Upper Mountain Conditions Photos from 5/23

Success Couloirs (Center)

Kautz Ice cliff (Center Right)

Russell Cliffs and Curtis Ridge (Willis Wall in the background)

Willis Wall and Liberty Ridge

Ptarmigan Ridge (Center)

Upper Mountain Skiing Considerations

The Emmons-Winthrop Glacier saw a lot of skier traffic on Memorial Day Weekend

As we move into June on Mount Rainier, we are seeing a dramatic shift to summer-like conditions on all routes. In tandem with this, skier traffic on the upper mountain is hitting all-time highs as the skiing itself rapidly deteriorates in quality. Solar input, especially as we approach summer, can lead to conditions such as: thin and discontinuous snow that requires steep downclimbing; variable snow surfaces such as sun cups, runnels, and penitentes; open crevasses; weak snow bridges; and rockfall. Ski movement ability is, perhaps, the best way to improve your safety margin from falling while skiing in the mountains. When combined, the conditions described will make a route "out of condition" even for the best of skier. Even the Muir Snowfield has discontinuous snow and is heavily sun cupped in the last 700ft to Camp Muir! Presently, the north side of the mountain is seeing less solar input and thus has more planar snow surfaces and better coverage. That said, the times are rapidly a 'changin due to consistent high freezing temperatures and sunny days.

Sun cups on the Muir Snowfield near Camp Muir 6/10/23. Shoe for scale

Even if someone skied the route a week prior, remember that we are in a highly dynamic environment that is changing at a fast rate: this results in quick route changes and new crevasses opening in a matter of hours, let alone days. Not only must you possess the skills necessary to navigate through heavily crevassed terrain, but anyone skiing the mountain must possess expert skiing abilities as any unplanned fall could have severe consequences. 

Rangers are observing a marked increase in skier traffic on the upper mountain in recent years, with a decrease in the movement abilities of skiers and riders. This has coincided with an increase in accidents involving skiing. One constant observation that rangers are making is that the basic approach to risk management is often skewed in skiing parties.

The two biggest misconceptions about the risks involved with skiing on Rainier are:

 

• Speed of Glacial Navigation on a Ski Descent: Since you may have more days on skis annually going downhill at a resort than you do walking downhill with crampons on, you may be under the impression that skiing down the upper mountain will be easier than walking. What this perception lacks to factor in is that when you are skiing, the same glacial navigation and snow bridge evaluation you had to perform on the way up the mountain has to happen at over double the speed on the way down! Rangers have seen many close calls with skiers approaching blind, convex rolls at speed -- just barely stopping before skiing straight into a crevasse. In one case, a skier was observed accidentally jumping a crevasse they did not identify. When managing open glaciers, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. So be sure to ski slow and in control, especially when you cannot see the whole line you are skiing.

• Safety of Skis vs. Booting Uphill: It is often assumed that since skis spread one's weight out over a large surface area, they are a safer method of travel on glaciers. This may be true for flat valley glaciers, but while ascending on steep terrain, the opposite is often true. The extra weight and awkwardness of skiing or snowboarding makes the endeavor more challenging and requires more attention paid to risk management. Variable, steep surfaces with significant fall consequences are not the place to practice “high-stakes skinning”, especially if you are new to backcountry travel.  

 

Individuals considering a ski attempt on Mt. Rainier should possess significant previous experience skiing on glaciers and at altitude. While no other Cascade volcano possesses the same degree of challenge for the ski mountaineer, it is strongly recommended to have experience skiing on other peaks like Mount Baker and Mount Adams before coming to Mount Rainier. Mt. Rainier has more substantial objective hazards and complex glaciated terrain than any other mountain in the lower 48. Combine this with the unpredictability of how high altitude will affect you, and having significant previous experience to draw on will provide a much higher safety margin on any ski descent of Mt. Rainier. A deep well of experience managing these hazards on less complex terrain should be developed before heading to Washington State's highest peak.

