SummitPost.org

Planning on climbing the cassin mid-may this year. Does anyone have any beta on how feasible it is to downclimb the west rib from 14k into the north fork instead of slogging up the valley of death?
I'm trying to minimize my glacier travel time.

Thanks.

This is usually how the Cassin is approached these days. Colin Haley has mentioned it in various blogs, it is called the 'Seattle '72 Ramp'.

It all depends on conditions when you are there.
If you are at 14k, you can be down the WB route and at the NE Fork really fast, like, less than 12 hours if you move it. Then, sleep and go in middle of night up the NE Fork all the way in maybe another 8-12 hours if you are motivated.
So the time difference is not so great really.
If the conditions are good, and not icy, you can get down the West Rib pretty quickly...
But if conditions are really icy dangerous, it could take perhaps 2 days to descend (depending on your skill and boldness).
And remember, you still have to climb to almost 16k feet (above 14k camp) before starting to descend the West Rib. It's a bit of a grunt.
There's not really any deal sealing advantage of either choice. It just depends on conditions, and well, kind of what you personally want to do.
There's been so much talk in the last 10 years of going down the West Rib it seems everyone thinks that's the way all the smart climbers do it. But it's not really better; it's not worse; it's just different.
I'd advise you get there and check it out and decide then.

wallspeck wrote:... if conditions are really icy dangerous, it could take perhaps 2 days to descend (depending on your skill and boldness).
...There's been so much talk in the last 10 years of going down the West Rib it seems everyone thinks that's the way all the smart climbers do it.

Yep. I've not done it but friends have. One pair took days to get down, so they ended up using too much of their food and bailed off the actual route less than half way up. For good climbers, who know the way, in good conditions, who go for it, it's probably the best way. Not for everybody though.

OTOH, I remember stopping down at the junction near where the NE fork meets the main Kahiltna and watching a massive avalanche come down off the eastern side and totally wipe the entire width of the NE fork route. Timing is everything.

Yeah, that is scary alright.
If you go down the West Rib, at least you aren't terrified of being snuffed out like that.
I've also seen a big one come off the face between Cassin and WR. It filled the upper bowl of the NE Fork... all the way across. Filled up a bunch of crevasses. The base of the WR was untouched. I've camped there and although it felt pretty safe, I knew that a really big one would still get us.
The run across to the Japanese couloir bergscrund is really fast and it really is very safe.
What they need is a cable car system running from the 14k camp over to the Japanese couloir.
Sure would make retreating easier too.

Thanks for the advice! Sounds like it's pretty conditions dependent. The Seattle 72 ramp looks like a good option, thanks for that.

And yeah, gotta work on getting that cable car.