May 27, 2017

 

On May 23 IMG guides Aaron Mainer and Peter Dale climbed Liberty Ridge and then skied the Thermogenesis route, located on the right side of Willis Wall, next to Liberty Ridge.

This is an extreme ski descent of a route that has overhanging ice at the top of the route that would have fatal consequences if it released while anyone was on the route below.

Needless to say, this is a route for experts, who are willing to take a big risk even in perfect conditions.

My hat goes off to Peter and Aaron for this accomplishment!

George Dunn, IMG partner

 

Peter’s edited account follows:

On May 22-23 Aaron and I set out to try to climb Liberty Ridge, and take a look at skiing Thermogenesis. From what we have heard Thermogenesis gets climbed on occasion, but hasn’t been skied yet. (to my knowledge, two parties of two have climbed it to date, GD).  It is an aesthetic line, though has some obvious huge objective hazard hanging over it, making it a true roll of the dice on dodging stuff coming off the Willis Wall. Our theory was we might be able to ski the sides/walls of the chute and avoid some of the objective hazard….

We left the White River Campground on Monday afternoon and had a pleasant skin and ski to Curtis Ridge via St. Elmo’s Pass….where we camped for a very warm evening on a patch of bare rock next to the typical entrance onto the Carbon Glacier.

Tuesday morning had us moving out of camp just before 5:30AM behind one other group of three from the Jackson Hole area who were also planning on climbing and skiing Liberty Ridge. We owe them a few beers for their trail breaking efforts on the lower part of Liberty Ridge, thanks guys! After skinning up the Carbon we found an easy bergschrund crossing at 9200 on the west side of Liberty Ridge. Here we were passed by a group of three rando race guys doing a speed climb of Liberty Ridge and ski descent of the Emmons. They were really moving on their light gear and quickly overtook the Jackson group of three ahead of us as well. We also owe them beers for breaking trail up the upper half of Liberty Ridge….. In general conditions seem very good on the route right now. We made it to the top of Liberty Cap in about 6 hours, and started skiing down around noon.

After skiing a little over a thousand feet of chalky pow toward the top of the black pyramid we veered skier’s right and entered the Thermogenesis route. As we changed to a more easterly aspect the snow transitioned pretty quickly from chalky pow to slightly over-ripe corn which was also fantastic skiing yet didn’t want to entrain much with each turn. Here we entered the part of the run with the severe overhead hazard and we leap-frogged pretty quick down the route…. We bounced from the skier’s left to right sides back and forth down the route avoiding minor cliff bands here and there that we had spotted the afternoon before from camp. Upon reaching the bergschrund above the Carbon at the base of the route the bridge we thought we had spotted the day before turned out to be a no-go, so we quickly traversed skiers left out of the debris fan of Thermogenesis and found a rock outcropping to hide out beneath and build an anchor to rappel over the bergschrund. We did a 15m or so rappel and then zig-zagged between crevasses on the upper Carbon glacier while skiing back to our up track, and then took it back to camp. After snacking and admiring our tracks we packed up our overnight gear and slogged across Curtis Ridge and the Winthrop Glacier back to St Elmo’s, from which we enjoyed a sticky run through Glacier Basin and down the trail. 30 or so minutes of walking had us back to the car a bit before 6PM to enjoy some cold beers.

May 27, 2017

 

It was a big day for IMG on Rainier yesterday, in addition to putting 14 climbers and 7 guides on the summit via three routes, IMG Senior Guide Austin Shannon ticked off his 100th successful summit with a smooth climb of Liberty Ridge! Austin now joins the elite Century Club (100 summits of Rainier) with a small group of other climbers who have dedicated themselves to the mountains and logged the years of experience it takes to reach the 100 summits milestone.

Austin has been guiding for IMG since 2008 and has let trips around the world. He is one of the most dedicated and experienced guides in the U.S. and for that matter the world. We wish him a huge congratulations, and look forward to climbs 101 and beyond!!!

Robert Jantzen

 

May 25, 2017

Today was a great day on Mt. Rainier!  Three teams summited via three different routes in some tough weather conditions.

First on top today was the Disappointment Cleaver team led by IMG Senior Guide Eric Remza.  They’re the Disappointment Cleaver team in name only because they actually climbed the Ingraham Direct route, an early season option to the standard DC route.

The second team to the summit this morning was the Kautz team led by IMG Senior Guide Andy Polloczek. The cloud cap almost turned them around above the Kautz Ice Chute, but they cautiously inched uphill and were rewarded with a summit. They’re back down the chute and at camp for the night.

