PNW Update #1 - Rainier Attempt

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Christmas Day, 2010 - On Christmas morning I opened a gift from Kelly.  Inside I found the book "Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America."  As I read it, I was reminded of how much I enjoy spending time in the Pacific Northwest and how stunning the mountains are.  I was immediately inspired to plan a trip to climb and ski several of the PNW's most iconic and beautiful peaks.

NOTE:  Final videos will be created AFTER I finish this trip.  Enjoy the previews, but there is better stuff coming!

Monday, May 9th, 2011 - After months of planning I took the first steps of what will hopefully be a long and fruitful journey inspired on the preceding Christmas Day.  

Upon landing in Seattle I was picked up by my very close and longtime friend, Josh Smith.  For the past several summers Josh has been guiding for International Mountain Guides on Mount Rainier, and he and I have been discussing a ski descent on the mountain for quite some time.  We loaded my gear into his vehicle and immediately headed toward Ashford, WA - the base camp for International Mountain Guides.

The weather forecast showed that Tuesday (May 10) was supposed to be fairly clear and that Wednesday (May 11) was supposed to be clear in the morning, with a storm rolling in on Wednesday afternoon.  If the weather held it would afford us just enough time for an ascent and descent, and we were excited!

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 - After a few hours of sleep at the IMG HQ we started our drive up to Mount Rainier National Park and the Paradise parking lot.

On the way we got all of our permits taken care of.

Just in case the sun failed to go down for 3 days I would be prepared.

As we were gearing up, it became painfully obvious that I would have by far the heaviest set-up to slog up the mountain.

At this point, the ascent was fantastic.  The weather was perfect for a quick ascent to Camp Muir where we planned to stay the night.  It was my first time this season needing a shell jacket/pant set-up, and my new Helly Hansen gear took a short while to get used to.  However, after a little maneuvering I got the balance between breathability and sun protection just right.

Our spirits were high as our intended ascent and descent route for the second day came into view.  We planned to descend a route called the Nisqually Ice Cliff.  This is a VERY RARE opportunity because there normally isn't enough snow to cover a large ice cliff.  In fact, rumor has it that it was descended for only the second time, ever, just a few weeks prior.

We climbed ~5,000 vertical feet to Camp Muir in just under 4 hours.  I was pretty pleased with myself.  We practiced some crevasse rescue techniques, then enjoyed the beautiful views.

Tragically, an accident earlier in the day resulted in a fatality.  A climber had fallen into a crevasse on the upper mountain.  At Camp Muir we were told that the crevasse was covered by a very thin snow bridge.  Those involved in the rescue told us that the upper section of the mountain was considerably more dangerous than usual because of the weak bridges that were covering crevasses.  Based on Josh's wealth of experience on Mount Rainier and expertise in glacier travel we were still optimistic that we could find a reasonably safe route to the summit and back.

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 - Our plan was to wake up at 4 AM and begin the second part of the ascent before 5 AM.  We woke up at 1 AM to check on the weather.  The storm that was forecast for Wednesday afternoon arrived about 12 hours early and we found ourselves in white-out conditions with 40+ mph wind gusts.  We checked again at 4 AM, and then again at 7 AM to find that the weather was either the same or worse.  

Finally at around 10 AM we packed up and skied back down our ascent route in near zero visibility.  This was the first test of my new HH jacket and pants.  Despite the blasting wind and sleeting snow I stayed completely warm and dry on the way down.  Good news for my future descents!

I would have taken pictures of the descent, but just stare at a blank piece of paper really closely and you'll see what we saw.

Although disappointed that we did not get to ski from the summit, the weather certainly made the right decision very obvious.  The overall experience was still fantastic.  With a little luck and good timing I hope to be back on Rainier soon!

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