Mt. Rainier Liberty Ridge

[Hampshire]

I climbed Liberty Ridge on Mt. Rainier last week with IMG, below is a short trip report with some pictures.

We started Monday morning at White River campground at 9:30 am. We entered Glacier Basin and approached St. Elmo Pass. This is where we would encounter the last other climbers until Thursday at camp Muir.

Once over St. Elmo Pass we crossed the Winthrop Glacier, after climbing a short pitch of volcanic rock we gained Curtis Ridge. We camped on Curtis Ridge at 7:00 pm.

We woke at 4:30 am and started climbing the Carbon Glacier towards the base of Liberty Ridge by 6:00 am. We weaved our way up and across a massive avalanche debris field near its base.

We gained the ridge by crossing over a short snow ramp and soon began the climb up towards Thumb Rock. We dodged a few rocks as they tumbled towards us from the rocky ridge above (scary). We were also blasted with snow fall from falling seracs on the Wallis Wall (surreal).

We reached Thumb Rock at 12:00 pm and quickly made camp. We watched a huge avalanche across the way on the Ptarmigan Ridge. We took a long nap knowing we needed to rise early.

We woke at 2:30 am and started climbing just after sunrise at 5:00 am headed for Liberty Cap.

We climbed steadily up steep snow fields until we reached the upper Black Pyramid where we encountered our first ice. We climbed seven full pitches of alpine ice until we reached the seemingly gentle slopes of Liberty Cap.

We summited Liberty Cap eleven and a half hours after leaving camp at 4:30 pm. After a short celebration we continued down towards the col between Liberty Cap and Columbia Crest.

We took a short break at the col as the winds picked up and reached Columbia Crest at 7:00 pm. We melted some snow for water in the crater and began our decent via the Disappointment Cleaver route. We made a quick decent and reached the top of the cleaver and took another break. We made it down the cleaver and across Ingraham Flats and headed across the Cowlitz glacier as the moon rose in the distance.

We reached the IMG guide hut at 9:00 pm and ate a very quite dinner. We all slept until 9:00 am. We started down the Muir snow field at 11:00 am and arrived at Paradise at 1:00 pm Thursday afternoon.

Here is a link to more pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hampshirefire/Rainier2008

 

[leaf]

Mt. Rainier is being invaded by VFTTers! Sounds like a great way to do Rainier! It must have been Liberty Cap that I saw from the summit, a subpeak off to the northwest? I would have loved to traverse down there! I noticed it right away when I got to Colombia Crest. It's beautiful.

Will be checking out the pictures when I get home (on a computer that doesn't block people's websites!).

Nice TR, thanks for posting.

 

[Chip]

Excellent, Congratulations ! Who were your guides with IMG ? We were led by Ben Kurdt and assisted by Greg Vernovage, Chris Meder, and Andy Polloczek. All great guys. Strong and dedicated. Good cooks as well !

 

[giggy]

Congrats Hampshire.

Awesome shots. I can only hope to one day attempt that route, some people have everest as a goal, some denali, mine has been liberty ridge for a couple years now.

Technical climbing at altitude with full pack carrying over the top - pretty hardcore.


I heard the carbon glacier is an awesome sight.

 

[Paradox]

So you can get a view from up there. Well done!

 

[cbcbd]

Awesome stuff Hampshire. Route looks prime!

 

[Hampshire]

Chip,

Our guides were Justin Merle (just reutrning from his 2nd Everest summit) and Liam O'Sullivan (who would learn of his acceptance to UW medical school while on the mountain). Greg rode with us around the mountain from Ashford to White River to join his Emmons group, he was very funny.

Giggy,

I couldn't agree more. Liberty Ridge was my Everest. I summited Denali in 2005 and Liberty Ridge was just as physical and mental but twice as technical. I studied LR for a long time and it certainly lived up to its repuation. As you stated this is a carry over climb, once you start up LR there is basically no retreat. We each carried about 45 lbs up and over. We had that entire side of the mountain to ourselves and the views and sounds were incredible.

I'll add some more pictures once I get some from the other climbers.

 

[DougPaul]

Looks nice!

Doug

 

[Hampshire]

cbcbd,

I'm jealous. Living in Seattle you can cherry pick your climbing days. I attempted the Kautz route the week prior and was blown off the mountain during the blizzard.

 

[cbcbd]

Yeah, hopefully that will work on my favor and I'll get on Rainier (especially the Liberty Ridge) one of these days.

 

[AOC-1]

We climbed seven full pitches of alpine ice until we reached the seemingly gentle slopes of Liberty Cap.

Thanks for the trip report and photos. 7 pitches of ice from the Black Pyramid? I've never heard of that much ice on the route. Did you simul-climb or use traditional belays? If traditional belays, we're you using a shortened rope?

 

[Hampshire]

AOC-1

We stayed on the ridge itself avoiding much of the ice on the Black Pyramid until we reached the the middle of the slopes above / adjacent to the BP where we traveresed towards the Wallis Wall on snow to gain the ice. We stayed on this course until we reached the upper snowfields. By staying on this course we avoided the basin area and the bershrund but added length to the ice climbing.

We simul-climbed the steep snow (no running protection) and belayed the ice (full rope lengths).

 

[AOC-1]

AOC-1

We stayed on the ridge itself avoiding much of the ice on the Black Pyramid until we reached the the middle of the slopes above / adjacent to the BP where we traveresed towards the Wallis Wall on snow to gain the ice. We stayed on this course until we reached the upper snowfields. By staying on this course we avoided the basin area and the bershrund but added length to the ice climbing.

We simul-climbed the steep snow (no running protection) and belayed the ice (full rope lengths).

Thanks - why did the guides choose to traverse - avalanche concerns in the basin below the bergshrund or to avoid the bergshrund crossing itself?

 

[Hampshire]

AOC-1

The guides had used this variation before and were confident it would go. We talked about it briefly on route but not for long, no rhyme or reason that I was aware of.

While the basin looked enticing becasue of the gentler slopes, the ice cliffs of the bergshrund were ominous.