A Classic (but not one of fifty)
Date: 5/21/2018
Solo
Mileage: 16.3
Gain: 11086'
Elapsed Time: 7:29
Start time: 7:30 AM
Approach/deproach: Easy, a short trail walk to snow
Ski Gear: Full race dweeb including race suit
Technical Gear: One Petzl Gully, Petzl Irvis hybrid crampons, whippet
Rope: No
Pack: Pretty light
Start: Comet Falls Parking Area
Finish: Start
Dryland: Yes, trail walking later in the season, shoes might be needed (depends on snow-line)
Travel Logistics: Very easy other than the Permitting : )
Date: 5/21/2018
Solo
Mileage: 16.3
Gain: 11086'
Elapsed Time: 7:29
Start time: 7:30 AM
Approach/deproach: Easy, a short trail walk to snow
Ski Gear: Full race dweeb including race suit
Technical Gear: One Petzl Gully, Petzl Irvis hybrid crampons, whippet
Rope: No
Pack: Pretty light
Start: Comet Falls Parking Area
Finish: Start
Dryland: Yes, trail walking later in the season, shoes might be needed (depends on snow-line)
Travel Logistics: Very easy other than the Permitting : )
This is a bit if a cautionary tale. Going into this outing I had been really having quite a run of good skiing. I had previously skied quite a few different routes on Rainier, including several that were much more technical. Those had all gone well. I was also having a great spring of fast and light missions. I had a day off work and couldn't find a partner so I decided to do a quick burn on the Kautz Glacier route on Rainier.
Unfortunately there aren't many photos since I was solo and just brought a phone. I was also hauling ass which doesn't generally encourage taking photos. Now, this is without a doubt my favorite Rainier South side route. I don't know why nobody comes here. I guess it isn't a 50 classic, so how could it be any good? The Kautz just skis so well. When approached from the Van Trump snowfield its basically perfect fall line from the summit with a tiny traverse in the middle (more on that later). I also like that parking at comet falls bumps lowers the starting elevation to 3600' much more ski opportunity compared to paradise's 5400'. Less driving, more skiing, what's not to like?
Unfortunately there aren't many photos since I was solo and just brought a phone. I was also hauling ass which doesn't generally encourage taking photos. Now, this is without a doubt my favorite Rainier South side route. I don't know why nobody comes here. I guess it isn't a 50 classic, so how could it be any good? The Kautz just skis so well. When approached from the Van Trump snowfield its basically perfect fall line from the summit with a tiny traverse in the middle (more on that later). I also like that parking at comet falls bumps lowers the starting elevation to 3600' much more ski opportunity compared to paradise's 5400'. Less driving, more skiing, what's not to like?
Well, the main issue was that I was a cocky asshole and didn't do my homework. I dispensed with the VT in a real hurry, just cruising. passed Camp Hazard at 3:45. I then continued straight up. The problem was I hadn't done really any route research. I knew where the route went and knew there was a traverse over a cliff band, but didn't bother to read about exactly where it was. I thought it would be obvious. I went straight past camp hazard and found myself below the seracs. Surprisingly that wasn't much of a problem, I went to crampons and traversed into the main route, really moving quickly under the seracs.
I continued on up, there is a rock rib near the climbers left side of the upper Kautz and I stayed near that for most of the climb thinking that would minimize crevasse hazard. It was crampons the whole way to the top of the headwall. Finally I cut across the upper headwall towards climbers right. I'm here to talk about it so I didn't fall in a crevasse. Time has given me the opportunity to consider the fact that every time one walks around on a glacier on the upper mountain of Rainier unroped (on foot not skis) it's really an odds game. If you are going to do it make sure there is a good reason and only do it if absolutely necessary.
I continued on up, there is a rock rib near the climbers left side of the upper Kautz and I stayed near that for most of the climb thinking that would minimize crevasse hazard. It was crampons the whole way to the top of the headwall. Finally I cut across the upper headwall towards climbers right. I'm here to talk about it so I didn't fall in a crevasse. Time has given me the opportunity to consider the fact that every time one walks around on a glacier on the upper mountain of Rainier unroped (on foot not skis) it's really an odds game. If you are going to do it make sure there is a good reason and only do it if absolutely necessary.
I continued on to the summit. topping out about 5:43 elapsed. Lots of pressure breathing got me through, it was FUN. A few minutes of heavy breathing at the summit and I transitioned and started down. I vividly remember thinking to myself, I feel drunk, like three strong beers drunk. I'm always a little lightheaded up there, but today was intense. I decided to take it really easy dropping over the headwall. The headwall was fantastic, cold and edgable snow. It skied great even on race gear. The snow tongue was in great shape and I skied right through having fun the whole time. At some point I had really started to feel better as the oxygen content in my blood went back up. Now I was back to where I needed to get over the ridge. I skied past my morning route knowing that there was a more popular way.
