Last week Ben Haskel and I guided Dave, Staci, Amir, and Rob on Mt Rainier via the Kautz Glacier Route. After a very wet Sunday the weather started to clear and we had a fantastic climb and descent. Our itinerary looked something like:
Sunday, 17 July: Cross the Nisqually Glacier and ascend the Wilson Ramp onto the Wilson Glacier. Camped at 8400'.
Monday, 18 July: Continue up the Wilson Glacier to the Turtle Snowfield, and camped at 11,200'.
Tuesday, 19 July: An alpine start saw us traversing onto the Kautz Glacier, where a steep ramp was zig-zagged up to the summit dome, where we crossed the West Crater to the true summit. Descending was pretty straightforward, and after a windy nap in camp we elected to drop down to 9200' for our last night - it was much less windy and more comfortable!
Wednesday, 20 July: A pretty uneventful descent down the Wilson Glacier, across the Nisqually glacier, and back to Paradise led us to burgers, beer and pizza at Whittakers in Ashford.
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Reaching the Nisqually Glacier from Paradise. |
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Crossing the Nisqually Glacier as the weather threatens. |
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Committing to the Wilson Ramp. |
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Looking up at the Kautz Glacier from Camp 2 at 11200'. |
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Descending from Camp 2 to a quieter camp at the Castle. |
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Dave and Staci are all grins as we descend the Wilson Glacier. |
Statistics: Pro Guiding Service, 17-21 July. Mt Rainier, 14,411'. The Kautz Glacier Route, 20 miles and 10,000' feet elevation climbed and descended.