Trip Report - Mount Rainier Carryover - up the Kautz and down the DC - June 18th through 20th 2020

Jul 23

Written By Richard Forbes

I’ve been on the Muir Snowfield many times, and I’ve daydreamed about summitting many times. This photo marks the first time I’ve been able to look up at the upper mountain and know what it feels like to be up there.

Trip Stats

3 days w/ 25 hrs of travel

18.5 miles 9,900’ gain

Trip Background + Map

I visited Seattle in March of 2017, and, for some reason, biked by myself across the 90 bridge. On the bridge, I got my first full view of Rainier, and wondered (in one of the first posts of this journal) what it would require to climb it. I had no idea.

Now it’s over three years later, and Rainier was the main goal for this summer. I’ve been training since January, and ticking off other bucket list trips - Ptarmigan Traverse and the Hinman to Daniel traverse - but in the back of my mind I kept wondering whether I would get a chance to try Rainier. In mid-July, I got a call from my buddy Marc asking if I wanted to join a climb via the Kautz route, and suddenly, I was in.

I researched the route obsessively, made a spreadsheet to make sure I didn’t forget anything, and watched the weather, which looked like it was going to be perfect. On Saturday morning, I drove down to the park w/ Marc and met up with Mia and Jake. We’d opted for a slow three day trip, with a big carry-over on the last day, and we got our final group gear ready in the Paradise parking lot.

Day 1 - Paradise to Shark Fin Camp (7,600’)

You can see what’s left of the Fan on the far left side of the photo

We headed up from Paradise to Glacier Vista, then dropped off the edge down to the Lower Nisqually Glacier. The Fan looked narrow and manky, so we opted to head around to where the Wilson Glacier joins the Nisqually. There were some awkward crevasses to navigate, but it wasn’t too bad. Once we were up at Wilson Bench, we decided to head up to “Shark Fin Camp”, which doesn’t get used much, but provides a great lower camp for the route. We got to camp early - around 3:30 pm, so we took it easy.

The team stands around in the absurdly nice weather — The team stands around at camp in the absurdly nice weather

Jake’s heavy and heroic group contribution.

It wouldn’t be a trip if I didn’t take a photo of Marc making/eating food

If you look closely on the right side of this photo, you can see the shadow of Rainier in the hazy air

Day 2 - Shark Fin Camp to Camp Hazard

This is one of the most relaxed days I’ve had on a big mountain. We woke up late to perfect weather, took forever to get out of camp, and moseyed our way up the Turtle snowfield to Camp Hazard. It was absurdly hot and still, with almost no breeze.

We set up camp at Camp Hazard right near the rock step, and walked over to check out the Kautz in the late afternoon. It looked pretty intimidating, but still in good shape.

We spent the evening eating and packing and feeling the altitude. My head felt terrible, and I was worried about how I’d feel the next day, but I still enjoyed the absurdly beautiful views.

Day 3 - Camp Hazard to the Summit, then down the DC to Paradise

We broke camp and headed out at 3:45 am, bags fully packed. The rock step was awkward, but there was enough snow in the second half to make it feel pretty reasonable.

Then we swung over onto the Kautz, and simul-ed up the first ice step, stepping over and through broken crevasses and penitentes. This is some of the coolest snow climbing I’ve ever done.

Mia taking a hero step over a crevasse filled with icicles

Soon we were at the base of the second step, and we pitched it out. Jake took the lead, and Mia, Marc, and I tried to stay warm while dodging the falling ice that rained down from Jake’s tools.

Mia and Marc looking warmer than we felt

Jake heads up towards the Wapowety Cleaver

We made it up to the summit, after crossing some pretty enormous snow bridges.

Once we got down to the summit register there was no wind, and it felt like it was 70 degrees. We all de-layered to our sunhoodies, took a short break, and then headed down the DC.