The Kautz Short Cut

Climbing out of the gully to the ridge above Camp Hazard. The guides had fixed this section with a couple of ropes making it easy to climb out on our way back to camp. In the morning on our ascent, we climbed straight up the narrow gully that leads directly to the base of the ice cliff (you can touch it with your hands) and then traversed out to the glacier a hundred meters or so below the ice chute. On our descent, we dropped lower down the main glacier before we traversed back to this notch. High or low, you must cross below the ice cliff at some point to get to the main face. Mt Rainier - Kautz Glacier Route - July 2004 (photo by Frank Florence)