Last but not least is our Liberty Ridge team led by IMG Senior Guides Justin Merle and Austin Shannon. They left Thumb Rock a little later than planned, and like the Kautz and DC Team, made their way up the route while keeping an eye on the somewhat tumultuous weather.  The weather didn’t worsen so they were also able to push on to the top. They’ve since crossed the crater and are descending the DC route to Camp Muir.

While views weren’t readily available today, all three teams were able to summit. The experience of all the guides was called into play today. Radio chatter throughout the morning was a great sign. All the guides put their heads together in the best interest of all the IMG Teams on the mountain.

Job well done to all!

Tye Chapman

May 24, 2017

IMG Senior Guide Justin Merle called in this afternoon from Thumb Rock (~11,000ft.) reporting all is well. He, along with fellow Senior Guide Austin Shannon, and their team, are now in position to climb Liberty Ridge. They’ll get a relatively early start tomorrow, and if all goes as planned, they’ll summit and likely descend the DC route to the Ingraham Flats or Camp Muir.

More tomorrow.

Tye Chapman

May 18, 2017

It was a rough week on Mt. Rainier. The recent storms here in the PNW dumped a lot of snow on the upper mountain requiring some extra work by IMG Guides to get our camp at the Ingraham Flats back in order. Today, IMG Guides Andy Polloczek and Austin Shannon went up to the flats ahead of their team to start shoveling. Dig they did! After a few hours it ‘was mission accomplished’, just in time for fellow guides Nickel Wood and Harry Hamlin to bring the team up from Camp Muir. They’re having dinner and will likely be getting to bed soon for an early start at climbing Mt. Rainier in the morning.

Tye Chapman

 

May 10, 2017

Our first climb of the Mt. Rainier summer season summited in good form yesterday. A great start to the 2017 season! They report that the route heads directly up the Ingraham Glacier this spring, a desirable option over the normal Disappointment Cleaver.

The team returned to Ashford looking pretty fit after their three day effort on the mountain. Our congratulations to this first successful effort, with many more to come!

George Dunn

May 7, 2017

 

The first Disappointment Cleaver 3.5 day crew is out the door and headed up hill!

It’s an exciting time here at IMG HQ, the leaves are coming out, the temperatures are starting to rise and we have officially stepped into the Mount Rainier climbing season for 2017! IMG guides Andy Polloczek, Craig John, Nickel Wood and Kevin Kayl, along with their climbers were all smiles this morning before rolling out to head up to Camp Muir. The weather has taken a turn for the better today and we’re looking forward to a stable window for their entire climb. Happy climbers and good weather, you can’t get a better start than that! We’re looking forward to a great season, if you’re joining us this summer, its time to get excited!

Want to climb Rainier, but not already on a program with IMG? Don’t give up just yet! We get cancellations here and there, add your name to our waitlist and jump on the next open spot. To sign up, send an email to our office with your name, email and phone number, routes you’re interested in and a date range that you want notifications for.

Looking towards 2018 to plan a trip? Great! We will be releasing the 2018 Rainier climb dates in mid-September. If you sign up for our e-newsletter you’ll receive a notification as soon as we put the dates up and are rolling on registration. Remember its never to early to start training and researching gear!

Here’s to a great 2017 season!

Robert Jantzen

May 3, 2017

The IMG Spring Guide training started this past weekend in Ashford. 30 of our guides showed up for one of our three annual training sessions. Guides focused on new updates and techniques in the industry on Saturday and then moved up to Paradise on Sunday for practice on one person crevasses rescue skills. The guides focused on increasing their speed and efficiency at solo rescue techniques.

On Monday and Tuesday, Three veteran IMG guides, Justin Merle, Andy Polloczek and Emily Johnston skied up to Camp Muir and scouted the route to the summit. The guides put in a track of the route and report that it is an excellent early season route, heading straight up the Ingraham Glacier. This is an easier and more direct route then the normal Disappointment Cleaver Route which can only be done in time of good snowpack.

Our new guide training starts today. Our 7 candidates put in two days of training over the weekend, and now start an additional three days of work honing essential guiding skills up on Mt. Rainier. After passing these hurdles, the aspiring guides will shadow climbs under the supervision of an IMG guide supervisor until they qualify as assistant guides who can lead a rope on a summit team. This is an ongoing training process.

Simultaneous to the new guide training is our Muir Set-Up Team. A team of 5 guides (Craig John, Nickel Wood, Kevin Kayl, Rikki Dunn and Harry Hamlin)  will head up to Camp Muir tomorrow to set up our Weatherport and generally scout out how things wintered up at Muir. They’ll come down with a lengthy list of ‘needs’ that will go up with the first climb.

It’s a busy week but everybody has the same goal, to get ready for the 2017 Mt. Rainier Season!

George Dunn