Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Rainier - Trip Report

June 18-21, 1997

Bob Wood

Chad Alber, Rodger Poage, Tom Walker, Bob Wood

Climbing on the North and West sides of Mount Rainier provides several challenges. First are the routes, from those on the Mowich face clockwise to Curtis Ridge, one will find no route lighter than a grade III, the easiest being the ever popular Liberty Ridge. Our group visited during mid-June to tackle one of the Mowich Face routes, the exact route to be determined once they had been inspected.

The second challenge, and one that took us somewhat by surprise, is access to the West side. Two of the access roads, Ipsut Creek and the West Side road (Nisqually entrance) are closed at the park boundary due to glacier outburst and washout. The third road, the Mowich lake road was unfortunately not yet opened for our visit. This was due to a high snow year, and what I surmise might be the ever present budget problems in our national forests and parks. Hailing from Colorado, where Trail Ridge road (~13,000') in Rocky Mountain National Park is plowed open for Memorial day tourist traffic, I had hoped that we might have been able to start our climb from a point closer than the park boundary!

Three days of trudging through clear mornings, followed by first overcast, then whiteout conditions in the afternoon, brought us to the 10,300 camp on Ptarmigan Ridge. Due to the high snow down low on the mountain, we had settled for an ascent and descent on Ptarmigan Ridge to ease the access problems. This is not to discount the route in any way, as Ptarmigan ridge, graded at IV, is a challenging objective. The difficulties present themselves above the 10,300 camp, with negotiating a route around the 300' ice cliffs of the Liberty Cap glacier, subsequent climbing of this rather tortured snout of the Libery Cap, and easing up the gentler summit ridge. At least so says the guidebook.

Our climbing window had been shortened by about a day and a half due to the access problems, so we had really only one day at our disposal for a summit bid. Arriving at 10,300 in clouds, we were unable to preview the route, so it was with a little trepidation that we set alarms for 3:00 AM the next morning. (I really do hate those Alpine starts!)

The early morning weather was discouraging. Instead of the crystal clear skies we had been seeing for the past few mornings, the valleys below were filled with clouds, and there was a significant cloud cap on the mountain. We recognized that our plans to descend our ascent route implied a long day, and that even in the same weather pattern we had been experiencing, we would most likely be descending in a whiteout, using our morning footsteps for reconnoitering. Not desirable, but hey ... We rolled over for a few more winks and to watch the weather develop.

Good call! By 8:30, the sandwich of clouds collapsed. Rather than hang around in the fog, and not having enough time to wait out a day, we opted to descend in a whiteout. Great fun, glacier travel, point man, 4 feet visibility, reckoning by compass! Much better than the Discovery Channel! Finding the Wonderland trail coming out of Spray Park also proved challenging. We quickly moved to Plan "B", the Northwest Brewery Tour. It's always important to have a Plan "B", I say.

Bob Wood

Niwot, CO

This article first appeared on the hialtmtn list processor.

Other Information

• Trails Illustrated Map #217 Mount Rainier National Park
• High Altitude Mountaineering Section
• What to Bring on a Hike
• Safety And Survival
• There's Weather Out There
• Learning Safety Through the Experience of Others
• The Leave No Trace: Skills & Ethics: Rocky Mountains A must read for every backcountry user!