We discussed what in a push actually meant as we skinned across the Winthrop Glacier. We decided it meant going without bivy gear with the intention of moving continuously with no plan to bivy. The approach to Liberty ridge requires one to go over St. Elmo's Pass across the Winthrop glacier and across most of the Carbon Glacier to get across the biggest crevasse i have seen on Mount Rainier right at the base of the route. Then up.We left the car at 2p we got to the edge of the CarbonGlacier at 815p, brewed some Ramen and made water then left at 11p up the Carbon and onto the ridge we got to Thumb Rock (10767) at 420a and made some water before we ran out of fuel. A bit worried that we wouldn't have enough water i stuck the fuel canister in my jacket to warm it up so it would keep burning. it finally died for real when we were each full on water and about to make some more food.
The disappointment of not having some soup was soon lost as the sun rose and warmed us up. We started up the route at 6a. we dodged rockfall for a while and watched ice crash off the Wilson and Ptarmigan ice cliffs near us. the ridged turned to steep snow and had a bit of alpine ice climbing high up. we summited around 2p (24 hours on the go). The ski down was pretty good and we reached the car at 7p a total of 30 hours on the go!
Americah!
ReplyDelete