King Ravine or Great Gully Trail?

[Woody]

My brother and I are planning a hike/climb up the King Ravine trail or the Great Gully trail this weekend. I am expecting a fair amount of snow and ice to be still on these trails above 3500 feet. I am wondering if any of you have climbed either of these trails in these conditions? I am expecting more of a technical climb but any beta would be helpful. My brother and I have a fair amount of technical rock and ice experience including Shoestring Gully on Mount Webster and and Central Gully in Huntington Ravine, but these are in winter conditions and not in May. I am hoping that with an early start (but not an alpine start ) we can get to Thunderstorm Junction before noon and avoid most of the slush conditions. We are looking for long and steep hikes because we are going to Mount Rainier in a little more than three weeks and we are trying to pick up the training pace.

Any suggestions or trip reports would be helpful. Thanks

 

[HH1]

Hi Woody 48,

I have hiked the King Ravine trail 4 times over the past 17 years in mid May, each time ascending to Adams summit, encountering minimal ice and snow along the way. Although I've only climbed the Great Gully trail in summer, a few Mays ago, from Air Line, we watched three dudes making an extreme ski movie - one on the camera, one directing and one skiing down the hellishly steep, huge snowfield (the infamous figure 7?) in the Great Gully. If you are looking for ice and the like, the Great Gully vicinity is definitely your better bet. In either case, pray the Northern Prezies ain't socked in through this week - otherwise, if there's benign weekend weather you'll be keeping company with a supply helicopter shuttling to and from the AMC's Madison Village, er, Hut, ALL day.

Good climbing, have fun and maybe even see you in the ravine!

Cheers, HH1

 

[jrbren]

Appalachia is the place to be for Rainier training, I used the northside of the northern presi's a few years ago when I went to Rainier (DC route with RMI). What route on Rainier are you doing ? If DC or Emmons glacier route it wont be that steep, at least WRT Airline trail or most other routes up from Appalachia to Adams or Madison. If a technical route I have no experience to offer. I would just say for this weekend put alot of weight in your pack and have fun. I used jugs of water that I could dump out on the summit to save my joints coming down hill. Also makes you popular on the summit if it is hot and there are others there who are low on water. Appropriately, I am an aquarius .

 

[Woody]

HH1 and JRBren,

Thanks for the replys. After some discussion and reviews of your posts and others we have found online we decided to stick with the King Ravine Trail. We have done a fair amount of ice and snow climbing this past winter and earlier this spring and we'll get some more in on Rainier. We are climbing with RMI, so we'll probably be on the DC route. I am glad to get the feed back that my thoughts of training on the northside of the presi's would be good training ground for Rainier. While we have been working on going light over the past few years, lately we have been carrying lots of stuff including extra water just for the training benefit.

Thanks again!

 

[giggy]

Hey there - I am heading to rainier in august via DC - taking RMI glaicer. training and heading up w/a group unguided. I would love to hear about your rainier trip when you get back - for my own "intelligence"

as far as king ravine trail - you guys will have zero problems -- based on what you said you have done) - I would bet by now - it is mostly non-technical. I think in the winter it is only rated NE1 or 2 at the most. I guess just watch for falling ice - but if my memory serves me right, don't think it much of a big deal on that route. could be wrong though.

 

[DougPaul]

I've done Great Gully in winter as a snow climb. It has been known to avalanche.

Don't have a conditions report, but I'd expect some snow and ice high up in the gully. (Might actually be harder now (mixed conditions?) than when we did it (pure snow climb).

Doug

 

[SherpaKroto]

woody48: check conditions with the Randolph Mountain Club. I'm with giggy on this - literally Would appreciate any wisdom you can impart from your climb on Rainier.

 

[jrbren]

Hey there - I am heading to rainier in august via DC - taking RMI glaicer. training and heading up w/a group unguided. I would love to hear about your rainier trip when you get back - for my own "intelligence"

Which Glacier class are you taking ? Be aware if you are not already that the one day class teaches you enough to part of a rope team where there is an experienced leader and the others will not be counting on you to assist in Crevasse rescue, should the need occur. In other words to be part of their 2 day summit climb with their guides, who do this for a living. If you are taking a week long course that teaches Crevasses rescue, or you already know crevasse resue, or the group you are travelling with has skilled leaders, you should be all set. Other wise you will be relying on the benevolence of other rope teams in the event of an emergency. Good luck and have fun.

Sunrise makes a good acclimatization hike (Burroughs mountain or the lookout around that area whose name I forget) the day before setting out. Not strenous but you can spend some time at ~7000 feet to acclimitise a little bit.

 

[giggy]

jbren - appreciate the concern -

We have been planning and training for this trip since january or so - the class our group is doing is totally customized and private with RMI. We have researched alot, assesed group skills, know the risks and are very comfortable with skill level (some have been on the MT before) in regards to the DC route unguided.

 

[Woody]

We are taking the Camp Muir Seminar with RMI to learn glacier travel and crevasse rescue techniques. We'll be on the mountain for 5 days and will hopefully get to bag the summit. We have a free day between arriving in Washington and the start of the climb/seminar. We plan to use this day to take a short hike to start our acclimation to the altitude. I'll be sure to post a trip report when we return and let you know how well climbing and hiking in the White Mountains has prepared us for our first 14'er.