I skied slowly down looking to skiers left and only seeing cliffs. At one point I thought I was getting a little low, but wanted to look a little further down. I went past a little roll where it steepened. All of a sudden I was sliding, my skis just washed out on blue ice covered with a little spring snow. FUCK! After sliding about 10' I arrested. That doesn't happen, you don't get to do that... Some combination of my whippet in the snow, and my skis edging on some rocks stopped my slide. If I had kept going it wasn't certain death by any means, but it would have been bad for sure. There was an 8' cliff, long snow slope and talus slope with some minor cliffs. There was a definitely kill you cliff at the bottom. Could I have made it all the way down there? That haunts me to this day.
I have put a lot of thought into why my skis blew out in the intervening time. I'm almost certain that I booted out, this is when the ski is hard on edge and the boot or binding hits the snow levering the metal edge out away from the snow, causing a loss of edge contact. It's a well known issue with alpine race skis and is why many of those bindings sit high above the narrow skis. Turns out the same issue can exist with narrow skimo race skis, something to think about.
Anyways, transitioning on a steep rock isn't fun, but it's more fun than an uncontrolled sliding fall. I managed to get skis off and crampons on. I decided I must have missed the main route and headed back up. I then found the cliff passage and fixed lines at about 11300', what a turd I felt like. I then proceeded to have one of the best corn runs of my live down the VT. Perfect corn that only got punchy as the pitch mellowed. I followed my ascent route through the forest, past the falls and out the trail to my car. I finished in 7:29, not bad getting moving at 7:30 and making it back to the car at 3.
I probably hesitated to put this up for a while because while it's a success it's also a failure. I totally screwed up and it was entirely because I was overconfident and didn't do my homework. Here are the lessons I tried to take home from this one:
-Watch out for race skis, you surrender a lot of margin by using them in steep terrain
-Boot-out is an issue with race skis
-Doing a new technical route and trying to go really fast just isn't a great idea
-Whippets can save the day (says the guy who doesn't really ski with one anymore...)
-Do your homework!
Every close call is a learning opportunity.
I skied slowly down looking to skiers left and only seeing cliffs. At one point I thought I was getting a little low, but wanted to look a little further down. I went past a little roll where it steepened. All of a sudden I was sliding, my skis just washed out on blue ice covered with a little spring snow. FUCK! After sliding about 10' I arrested. That doesn't happen, you don't get to do that... Some combination of my whippet in the snow, and my skis edging on some rocks stopped my slide. If I had kept going it wasn't certain death by any means, but it would have been bad for sure. There was an 8' cliff, long snow slope and talus slope with some minor cliffs. There was a definitely kill you cliff at the bottom. Could I have made it all the way down there? That haunts me to this day.
I have put a lot of thought into why my skis blew out in the intervening time. I'm almost certain that I booted out, this is when the ski is hard on edge and the boot or binding hits the snow levering the metal edge out away from the snow, causing a loss of edge contact. It's a well known issue with alpine race skis and is why many of those bindings sit high above the narrow skis. Turns out the same issue can exist with narrow skimo race skis, something to think about.
Anyways, transitioning on a steep rock isn't fun, but it's more fun than an uncontrolled sliding fall. I managed to get skis off and crampons on. I decided I must have missed the main route and headed back up. I then found the cliff passage and fixed lines at about 11300', what a turd I felt like. I then proceeded to have one of the best corn runs of my live down the VT. Perfect corn that only got punchy as the pitch mellowed. I followed my ascent route through the forest, past the falls and out the trail to my car. I finished in 7:29, not bad getting moving at 7:30 and making it back to the car at 3.
I probably hesitated to put this up for a while because while it's a success it's also a failure. I totally screwed up and it was entirely because I was overconfident and didn't do my homework. Here are the lessons I tried to take home from this one:
-Watch out for race skis, you surrender a lot of margin by using them in steep terrain
-Boot-out is an issue with race skis
-Doing a new technical route and trying to go really fast just isn't a great idea
-Whippets can save the day (says the guy who doesn't really ski with one anymore...)
-Do your homework!
Every close call is a learning opportunity.
I only include the .json file of my trip because you can look at it and literally see where I screwed up on the way up and down. Don't be a turd like me, have the beta dialed!