IBEXtrax.com - Cascade Mountains of Washington State Mount Rainier Park

Mount Rainier second attempt

26 May 1975

I started working at Boeing in late September, and most of my time was spent there. All through the winter I was working twelve hours a day, seven days per week. As the volcano season approached, I started to twitch. Climbing on the Mount Si Haystack, while it was snowing, satisfied me for awhile. Rudi drug me to Peshastin, and I freaked out on the Tunnel Route. After that, I went on another work binge that was broken only after Rudi convinced me to go to Rainier. It took awhile but eventually I finally became enthused.

Rudi had been planning all year, and he gave me his bomb proof schedule. Blain R made the party a threesome. Rudi drove his parents red car. We left Juanita Friday afternoon. We had to stop in Tacoma to add water after the car mysteriously became dry. The clouds obscured the mountain as we drove east from Skyway. At the Nisqually Entrance we paid the entrance fee and then continued to Longmire.

The plan was to get an early start from Paradise. So, Rudi called for a permit from the Longmire Lodge. Hail fell as we waited for the ranger at the lodge. While filling out the IBM cards to register, I found that I was the leader. After seeing that the road to Paradise was closed, we decided to stay at the Longmire Campground. We crossed the Nisqually River, and then pitched the tent as darkness devoured the last light. I paid for the campsite. Blain slept in the car, and Rudi and I were comfortable in the tent.

The alarm clock went off too early, but we got up and took down the tent in the hail and mist. We packed up and then drove back to Longmire. We found a halfway closed gate on the Paradise road. After a short discussion, we decided that the gate was half open. So, we drove through the gate. The snow became deeper and deeper as we ascended. The road was slick, and soon I was for turning back. Rudi turned the car around and then there was talk of going back to Juanita. Instead, we re-staked the tent back at Longmire Campground, and went back to sleep.

The sun peeked through the clouds and the trees at nine AM. We decided the go up the Paradise road after seeing that it was open. After arriving at Paradise there were hints of clearing, so we soon packed up and headed out. We followed the tracks in the fog and mist. When we reached the Nisqually Overlook on the Glacier Vista Trail, we found a large party of Tacoma Mountaineers who were roping up and putting on crampons. We stood confused in the fog and tried to decide If this was the place to drop to the Nisqually Glacier. We started down and soon the fog rose and the sun was bright. On the lateral moraine we stopped and put on rope and crampons.

We fell in behind the large group, and the going was slow and easy. At the foot of the gully. We unroped under a huge menacing cornice. Rudi shot up the gully, heading straight for the triangle rock. I set a demanding pace while trying to catch Rudi, but soon I burnt out and had to stop many times to ketch my breath. I gave up on Rudi's route, and then followed the group leader steps to the top of the gully. I talked with the leader, and he told me why he carried snowshoes. I caught Rudi at Triangle Rock, and we talked with the trail breakers. The snow on the leeward side of the ridge was hip deep. The Mountaineers went to work, and the trail was soon punched through over the top. My crampons were clogging. The steep climb, to the crest of Wapowety Cleaver quickly drained me of strength and ambition. The windward side of the cleaver was boulders set on a tilted plate of ice.

I was feeling very run down, and people were passing me. Blain and Rudi disappeared up the ridge. Later, I came upon a group that was excavating a tent platform. The wind had come up to a hard gust. I continued up to the crest and asked the climbers on the flat, "Did you see two guys with Gold Bar packs?" The climbers shrugged and continued making there camp. Just below The Castle, I had to chop steps to climb an ice slope with my ten point crampons.

I arrived at The Castle one hour behind Rudi and eight hours from Paradise. The wind was gusty and cold, so I climbed into the tent. The sun set. I melted snow and Rudi cooked dinner. The tent would flap vigorously in the frequent gusts. The moon rose and we would peek out the door between gusts to watch the lunar eclipse. The Jan Sport dome tent that was set below us was being bent over in the wind. A couple gallons of snow blew in through the cook hole. My sleep was occasionally interrupted by long strong gusts of wind. Blain left the tent during the night, and he said that he felt squeamish.

The morning was clear and sunny. The Mountaineers were strung out in Fuhrer Finger. The tent poles on the Jan Sport Dome were shattered. Packing was unhurried, and I started up alone. The footing was good because the crampons were secure in the wind packed snow. I felt good and set a good pace. I switchbacked over the Turtle, and stayed close to the wand of a previous party. At the top of the Turtle, I had to stop and pinch a loaf. The slope was steep wind pack with waves of fresh snow. There was a light breeze, but not cold due to the sun. Rudi sprinted up past me. Just above a maze of wands, we found a possible tent site. I continued up a short steep gully, and emerged on a flat directly beneath the Kautz Icefall. I stood and stared at the icefall. I noticed that my head was pounding, so I started deep breathing.

We set up the tent on the rocks. The two Californians had left their broken dome tent down at The Castle. So, they crawled into their bivouac sack. The wind started to gust, and the clouds came down and enveloped the Icefall. Rudi said that he was feeling strange. Two men in Levis and combat boots came up and spread out their Army blankets. My head was still pounding. So, Rudi gave me DarVon. I went to sleep. Rudi went out many times to re-stake the tent. The strong gusts were lifting the rain fly and moving the large rock anchors.

The time came to go to the summit. So, I bundled up and went out of the tent. The weather was rotten. I couldn't look southwest into the wind because of the wind driven sleet. I climbed back into the tent and tried to sleep. The two people with the blankets went down before dawn, and the Californians went down soon after. I slept until I was hungry and then I ate granola. It was after noon when we decided to go down. The wind was blowing hail horizontally past us. When we took down the tent, I had to doe-see-doe around the tent to unhook the guys from the rocks. Before we started down, we roped up to stay together in the low visibility.

Rudi led down over The Turtle and followed the wands. As we descended the hail turned to wet snow, and the wind eased. The visibility was low and Rudi could barely pick out the wands. I wished I had yellow goggles as we descended in the white out. Just above The Castle my crampons were clogging. So, I took them off. Rudi and Blain slipped and fell below The Castle. The incident irritated me. We stayed on the east side of the ridge and picked up the wands near Triangle Rock. I got turned around and merrily glissaded toward the Wilson Glacier. The fog lifted just before I reached the jumble ice of the Wilson-Nisqually junction. I changed course and entered the gully. I was easily irritated from not being able to slide while glissading. Rudi carefully led out onto the Nisqually Glacier, and I yelled at him for going too slow. We followed wands and tracks across the glacier. The trudge back to Paradise was long and tiring. At the restrooms I removed the clown White from my face. My face was sun burnt. Rainier had won round two.

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