Other Safety considerations for planning a ski trip on Mount Rainier:

 

Team Selection

This is the most important factor to consider when planning a trip to Mount Rainier. The vast majority of terrain on Mount Rainier can be classified as “no fall” territory. Although ski falls may be common and insignificant in a ski resort, all falls on the upper mountain are serious. Simply losing an edge can easily cascade into an unstoppable slide into an open crevasse. Reverting to side-slipping or falling-leaf technique, rather than linked turns, can help maintain control of your ski descent. If anyone in your party has any doubt of their ability to safely ski the route, you must be willing to communicate that and revert to appropriate roped glacier travel techniques - this would include stashing skis low and continuing on foot. If you doubt your ski ability, consider hiring a professional to give you objective feedback in a more controlled environment such as a ski resort or less complex ski mountaineering objective.

 

Successfully completing a ski descent of Mount Rainier requires individuals and teams who are competent in a broad array of mountain skills. Mountaineering, glacier travel, rope techniques, navigation, and expert-level downhill skiing skills with a heavy backpack are the bare minimum.

Route Selection

There is no easy way to ski from the summit of Mount Rainier. All routes feature complex glacier travel, steep skiing, and long sections of no-fall terrain. Commonly attempted routes include: Emmons-Winthrop, Fuhrer Finger, Kautz Glacier, Success Couloir, and Ingraham Direct. There are many excellent ski descents on the mountain that minimize exposure to crevasses, ice and rock fall, and high altitude. Descents of the Muir Snowfield, Van Trump Snowfields, The Turtle, and Inter Glacier all serve as a nice introduction to the challenges of skiing on Mount Rainier.

 

One Day vs. Overnight Trips

An increasing number of teams opt for single day attempts; these require exceptional fitness levels. We see many teams that begin their attempt together but slowly get spread out across the upper mountain. This is unacceptable. It is crucial that team members remain within verbal and visual communication at all times. If one party member needs to stop or descend, the group should do the same. Do not leave anyone alone on the mountain. Consider a multi-day attempt so that you can begin your summit attempt rested and focused for the strenuous day ahead. Overnight trips also present better opportunities to time your descent for optimal conditions.

No matter which strategy your party chooses you must register for your climb and pay the climbing fee. More information on that process can be found here.

 

Weather and Avalanche

When signs of current or developing snow instability are present, the best course of action is to descend immediately from your current location rather than trying to outsmart the avalanche problem. It only takes a small amount of moving snow to knock you off your feet and push you into places that have serious consequences.

 

Snow Surface Conditions

This is probably the hardest variable to predict when planning a ski descent of Rainier. Snow conditions vary widely across aspect and elevation. The upper mountain rarely features smooth snow surfaces that could be defined as “good” skiing – it is commonly “survival skiing” up high. The surface above high camps is frequently a mix of breakable wind crust, very firm wind packed snow, ice chunks, sastrugi, and refrozen snow. Expect to ski “bad snow” for some or all of every descent. 

Furthermore, it is rare that a ski descent does not require some down climbing. In many cases the decision to transition to crampons and ice axe for a short down climb can be a life-saving event. You must expect that you will need to take off your skis, rope up and climb down intermittently.

Glacier Conditions

As the season progresses, all potential ski descents become more challenging as crevasses open and more ice is exposed. The trend in recent years has been to attempt ski descents earlier in the season to help mitigate these hazards, though this brings increased risk of avalanches, challenging navigation, and more hidden crevasses. Regardless of when a descent is attempted, always ensure that you can see to the bottom of the slope you are on. Convex rolls are classic trigger points for avalanche's and often hide crevasses on their downhill side.

 

All parties on foot should be roped up to help protect against glacier hazards. This means that transitioning from skiing to booting (or booting to skiing) should be done after roping up and spreading out the team. The greatly reduced surface area of boots compared to skis greatly increases the likelihood of punching through a snow bridge into a crevasse.

 

Technical Rescue & Rope Considerations

All parties must be competent in crevasse rescue. Every member should wear a climbing harness at all times in the event of a crevasse fall. Carrying two ropes affords a greater safety margin in the event that the person carrying the only rope falls into a crevasse – this risk can be easily mitigated. Many teams opt to bring a single 60m rope, however carrying two ropes per team that are each 30+ meters increases rescue safety margins while having a commonly missed benefit: the ski quality for the party as a whole is increased as no one is skiing with the weight of a 60m of rope in their pack! Each party member should have enough supplies to construct a rescue anchor, rappel into and ascend out of a crevasse, and execute a haul system. All other mountaineering equipment should also be carried, including crampons, ice axe, helmet, navigation, and survival gear.

 

A ski descent of Rainier can be one of the most rewarding experiences for a competent party but it can quickly turn disastrous for the unskilled or unprepared. The fact that descending on skis is so much faster than on foot allows skiers to get off route and into problematic terrain all that more quickly. Proper planning and a high degree of caution is a prerequisite for a successful ski descent of the mountain.

Emmons-Winthrop & South Side Update

Emmons-Winthrop

Consistent with our last blog post, the route climbed (red line) on 5/28 is very direct, going directly up and over two large cracks that have solid (for now) steep snow plugs. There was a notable crux at ~12,500’ that required climbers to front point and utilize axes in dagger position over a 20' section of AI 2/3. Beyond this, the route went directly to the crater rim, passing several zones of notably steep snow.  This additional exposure can be avoided via a less steep option (green line) traversing out right on lower angle slopes underneath the icefall near ~13,200’, This would take climbers to the saddle between the top of Curtis Ridge and the summit. From here, one can gain the summit on the western facing, low angle slope from the saddle with minimal exposure compared to the direct route.

Route alternatives on the E/W.

Snow surfaces from the summit to 12'500' were variable with intermittent sections of compact windboard, sastrugi, glacial ice and rough corn. This terrain is relatively steep, and a fall would not have a desirable outcome. Something to consider when skiing the Emmons is that while most glaciers have cross-slope cracks, the Corridor also has longitudinal cracks on either side!

The bottom 1/3 of the Success Couloir is tucked out of view, with the top system visible from camp.

South Side Update

Rangers visited the Success Couloir for an investigatory patrol. Rangers approached via Comet Falls, finding intermittent snow along the trail, which made for less than efficient travel. Continuous snow was found at ~5,000', where one can navigate up through the forest and continue toward the Success Glacier via Van Trump Park. A final, consequential traverse across well-covered snow slopes delivers prospective climbers to the ridge on the eastern edge of the Success Glacier at 8,000'. Upon arriving at camp, clouds lifted, and Rangers were able to assess conditions up high in greater detail.

Utilizing a monocular, Rangers observed deep runnels, chicken heads, and evidence of recent rockfall in Success Couloirs. Snow was discontinuous and would require climbing through several rock bands. Significant rock and ice fall events crossed much of the Success Glacier.  Other ambitious skiers came through, ascending 300' into the couloir until they came to the the conclusion that they shouldn’t continue, reporting "heinous" conditions on the route. Ultimately, between this and conditions found in the Fuhrer Finger recently, it seems that the south side of the mountain is highly sun affected above 8,000'. Mid elevation slopes still hold excellent snow to about 5,800'. 

That's the conditions report for this week! Hope to see everyone out there!

7/6 South Side Aerial Photos

Below are aerial photos from the south side of Mt. Rainier over the weekend.  These may be helpful for broad trip and route planning purposes.

Looking up the broad and well defined ridge of Success Cleaver

Kautz Glacier

Fuhrer Finger (the couloir with ski tracks) & Fuhrer Thumb 

Ingraham Direct. Photo taken above Cathedral Rocks. 
Note Ingraham Flats tents for reference

North and West Side Conditions Update 5/10/2019

  

Carbon glacier and Liberty Ridge

      This past week of excellent weather allowed a pair of climbing rangers to circumnavigate the mountain and get eyes on many of the climbing routes. As a general trend, many of the routes on the mountain are holding less snow than average for this time of year but are still in good shape. This post will focus mostly on the routes on the North and West sides, for specifics on the Kautz, DC, or Emmons-Winthrop, see those specific blog posts.

Curtis Ridge: The lower half of the route to the Gendarme is snow covered. The upper cliff bands appear to be quite dry and ice runnels were not plainly visible.

Curtis Ridge and the Carbon Glacier, viewed from the Russell Glacier

Liberty Ridge and the Carbon Glacier: The lower Carbon is relatively filled in, allowing what appear to be at least 2 viable approaches to Liberty Ridge

The Carbon Glacier and North side of the mountain

 Mowich Face Routes: All routes appear to have possible bergschrund crossings, the Edmunds Headwall presents the most complicated looking bergschrund crossing. No ice fall debris was evident, but the cliffs still loom quite large.

The Mowich Face and Edmunds Headwall

Sunset Ridge: The approach via the Puyallup and South Mowich Glaciers are filled-in and present few navigational challenges. The ridge itself appears snowy all the way to the top.

