In June of 2008, 4 of us made an unsuccessful attempt at the Finger, Being turned around by a massive wet slab avalanche caused by skiers on the Wilson Glacier shortly after coming up off the Nisqually. The enormous slide stopped about 20 feet from us as we literally ran for our lives away from thousands of tons of snow accelerating towards us. After bandaging up a snowboarder who was caught in the avalanche and spending a night at the base of the slide, it was agreed that it was not safe to ascend any further. We hesitantly descended the next day to Paradise and spent the next night or two at the beautiful Cougar Rock Campground. We did a little sight seeing, had an awesome lunch on the banks of the Nisqually River, and enjoyed some local beer next to warmth of the campfire.
Brian, Rebecca, and I decided to take what days we had left in the Park and make an unplanned jolt up the Disappointment Cleaver towards the summit. Summiting this route in 2007 during extremely high winds gusting to 100 MPH, I was confident I could lead Rebecca and Brian to the summit with ease via the cleaver, as an added bonus the weather report looked fair. We made the 7 hour trek to Camp Muir and spent the night in the Shelter at 10,500 feet. The next morning we made our way across the Cowlitz Glacier with the unstable Cathedral cliffs looming above. Two years prior I was running across the Cowlitz as the cliffs rained down watermelon sized boulders at me. With that event plus the recent avalanche on the Wilson days prior, My nerves were on edge. This time we made the Ingraham Glacier uneventfully, Revealing Little Tahoma and its mesmerizing colors of orange, green, and red Volcanic stone. We geared up and left the Ingraham that night around midnight under crystal clear skies and a bright full moon. That morning I kicked the first steps up the exposed Disappointment Cleaver, an awesome feeling. After making short work of 1,500 feet we stopped for a break as the Sun that was already shining on our families back home began coloring the black sky a fiery red and diminishing the stars.
We began climbing the upper mountain above the cleaver when something to the South caught my eye. The moon which was still casting its erie light on the upper mountain suddenly disappeared. The Mountain which was sitting pretty underneath clear skies hours before, was now encased in a tornado like lenticular cloud which was just spinning around the summit. As we climbed, The ambient light began shining through the clouds, and we found ourselves in a whiteout by 13,000 feet. Moving upward came to a crawl, as it was awfully difficult to see 10 feet in front of you. It was near impossible to judge the degree of the slope or where the snow ended and the sky began, everything was a pale white. We were covered in rime ice from head to toe, and the windchill dropped to around -14 degrees. At 13,500 feet we decided to take a break on a little ledge, and were shortly thereafter joined by a group of RMI clients. At that point we were roughly 910 feet from our goal of the summit at 14,410 feet according to my altimeter.
Once again however, Rainier had a different plan for us. Brian understandably didn't feel 100%, and I know Rebecca was probably as cold as I was. We couldn't move at a fast enough pace safely due to the near zero visibility and we just weren't building up enough heat to keep our bodies warm. It was decided at 13,500 feet that we should descend while it was still an option and while we were all still standing up. Coaxing an ill climber down at 13K is difficult enough in clear weather. Short roping a climber down 2500 feet to our high camp would be nearly impossible without a major rescue effort due to the weather and steep and exposed terrain of the Cleaver. While we all knew just how close we were, we began the extremely slow descent. Each step had to be 100%. Secure, Solid, and confident.
We broke through the lenticular as we reached the top of the Disappointment Cleaver. We took a short break to hydrate and continued down. The sun was now shining over us and offered a welcomed warmth. Unfortunately, That warmth had already penetrated the snowpack and each step down the cleaver was like sliding into home plate. The soft snow balled up underneath our crampons every step. During the warmth of the day, Ice, Rock, And snow become extremely unstable. This melt causes avalanches, rock fall, and massive seracs to tumble. We gained the nose of the cleaver and took 2 minutes. Once crossing the nose back towards the Ingraham, its all gas and no brake. It is well known that you do not stop for anything in this area as it is a bowling alley of rock and ice fall, especially in the warmth of mid day. This area claimed 11 lives in 1981 when a massive ice fall began on the upper Ingraham, and buried their bodies under the ice, never to be found. We successfully made it across and back down the Glacier to our tent. We packed up and made the 10 mile trek back out to Paradise where Becky was waiting with some gifts for all of us! Another successful trip in the books, no summit, but we were all back down safely.
You can see video which we filmed for http://www.visitrainier.com/ , along with pictures from the climb in our blog from Friday, January 9, 2009. Check it out.
In June of 2010 we will be back, Making another attempt at the Fuhrer Finger. Dates are to be determined, as is the final team (s). There could be as little as 3 of us....and it looks like there could be as many as 8 of us. Our blog will be updated as we get things in order and make some trips up to Mt. Washington to train, get some riding done in Tuckerman Ravine, and maybe some rock climbing in the Valley.
Till next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment