Mt. Rainier, Kautz Ski

Back on the Big T

Those who follow me know that I am not a big Volcano Connoisseur, but the Big T (Rainier) has been calling for a while. After a moderately stressful day on the Torment Tour, Nick and I agreed that a chiller Type 1 Fun day on Rainier would be a good comeback. We agreed on going after the Kautz Ice Chute once the conditions were better.

Even though I have been up Rainier twice (once mountaineering in 2015, and once skiing both Little T and Big T in one day in 2022), I had remarkably never been above Camp Muir on the south side. So the prospect of skiing a line on the south side was interesting to me and rather novel. Back in April, my friend Andreea climbed and skied the Kautz, finding the ice chute full of snow and void of ice. It seemed like a great opportunity to ski a line that is often more technical!

It was the first really warm May weekend. We typically get at least one May heat wave. I spent the weekend down in Oregon racing the Tillamook 50k. On the next day, I felt surprisingly decent, so Nick and I made plans to go up the DC (Disappointment Cleaver) for the Kautz on Wednesday, which was going to be the last nice weather day for a while. We hoped that the warmer days over the weekend had reduced the wet slab danger and consolidated the snowpack somewhat, although we knew it was still early for a true corn cycle.

While Nick was biking with friends the day before, he discovered that our friends Erin and Letty had plans to ski the same exact line as us, and even carpool from the same Walmart. We all found ourselves in the same Walmart parking lot, and we convinced them to join us for the following day!

Guessing corn o’clock is always a challenge on a big mountain like Rainier. There are so many variables: temperature, overnight freeze, clouds, and wind, just to name a few. On this warm (12k freezing levels) but windy day, we felt like 12-1 PM would be an appropriate time to start skiing. This led us to a 4 AM start, which felt remarkably civilized for a car-to-car ascent of Rainier. But we knew that getting up too early was dangerous, since it would likely be too windy to hang out and wait. The recreational forecast was calling for 30 MPH winds at the summit.

Beautiful alpenglow on Adams.

We got started a bit after 4 AM, watching sunrise above Panorama Point. It is nice how the first 4500 ft of climbing to Camp Muir is such simple skinning. In fact, it was my first time to Muir since snowshoeing there back in 2016 or so.

Close up of the firnspeigel on the Muir Snowfield.
Heading up the Muir Snowfield.

We were at Camp Muir after 3 hours. Guided groups had already returned from a failed summit push, turning back because of high winds. They gave us some details about the DC Route, which had been set wind wands earlier that week. We took a nice long break to switch to glacier gear and prepare for a long slog up the upper mountain.

For both Nick and I, this was our first times up the DC Route, the most popular ascent route on Rainier. I was genuinely curious about the route. Along our way, I learned about so many iconic features that were previously a mystery to me: Gibraltar Rock, Gib Ledges and Chutes, and the Disappointment Cleaver. We passed my guide friend Lael, who was descending with a client.

Distant view of the Stuart Range.
The Ingraham Direct (which was out) ascends the glacier on the left, while the DC route ascends the right hand skyline.

In protected areas, it was warm in the morning sun and the snow was already softening. But in exposed areas, the wind was nearly knocking us down. We were confident that the Kautz would be wind protected and soften, but we were not optimistic that we would make it up the DC Route. We passed countless parties who had turned back because of wind and supposedly a sketchy snow bridge up high. Even our friend Thomas, who had done Torment with us, was turning back with his party.

Great view looking down on Little Tahoma.

I’m not going to lie – seeing so many other experienced parties ahead of us turn around messed with our psyche. We all felt our chance of success was rather low. Typically, I don’t see other parties out on my adventures, so there is no one to spoil my optimism. Herd mentality is powerful, and it was tempting to just bail before the DC since everyone else was heading down. But we decided to keep going until it did not make any more sense.

The DC was almost entirely snow, which is much better than choss, Erin assured us. Once we got off the cleaver at 12,200 ft, we were pleasantly surprised to find still manageable winds. It seemed like maybe the wind was actually dying down a little bit for us. The downstream mountain wave cloud from the morning had dissipated, which corroborated with our observations.

Hood, Jefferson, and some cool rock layers.

Around 13,000 ft, the route started to get more complex. The wanded route traversed way right, but we had heard from some parties that they ran into difficulties on the traverse. Our friend Sam had climbed directly up and left from here just a few days ago, crossing over a small crevasse lip. We decided to try that route.

Letty belays Erin across the crux step.

While the step had melted out considerably in a few days, the guides had shoveled some steps into the lip, making the big step a little easier. It is curious that the guides helped prepare this route, but then flagged people to a different route that seemed to present greater difficulties. Perhaps they figured that this step would not last long. Above this step, it looked like we were home-free!

