Getting after it in the PNW--Rainier, Adams, Sahale, and Eldorado

[Bombadil]

Last summer I was out in the PNW for about 2 weeks and we got one sunny, rain-free day. The summer before we had to wait out the weather for a week just to get one mediocre day to go for Rainier. I damn nearly swore off the whole area but on a whim I booked a last minute trip out there for 10 days. It didn't rain once. It was a heck of a trip to say the least...

Objective 1: Adams via Adams Glacier
Last summer we did the south side of Adams and felt pretty good about ourselves. This year we went after the Adams Glacier instead, a big step up. http://www.summitpost.org/adams-glacier/686134

Adams Glacier

Sunset from the alpine meadows. Considerably more scenic than the south side of the mountain.

Sun setting into an undercast.

Rainier at dawn.

Rainier zoomed in.

First pitch.

Rainier and seracs in the jumbled mess

St. Helen's and a serac

Nice 2 tool climbing above the broken up glacier

Alex and I at the summit with Rainier behind us. Buzzed off the great climb!

The descent was quite forgettable. The North Ridge starts out with nice snowfields but quickly degrades to all loose rock with some areas of decent exposure. There wasn't even a breeze up on the ridge so we got pretty rocked by the sun. After rehydrating we made the easy decision to break down camp and hoof it for 90 minutes down to the car to get pseudo real food late night in Hood River and victory cervezas.

 

[Bombadil]

Objective 2: Rainier via Kautz Glacier/ Disappointment Cleaver
http://www.summitpost.org/kautz-glacier/155648

After Adams Alex had some work to do down in Eugene so I crashed with him for a couple of days. On the drive down we talked about else we should go after this trip and what some of our goals of routes were in the Cascades over the next couple of years. I mentioned I really wanted to do Rainier in a day (<24 h) and we had a lengthy discussion on how to go about it. Long story short a couple of days later we rolled into the park around 3 pm after an early start from Eugene and a couple of work calls en route. On the drive up to Paradise we decided we'd scrap our plan of doing a carryover the Kautz and instead just go for Rainier in a single push. I was excited but wished I had gotten more than 5 hours of sleep the night before to go for that kind of climb. Oh well. It was a blast anyways.

our familiar friend Adams from above Paradise.

a team of climbers up above us on the ridge approach to the Kautz

crossing the Nisqually/Wilson Glaciers

Getting rocked by that bright thing up in the sky. Sooooo happy I brought shorts for the late afternoon portion of the climb

Dusk from about 9.5k. Nice spot to check out the scenery while we made dinner.

We were pleasantly surprised to find some running water at about 9.5k just below the Turtle. Rather than pushing up to 11k below the chute we rested in that spot for a couple hours to wait for things to harden up and had ourselves some nice carb-loaded dinners. Then the fun began on the ice chutes. It was easier and harder in varying ways doing it on a moonless night with us being the only ones on the route. We crossed oh so many crevasses above the ice chutes and probably would have had an easier time finding a less aggressive straight up route had we had a little more light. But it also made the solo'ing easier because all you could see behind you was the black of night. We only used one screw in the steepest ice where we were went up some super rotten ice on top of impenetrable ice. Despite the consistently very steep pitch there were enough small features to make the climb easier than it could have been. We both went with 1 tool and 1 mountaineering axe and it worked well.

crevasses and crappy bridges...

Rainier shadow at dawn from the upper Kautz.

steep upper Kautz. We didn't take the traditional exit onto the Nisqually and instead went for the steeper uppermost stretch of the Kautz Glacier to Point Success. It hurt. I faltered on my eating and drinking routine so we could just get off the relentless steep climb. We were feeling pretty pooched at that point, I was definitely like Cougar in the opening scene of Top Gun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5eRNCYNn8uY

Happy to have topped out. Huge early morning shadow.

This is the face of victory when type 2 fun is involved.

descending the DC route. Top of the DC and Ingraham Flats are visible.

The straw that broke the camel's back. Out of water and roasting in the late morning sun while we're stuck behind the guided groups going down a fixed line. Bad news bears. I'd estimate we lost ~2 hours between waiting at this step, down low on the DC and also at Cathedral Pass where we had to avoid dropping rocks on parties below us. But we melted some water afterwards, I poured snow down my shirt and rubbed snow into my hair to keep cool. After that we were able to boogie down to Paradise in time for afternoon victory beers and burgers.

 

[Bombadil]

Objective 3: Sahale via Sahale Glacier
http://www.summitpost.org/sahale-mountain/150220

After Rainier Alex had to head back to the real world. I still had a few days to kill and the great weather continued so I elected to get up to the North Cascades for something I could solo. Sahale is just pure eye candy. It's a fun mixed bag too, super easy hike up to the small glacier followed by a few hundred feet of rock climbing to the small summit.

sound of music kind of stuff...

Looking south from Sahale.

Johannesburg and neighbors from Sahale.

Rainier is visible 120 miles away

Horseshoe Basin. Buckner is off to the left.

The marmot thinks the view to Baker is overrated

The Triad, Eldorado, Torment, Forbidden on the near ridge. Baker, Shuksan in the distance.

 

[Bombadil]

Objective 4: Eldorado via Eldorado/Inspiration Glaciers
http://www.summitpost.org/eldorado-peak/150316

Last up was Sahale's neighbor Eldorado. I had put up a post on cascadeclimbers.com for a partner and Mary wrote back that she was in. Turns out we both went to Dartmouth and have a few friends in common. Small world. I was super pumped cuz Mary is a super fast hiker/climber so we could do a pretty solid climb like Eldorado as a day hike (or car to car as they say out west) in quick time. The first 1500 feet up to the talus field is pretty brutal. Pretty darn steep, sloped dirt without switchbacks. I would be jealous all day long of Mary's call to do the climb in shorts. The talus field is pretty easy though, just a bit long. A lot like the upper airline up Adams. Then you get on the glacier and life is good...

Johannesburg yet again

Forbidden from Inspiration Glacier on Eldorado

Buckner, Boston, Sahale, Forbidden, and Torment. The Torment-Forbidden traverse is a gnarly looking climb. Looks like fun.

Eldorado knife-edge and corniced summit

getting ready to belay Mary up to the Eldorado summit just to be safe

Thanks Alex and Mary for some great climbs! Oh and thank you mother nature for that delightful stretch of weather. Thanks for reading! It seems I'm perpetually trying to get additional partners so if this stuff is up your alley send me a message and maybe we can line something up.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com

 

[blaze]

Stunning images Pat. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Paradox]

Wow, beautiful stuff!! Sun makes all the difference out there.

 

[Bombadil]

Thanks guys. When the weather is nice the cascades are mind-blowingly beautiful. I was forced to swear that it rained the whole trip to keep us east coasters away but the cat's out of the bag...

 

[chinooktrail]

Stunning pix. Thanks for some inspiration!

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Love the photos and report. A dream trip.

 

[Trail Trotter]

Wow!!
Nice photo's & report.
What a trip!

 

[Peakbagr]

Great trip report, photos and inspiration for many.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Congratulations, Pat - awesome photos!!!

Tim

 

[Bombadil]

Thanks guys, happy to share!