Lower Sunset Ridge from the South Mowich Glacier

Tahoma Glacier: This route appears to be quite broken above about 9500 feet. The lower Tahoma Glacier from Glacier Island up to 9500’ offers reasonable passage to the Tahoma Cleaver. The Sickle has recent-looking debris from serac fall.

The upper Puyallup Glacier

Success Cleaver: Largely snow covered with bits of rock poking out.
Success Couloir: Bergschrund still appears to be passable. Headwall melting out with lots of exposed rocks

A Climbing Ranger ascending early in the morning. Success Couloirs in the background.

With the unseasonable warm temperatures forecasted for the coming weekend, be prepared for changing conditions on many of these routes. Be cognizant of your travel timing, and be aware of the possibility of wet loose and wet slab avalanches on all aspects. As always, check the weather forecast before departing and be prepared.

Success Cleaver: June 26, 2017

This trip report is from Jason Griffith of Skagit Mountain Rescue

 

"Current conditions on Success Cleaver:

 

Snow starts below Indian Henry's, it's about 3-4' deep at patrol cabin.  Camped first night on rock slabs below Pyramid Peak ~6.3k, running water all around.   Deep snow most of the way up the Cleaver, good travel generally.

 

 

Knife edge portion melted out and can scramble the crest.  Sunday night, stomped out platform at the 10.7k small col on crest of success cleaver.  Left camp at 0230 and found generally good step kicking snow up and right in gullies merging onto Kautz Cleaver ~12.2k (no rockfall, small bits of ice falling on us). 

 

 

 

Above this, we encountered icy sections of snow where we were on front points for long sections (to about 45 degrees).  Second tool helpful since we were moving unroped on the climb to Point Success.  Found weakness to sneak past final cliff below Point Success that only required a short bit of 55 degree snow/ice (~15'). 

 

 

 

We arrived at Point Success around 0700 and wandered across to Columbia Crest.  Quiet morning on the mountain: saw one party topping out on the Emmons, another coming up the Kautz, one entering crater from DC and another ascending the DC as we were descending around 0900. 

 

The DC itself was amazingly sloppy at 1000, glad to have been down relatively early.  As we approached Ingraham Flats, convection started rapidly building and we watched as lightning hit ridges south of the Tatoosh.  A dramatic backdrop as we arrived at Muir and checked in with Peter! 

 

Rain and wind as we descended the snowfield to Paradise with the summit obscured.  Good timing, I guess."

Success Cleaver (May 28th)

Success Cleaver from Pyramid to the convergence with the Kautz Cleaver

Lower Success

Upper Success traverse

Kautz Cleaver & Success Couloirs (May 28th)

Looking up the route from 11,400 ft.

Last week's lower freezing levels paired with the warming trend at the start of the weekend allowed climbing rangers and excellent opportunity to get out on the SW side of the mountain. The itinerary was to access the Kautz cleaver via Paradise by crossing the lower Nisqually, climbing the Wilson gully, and contouring west around 8,500 ft. all the way to the Kautz glacier. The lower Nisqually/Wilson gully are still well filled in and are easily navigated. The ridge line that leads up to "the castle" above the Wilson gully however, is starting to melt out and peel away. It was quite difficult to manage on skis and i would bet you will be forced to walk the ridge on rock after this warm spell.

Ridge line melting out and breaking up as cornice pulls away from the ridge.
Tricky navigation if you choose to stay on the snow.

Just below the castle, a quick contour to the eastern edge of the Kautz glacier lead us to a nice flat/protected snow camp at 9,100ft. This elevation currently allows for a very mellow crossing of the Kautz glacier over to the Kautz Cleaver. From camp, a 150ft. descending traverse will get you on the cleaver. From here, choose your own adventure up and climbers left as you pick your way up the cleaver and into the Success couloir. Once we were in the couloir, we hugged the climbers right ridge line to stay out of the fall line.

Route accross the Kautz glacier and up the couloir shown. 9,100 ft. camp shown as red square.

Warming temps and large mushrooms of upper mountain rime had us on the lookout for falling ice. French stepping and front pointing conditions were excellent in the early morning and 4,000 ft. later we found ourselves at the top of the Success couloir. From here, trend east and up through two rock bands to gain Point Success.

Track log from camp to 13,000 ft.