A Classic Line and a Good Time

The Fuhrer Finger on Mt. Rainier is a classic line, easily one of the most famous ski lines in the state. It is an aesthetic couloir down the south side of the mountain, easily visible from Paradise. Yet after many years of backcountry skiing in Washington, I had yet to ski the Finger – only the Emmons (along with Little T) and the Kautz. With temperatures hitting 80F in the lowlands, it was time for another lap on the Big T!

John, Chris, and I drove down the night before. Every time I see Rainier up close, I am reminded how truly massive it is. We all felt a little butterflies in our stomachs!

We had been considering skiing Success Couloir, but we could tell from the parking lot that the second rock step near the top was not “in”. Given that Chris and I hadn’t yet skied the Finger, it was an easy call to pivot to the more popular line.

We got started around 4 AM the next morning, sharing the skin track with my friend Kam for a while. There wasn’t much of a refreeze below 7k, but conditions were firm above that.

I’ve always said that Rainier is a beautiful mountain to look at, not to be on. Once you get above about 10k, all the other mountains look like ant hills. Fortunately, we got sunrise while we were still at a moderate elevation, creating beautiful layers.

We reached Camp Muir in three hours, and promptly proceeded to take a nearly 30 minute break. The line for the bathroom was long, but well worth it. We also stashed skis, put on crampons and glacier gear, and roped up.

The guides had wanded the Ingram Direct (ID) route very nicely, with a solid boot pack in. When I skied the Kautz two years ago, the ID was not in, so we had to take the Disappointment Cleaver (DC). I much prefer the ID, as it is more direct and less hazardous. There were a few crevasse crossings, but nothing sketchy.

We chatted with Lane and Thomas’s crew in the Ingram Flats, before I snapped a nice picture of them with Little T behind.

It was a literal solar oven on this SE aspect. There was absolutely no wind and the sun reflected off the snow from all sides. Between 11k and 13k, I really was struggling with the altitude, heat, and pace. But above 13k, we slowed down a little, got an occasional breeze, and I started feeling better again.

We reached the summit crater, switched back to skis, and skinned across to the true summit. I actually had never been to the true summit since Eric Gilbertson proved that Columbia Crest is no longer the high point. Eric Gilbertson happened to be up there with multiple theodolites, measuring the summits again.

The winds were light and the air temperature was probably around 20F – very balmy for the summit of Rainier. We were all feeling pretty worked by the altitude, so we took a nice lunch break to admire the (lack of) scenery from the summit crater.

Around noon, we stepped into our skis and started down. Both lower buckles on Chris’s ski boots broke on the way up, so he had to ski strap his boots. Surprisingly, we found a inch or two of fresh powder atop icy bumps for the top 500 ft, presumably from a small storm the day before. But by 13,500 ft, it was transitioning back to decent sun softened snow.

From the car, we had observed that the least crevassed route seemed to be right down the gut of the Upper Nisqually Glacier. This section is notorious for being a maze of crevasses and frequently is impassible past mid May. We had to weave around some large crevasses just above 13,000 ft.

The next section had some really aesthetic skiing between towering seracs. The snow surface was still slightly bumpy, but at least it was soft corn like skiing.

Around 12,300 ft, we followed all the tracks traversing right to the top of the Finger. We had nice corn down to the entrance of the Finger around 11,200 ft. Here, John split off to ski the “Fuhrer Thumb”, the sister couloir to the Finger. It probably was better skiing, since the Finger had a ton of tracks and was a bit over baked, but Chris and I wanted to ski the classic line.

The best snow was on the left side of the lower Finger and apron, both of which face slightly SW, while most of the Finger faces SE. It stayed good all the way down to 9,500 ft!

Below, the snow went from manageable stickiness to god awful schmoo. We descended directly down the Wilson Glacier, crossing over pretty crevassed terrain. The opening cracks and soft snow made us a little nervous, but we kept our tips up and carefully watched for sketchy parts. I still preferred this descent to the more east facing part of the Wilson that I descended after skiing the Katuz. That area has significant avalanche danger on a hot day like this.

After a brief climb, we skied back down the trails to the parking lot, passing tons of hikers out and about, enjoying the warm afternoon. Less than two hours after skiing powder at 14,000 ft, we were in sandals, shorts and a T-shirt!

Of the three lines I have skied on Rainier (Emmons, Kautz, and Finger), I found the Finger to be the most enjoyable ski line, and also the best ski conditions I have gotten on Rainier. I can see why the Finger is such a classic line with a great position and quality fall line skiing.

I’m still a North Cascades boy at heart, but this day was pleasant from start to finish and definitely increased my stoke for skiing on Rainier! It was about as close as you can get to pure Type 1 fun on the Big T. The summit views still suck, but the immensity of the mountain, the tumbling glaciers, and complex ruggedness make Rainier really special. I am grateful for another opportunity to ski it!

Notes:

• The loop is 14 miles and 9k ft gain. We took about 7.5 hrs to the summit, and under 2 hours to descend and return to the car.
• We started skiing around noon. It was an hour or two late for prime corn in the Finger, but we got nice snow on the Upper Nisqually. You can’t have it all on a big mountain like this, so you just have to prioritize which section you want the best snow for. For reference, the forecast was for 11k ft freezing levels, but it hit 46F at Camp Muir, so I suspect it was closer to 13k. It was dead calm on the Nisqually.
• To climb the Finger or to go top down like we did? We heard a report from a day earlier that navigating the Upper Nisqually was not too bad, so we felt confident about going top down. We knew the ID would be faster to ascend. However, going bottom up does give you the opportunity to turn around whenever the snow is prime, making it easier to optimize for good corn in the Finger. However, that increases your exposure to rockfall in the Finger.
• When the ID is in, it is such a smooth route compared to the DC!
• Instead of skiing the Upper Nisqually, we could have skied the Wapowtey Cleaver, which is the western edge of the Nisqually. This line crosses fewer crevasses, but is steeper and less natural.
• How does this line compare to the Kautz and Emmons? The Kautz was navigationally simpler when I skied it – very few crevasses to worry about. But the ice chute in the Kautz is steeper than any point in the Finger, which never really exceeds 40 degrees. The Emmons is probably the least steep, but still has potentially complex crevasses to navigate, depending on the season.