Kautz & Fuhrer Finger Attempt on Rainier... in a Tropical Storm - May 20-21, 2012

This climb on Rainier was going to be different. We learned so much from our attempt on the Kautz headwall last August. Let's throw some cushion for time on both ends of the trip: a whole day for prep and travel at the beginning. Let's tack on several days on the end... just in case, you know, weather happened. There's no way we'd run out of time on the route this year. We severely underestimated that last bit, however, the weather.

The two weeks leading up to the climb was blue-bird skies. It pains me to think of my initial anticipation, watching those webcam shots of the beautifully clear mountain from Phoenix throughout my work day. Then came the forecast. There's going to be a fairly decent tropic storm moving into the region on Sunday, the day of our departure. We poured over as many forecast models as we could; everything seemed to reflect the same dooming inevitability. Okay, no problem. We go through our systems before hand. Print several maps, bring the compass, we're ready for route-finding in a whiteout. Treat the backpack and gloves with some extra water-repellent, pack a couple trash bag liners to preserve the dryness of our gear and we should be set. We've got all the gortex one could need, what could possibly go wrong?

Dave's take on the trip:

Pics below...

Mt. Rainier - Kautz with Our Pants Down - Aug 18-20, 2011

The Low Down...

Wednesday, August 17:

• 8:30 pm  - Fly from Phoenix to Seattle
• 11:30 pm - Arrive at SEA-TAC

Thursday, August 18

• 12:30 am  - Finally secure bags, catch shuttle to shmotel, meet up with amigos
• 3:00 am - Attempt to fall asleep after sifting through gear, unpacking
• 3:30 am - Mark arrives at shmotel, hugs, banter, another attempt at falling asleep on the flimsy pullout
• 8:00 am - Wake up, jump out of bed. Coffee. Gear check. Pack again
• 10:00 am - Begin caravan out to Rainier NP (I'm sorry, "Rainler" as google calls it)
• 11:30 am - Stop for breakfast at grocery
• 1:00 pm - Arrive at Rainler NP, begin unpacking cars, gearing up. Permit shenanigans with Rangers.
• 2:30 pm - Set out from Paradise (5400'). Turn right, not left and head wrong way up skyline trail
• 3:30 pm - Realize error and traverse through the "protected" alpine meadows, up the hill to Glacier Vista
• 5:00 pm - Reach Glacier Vista point (6280'), quick break, then drop into Nisqually Glacier
• 7:00 pm - Reach The Fan - Couloir leading up to Wilson Bench (6800')
• 9:00 pm - Sun goes down, continue trekking up Wilson Glacier, turn left towards west unnamed ridge
• 10:00 pm - First real crevasse encounter, head south to end-run the crevasse while continuing up ridge
• 11:00 pm - Top out on west ridge of Wilson. Begin probing for crevasses, digging camp, melting water
• 12:30 pm - Finish camp, eat dinner, sleep at camp I (7400')

Friday, August 19

• 8:00 am  - Wake up. First glimpse of existing, pre-dug camp site 200m down ridge - UGH!
• 8:30 am - Begin breakfast, breakdown camp, gear-up
• 10:00 am - Set out up ridge
• 10:30 am - 7800' - Climber (Name hidden to protect the "innocent") drops helmet while adjusting gear. Helmet slides 400 vertical feet down the glacier, missing 2 crevasses before settling on a flat part of Wilson Glacier.
• 11:00 am - Helmet Rescue Effort - Mark and I set out on separate rope, without bags, only pickets, slings, and prusiks.Group continues up ridge
• 12:00 pm - Finally meet up with group after successful recovery. Rob owes us 40 beers each. Ooops! Haha.... Group continues up ridge
• 12:30 pm - Group reaches end of snow on ridge. Must cross up and over ridge to Van Trump Glacier side. Horrible, horrible scree & loose boulder slides. Set series of anchors to belay climbers up onto ridge. 
• 1:30 pm - Group continues up Van Trump snowfields, cross snow under rockband at 8700' to west. Continue up steep slopes on west side of the Castle.
• 3:00 pm - Pass the Castle, continue up to Turtle snowfield
• 5:30 pm - Reach SE corner of the Turtle. Continue up east side in giant sun cups
• 8:00 pm - Find place to dig camp in middle of Turtle snowfield (10,400'). Entire team has run out of water. Sun is setting, air gets cold very fast. Begin digging platform through hard snow and ice
• 9:00 pm - Finish camp, begin eating. Everyone in bed by 10pm. Group discussion about summit day - Group decides not to pursue the summit. Promises of 5 quart homemade lasagna when we return by Dave's fiance is mainly to blame.
• 10:00 pm - Everyone to bed - hard night at altitude

Saturday, August 20

• 7:00 am - Alpine Start! Not even close ;-). Wake up, boil water, breakfast.
• 8:00 am  - Begin packing up gear - Mark and I decide to head to ice chute for some climbing
  
• 8:30 am - Side trip up the Turtle to check out the Kautz Ice Chute with Mark
• 10:00 am - Top out at 11,000' on the Turtle. We decide to turn back in order to help the group on the descent -- Turns out to be long day.
• 11:30 am - Camp is packed up, everyone is geared up. We begin the descent back to Paradise
• 12:15 pm - Exit the Turtle
• 1:30 pm - Get through tricky sections on upper Van Trump snowfields / rock areas
• 2:30 pm - Get onto west ridge of Wilson Glacier
• 3:00 pm - Quick stop at camp I to change, eat, drink
• 4:00 pm - Reach bottom of Wilson Glacier
• 4:30 pm - Top of Fan
• 5:00 pm - Bottom of Fan, Begin crossing Nisqually
• 6:00 pm - Reach end of Nisqually, begin heading up to Glacier Vista
• 7:20 pm - Reach Paradise Trailhead and parking lot. End.

I will post a more thorough trip report, especially detailing the fun times of glacier navigating in the dark, building multiple tent sites from scratch in the middle of the night, dropping helmet and helmet-rescue shenanigans and much much more...

MORE PICTURES . . .