| Rainier via Fuhrer Finger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
June 21, 2006 
I leave Seattle in nine days. The mountains in SoCal aren't huge, and I know that someone will ask me if I've climbed Rainier. How could I live, climb, and ski in Washington for four years without bagging Rainier? Completely unacceptable! Plus, skiing nine thousand feet sounded like a good time. Fuhrer Finger is a striking couloir on the south side of Mt. Rainier. It's well known as a big ski descent, and it sure looked prime ten days ago when I skied to Muir with my dad. That weekend, Phil, Greg, and I headed to Cascade Pass to enjoy the copius corn. At the top of the Yawning Glacier Sky and Hannah showed up. We harvested corn all day, and during the drive back to Seattle plans for this week were discussed. Hannah lives at Paradise, works for the park service, and typically climbs Rainier at least once a week, so she's always in good shape and acclimatised. Sky is just plain strong. I am not. Yet, I wanted to climb and ski Rainier before I leave Washington in a week. Nobody else was feeling the love (DAVE!), so Sky offered to ski Fuhrer Finger with me. Hannah had a cold, and so decided that an 'easy' day would be a good idea. I just hoped it would slow her down a little. I had convinced myself that this is a serious route, and I spent most of Tuesday psyching myself out. I picked Sky up and we headed south, through the traffic lights and traffic jams, lurching at the awkward traffic and new clutch. I drive much like I ski; poorly. We met at the dorms at Paradise at 9 pm Tuesday evening. Hannah broke out the tequila and pizza. We decided that leaving at 10pm would offer a decent safety margin given my potential pace. I joked that they could always 'bag and tag' me on the upper Nisqually. After pizza and packing, we set off in the fog, our headlamps throwing cones of light through the fog. Sky, having skied two routes right next to Fuhrer Finger in the last few days, knew the best path up the Nisqually and Wilson glacier. I just followed him, so I really have no idea where we were. It grew cold,and the snow was hard. We climbed above the fog somewhere on the glacier. It got cold, and I started feeling tired despite two shots of GU. At the base of the couloir it was still dark. We climbed to a ledge of snow that had melted out from beneath a rock outcropping. We napped and shivered here for about two hours. I was fine, but my thin nylon pants didn't give much insulation to my legs. The short amout of sleep flipped a switch in my brain and I lost the fuzzy, disconnected headache that usually plagues any sleepless endeavours. Sky shared some of his eight-shot Americano; I traded one whippet for an ice tool and we headed up the couloir right as Adams began to turn pink with the alpenglow. The climbing was spectacular, the snow perfect. I mentioned to Hannah how I approve of her Mountain.
I slowed down some with the altitude, but Hannah and Sky really started to drop me above 13,000. No headache or nausea, but I was tired. Many evil rolls later and we were at the crater looking up at the true summit. Sky and Hannah headed up. When I followed I punched my leg through a snowbridge. Without skins I decided to be prudent, so I took a photo at the crater rim and waited around for an hour until the other two finished their summit naps. We regrouped and headed down the Nisqually.
My legs were tired, but at 13k or so the snow turned to really nice corn. We weaved through the cracks and seracs, and connected with the Finger. I started feeling really good here, so we ripped it. The snow was nice slush in the chute, barely sluffing, and the nice 45 degree sides of the chute were amazing. A few hops down the choke and we zoomed down the lower glaciers on fantastic corn. Some skin-less skinning brought us back to Pan Point, and we got back to the car by 2:30 (I think?). 9000 feet of great conditions, with great weather, with great friends. Thank you both, Hannah and Sky. For those interested in the route, I feel that Beckey's estimate of 35 to 40 degrees is accurate for the climb. For the ski, one can stray to the edges of the couloir for nice slopes around 40-45 degrees. We had a freezing level of 8 or 9,000 feet, and the couloir proper was turning to slush at 1pm. We had no rockfall whatsoever, but your mileage may vary. |
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)