier schrund was easily managed on the far left.
Navigating the success and kautz glaciers were a bit tricky, and the snow was very soft, but we made it to the moraine that put us in the Van Trump drainage without too much trouble. A bit of "fun" was had navigating around an open waterfall. I recommend climbing up and east to the larger Van Trump snowfields if you desire less "fun". Most of the steep snow fingers in this first drainage are melted out. We skied back down to the bottom Comet Falls and hiked out.
Conditions I imagine are rarely in as good a shape as they were today.
This is probably the most technical ski descent that I've done, and it was fantastic. I highly recommend the route, despite its high cost of entry. It's worth it to make the trek just to Success Couloirs even if you don't bother with the upper mountain.
Oh yeah, and the slog up the Muir snowfield was boring and monotonous as always, just in case you were wondering.
Last week Greg Malloure and I skied from Point Success down the upper Success Cleaver to the Success Couloirs. The Ingraham Direct Route is in fine shape. Made from Muir to the summit crater in 4 hours. It's pretty...direct.
After brewing coffee on a calm, sunny summit we skied over to Point Success. We dropped in around 11:45am. The upper slope, which isn't too steep was "soft rime" if that's a thing? A bit worried about catching an edge, but still carvable.
The first cliff band had a couple snow/rime fingers that we down climbed. A more daring skier could probably have sent it. But that's not me. The down climbing was a bit sketchy because the snow was pretty soft. But it wasn't quite sketchy enough to rap.
Below the cliff and above the couloir entrance the snow was pretty fun. A bit chunky, but it had softened well. We wove around cliff bands and managed to avoid the second down climb by keeping left.
We skied the east-most couloir. It was fabulous corn. A bit overcooked, but not grabby at all. 2000ft of awesome. The Success glacier schrund was easily managed on the far left.
Navigating the success and kautz glaciers were a bit tricky, and the snow was very soft, but we made it to the moraine that put us in the Van Trump drainage without too much trouble. A bit of "fun" was had navigating around an open waterfall. I recommend climbing up and east to the larger Van Trump snowfields if you desire less "fun". Most of the steep snow fingers in this first drainage are melted out. We skied back down to the bottom Comet Falls and hiked out.
Conditions I imagine are rarely in as good a shape as they were today.
This is probably the most technical ski descent that I've done, and it was fantastic. I highly recommend the route, despite its high cost of entry. It's worth it to make the trek just to Success Couloirs even if you don't bother with the upper mountain.
Oh yeah, and the slog up the Muir snowfield was boring and monotonous as always, just in case you were wondering.
Wow. I don't see this very often. Good job on this!
Very nice line! Congrats on a decent descent!
Well done! Where did you scope and plan the descent from?
Thanks for cross posting, for those of us that have cut the fb wire.
Thanks for cross posting, for those of us that have cut the fb wire.
Greg has skied the lower portion of the route before and was a backcountry ranger last summer and stared at the line all summer. The day before we took some high res photos from Kautz Creek crossing and a couple other pullouts. Plus some internet research.
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