Above 13,500 ft, the wind began to get truly brutal. At times it would basically knock us over with skis on our back. Tim Gibson and his partner passed us on the way down and had a nice chat. They were headed for Gib Chute. But other than Tim’s party, we were alone battling the winds on the upper mountain.

The last 500 ft or so to the crater rim was tough. We were all feeling a little worked from the altitude and the wind was so frustrating. I poked my head over the crater rim, but decided that a small rock pile was the best we could do for getting out of the wind. No summit for us! Once we were all together, we transitioned quickly and ski traversed over towards Point Success and the Kautz Headwall. Literally the moment we got on the Kautz Headwall, the wind completely died off and it was suddenly hot. Crazy!

Letty makes her first turns near 14k.

Our concern instantly changed from too much wind to too little. Our ascent was a little slower than expected, so it was around 1 PM and the snow was a little over baked. We wasted no time beginning the mega ski descent.

Erin skiing with Adams in the background.

The snow was definitely still transitioning. Some sections provided smooth psuedo corn, but other sections had sastrugi or punchy spots. I struggled a little on my Blizzard Zero G 85s, which really disappoint in variable snow. I think the descent is also where I really felt the fatigue and soreness in my legs just three days after racing a 50k.

Around 12,000 ft, the route narrows in the Kautz Ice Chute. Most of the time, this section is an easy ice climb. But the warm storms this year have turned the ice chute into a pleasant 40 degree ski. This was definitely the coolest part of the descent!

Nick makes a hop turn in the Kautz Ice Chute.
Okay, Rainier is pretty cool.
Erin enjoys the icy ambiance.

After the ice chute, we traversed left across the often cruxy Kautz “rock step”, which was a simple ski traverse with snow! We took a much needed break on some sunny rocks to eat and drink, since we had not rested at the top of our climb.

Looking back on the Kautz Ice Chute, which ascends up and right.

Although it felt like we had already skied a lot, we still had nearly 5000 ft of descent to the lower Nisqually Glacier down “The Turtle”. The snow was decent down to 9k, but below that was awful mush.

Nick shredding the Turtle.

Near the bottom of the Turtle, we had to descend some steeper east facing slopes. Over the past few days, giant wet slab avalanches had ripped across the entire feature! It was pretty spooky and a good reminder that spring does not always mean safer conditions. In this case, Paradise had gotten 3-4 feet of snow, followed by 80 degree temperatures just a week later!

Giant wet slabs that had ripped across the bottom of the Turtle earlier in the week.

The snow was obscenely sticky as we tried to glide down the lower Nisqually Glacier. After a short climb, we could ski (more like straight-line) back down to Paradise. It was not much fun, but it was definitely easier than hiking down the Eldo trail!

After ignoring Rainier for so many ski seasons, it was enjoyable to ski so much new terrain. It did give me an appreciation for the incredible scale of the mountain and accessibility of big ski lines we have so close to home. There is nowhere else in the lower 48 that you can get on 9000 ft ski lines, cross such massive glaciers, and have a comparable big mountain experience. Thanks to Nick, Erin, and Letty for joining me on a fun ski adventure!

Notes:

  • We chose to go up the DC Route because we felt it would be simpler and quicker than ascending the Kautz. I could see going up the Kautz if you were unsure about ski conditions in the Ice Chute or wanted to be more protected from the wind.
  • Our ascent took about 8.5 hours, and the descent took around 2 hours.
  • The Kautz Headwall and Ice Chute felt relatively moderate. I don’t think any section exceeded 40 degrees.
  • It is hard to tell how long the Kautz Chute will be “in” for skiers. There seemed to be not that much snow sitting on top of the ice, so I imagine there will be exposed ice after the next warm period. Some years I think the Kautz is never really “in”, so it just depends on the year.
  • The most hazardous part of this route, along with the Finger, is probably the final east facing slope at the bottom of the Turtle. It is impossible to get here and not have the snow be overbaked, since it is low elevation and east facing. The size of the wet slabs we witnessed were impressive. Do not underestimate this section. You might be able to ski down further skier’s left to avoid this east facing aspect.

5 thoughts on “Mt. Rainier, Kautz Ski”

  1. Kyle! Skiing the Kautz in May! I’m always impressed by your creativity and vision of what can be pulled off with generally moderate technical demands and not high sketch factor… albeit requiring a sizeable dose of conditioning, endurance and efficiency. Really appreciate your beautifully written and photographed TRs and contributions you make to the outdoors community. You’ve opened my eyes to so much attainable fruit to pick in our Cascades playland thats hidden, well, not in plain sight, but it’s all over you just have to get the vision and feel and then go for it! Cheers and respect.

  2. What have you confidence that the Kautz wouldn’t be windy? The forecast said north/northwest wind I think. You’d think a southwest aspect would be protected given that forecast, but I didn’t know enough to have confidence that it would be sheltered.

    1. We thought it would be protected because it is a concave feature on the mountain, a bit like a big couloir. Big walls around it to block wind.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *