Belaying and Bandaging: Mt Rainier, Kautz Glacier July 2-5, 2009

On 4th of July weekend 2009 I joined a mazama team led by Keith Dubanevich on a climb of Mt Rainier, Kautz Glacier. Other team members included: Jim Hashimoto, Ron Jenkins, Michael Hortsch, Steve Burton, and Kari Friedewald.

I tented with Michael Hortsch (who supplied the photos below). The team left Paradise parking lot at about 9:00 am and arrived at high camp on the cleaver just below the fixed line rappel and SW of camp Hazard at about 10,800ft at about 4:30 pm. Michael and I were both feeling the affects of the altitude and strenuous approach friday night. When our alpine start time arrived at 1 am Saturday Michael was having shortness of breath. I was feel fine but was clearly going to be slower than the rest of the team. I opted out of the summit attempt and we wished Keith well. Keith gave us the option of connecting with another party led by Aim Aarts. At sunrise I descended to find Wim and his team and they graciously agreed to let us descend with them. Michael began reviving incrementally as we descended and was 100% by the time we got to Paradise.

From the leaders prospectus: "The team meets at the Longmire Wilderness information Center 7:30 am Friday morning, we will start our climb from the parking lot near the Paradise ranger station. We will hike up the Skyline Trail to Glacier Vista, approximately one mile. At that point the trail descends west (left) to the moraine and lower Nisqually Glacier at 6,200 feet. We will cross the glacier northwest but will likely not climb up near The Fan, a large prominent snow chute that accesses the upper Wilson Glacier and Wapowety Cleaver, due to rockfall. Instead, we will stay on the Nisqually until we get to a bench that leads to the Wilson Glacier where we then climb north, toward the mountain, on the western edge of the Wilson Glacier. From the last major rock outcropping at 9,200 feet, we will climb up the snowfield, called the Turtle, toward the Kautz Ice cliff and Camp Hazard. Camp Hazard at 11,300 feet is the highest established climbing camp on Mt. Rainier. There are, however, no facilities there and for the more-important reason of the objective danger, we will avoid camping at Camp Hazard. The site lies directly below the Kautz Ice cliff, and large blocks of ice have been known to randomly crash through camp. Instead of camping at Camp Hazard, we will look for a site along the snowfield on the western edge of the Wapowety Cleaver. Travel time to this camp from Paradise: 6-10 hours. On Saturday, from our camp below Camp Hazard, we will leave at 2 or 3 am hike up on the left side of the rock wall to a ledge which over looks the ice fall. There is a rappel rope already set up. Going this way will save us about an hour and lower the risk as we will not need to traverse below the Kautz Ice Cliff.Once on the Kautz Glacier we will ascend two steep pitches of glacier ice or snow (45-55 degrees) to the upper glacier. Above the second pitch we will continue on gentle slopes toward the crest of upper Wapowety Cleaver at 13,300 feet. From the crest of the upper Wapowety Cleaver we will climb the upper Kautz/Nisqually Glacier north to the summit crater rim. From the top, we’ll return to our high camp via the climbing route which may include one or two rappels. Depending on time, we may hike out Saturday afternoon. But be prepared to exit on Sunday when, we will return to Paradise, have lunch and drive home. The total elevation gain on the climb is approx 9,000 vertical feet."

Emergency Phone numbers:
Mazamas Clubrooms, at 503-227-2345.
Mazamas emergency pager activation: 503-227-2345, ext 3
Mt Rainer NP, Park HQ: 360-569-2211 ext 2334
Mt Rainer NP (after hours) Lewis County S&R: 360-740-1105