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| baumann_pat | what season? | |
Voted 10/10 | which is the best month(s) for this route? | |
| Posted Jul 21, 2008 4:52 pm | ||
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| dug | Re: what season? | |
Hasn't voted | Typically the n side routes on Rainier are early season, late May-June. By July there is often much rock fall. I've had best luck with 2nd wk of June. | |
| Posted Jul 23, 2008 5:53 am | ||
| asmrz | What season? | |
Hasn't voted | From my experience, going up Rainier in May and June is problematic. There is much residual snow, the North side routes are snow slogs, avalanche danger is at its highest and the North side routes are not in the best shape. I have experienced the best conditions in the later time (mid/late July to Labor Day), the glacier is more open and dry, the routes (Curtis, Liberty, Ptarmigan) have a lot of hard ice and the routes have completely different character, there is ice climbing to be done there and the routes have a technical aspect to them. Rockfall is ever present on those ridges, but can be minimized by going in during cold spells. I agree, it is much easier to go there early, you spent couple days up to your knees in snow, you never see ice and the routes are nothing special. Go there later in the season and these routes will show you why they are All American classics. BTW, the 1st Ascent of Liberty Ridge was done in September. | |
| Posted Jul 23, 2008 11:28 am | ||
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| dug | Re: What season? | |
Hasn't voted | Hi Alois I guess we've had different experiances there. Every time I've gone in July I've experianced huge rockfall. (House sized rock coming down Curtis Ridge and Ptarmigan)Not to mention the Carbon is usually much more broken u by then. I climbed Liberty in the last week of May and had hard ice from below Thumb rock to Lib Cap. Climbed Ptarmigan in mid June and had perfect weather and conditions. Granted that I really paid no attention to what kind of winter season they had and just went when I had the time. Cheers -doug | |
| Posted Jul 24, 2008 3:19 am | ||
| asmrz | What season? | |
Hasn't voted | Hello Doug I hear you. I guess I'm trying to pay tribute to those guys who over 80 years ago did this climb (LR) as an ice climb and late in the season so as to make it harder, not easier. In my mind, climbing Liberty Ridge in May as opposed to (say) August will result in totally different experience. One is a long snow climb and the other a rather commiting (and awesome) Grade IV ice climb. It is interesting that (for example) Fred B. cautioned (years ago) about going to the North side too early and in the last 15 or so years, it is much more prevalent to hear people say exactly the opposite, i.e. earlier in the season is better. I understand you see it that way too. Maybe our discussion here can help Pat and others to address and understand these issues/questions. P.S. It could be, with Global Warming, the North side routes now come into season much earlier and observant people made a note of the changing conditions. That one I wouldn't know about,I climbed LR and Ptarmigan back in the (ancient) 80s. Cheers and good climbing, Alois. | |
| Posted Jul 24, 2008 4:37 pm | ||
| Haliku | Nice page | |
Voted 8/10 | I like the page. Some more detail on how many days it takes on average from your car would be helpful. This pic might also be good to add: http://www.summitpost.org/image/199967/155602/liberty-ridge-route-april-4-10-2006.html Cheers! | |
| Posted Jan 8, 2009 1:20 pm | ||
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Cascade Volcanoes
