June 16, 2017

Liberty Ridge June 10 – 15, 2017

My most recent guided summit of Liberty Ridge was nothing short of classic.  As one of the climbers stated, “this was the most difficult and rewarding thing I have ever done.”  Liberty Ridge demands everything a climber possesses.  Due to the challenging conditions on this particular trip, each of the climbers was tested in their own way. Here is a more detailed breakdown of the trip:

Day 1: (5hrs)  Approach from White River to St. Elmo’s pass.  We had great travel through the forest below.  Great dry trail led to compact snow travel near Glacier Basin.  A seamless transition to snow on the Inter Glacier made for efficient travel without snowshoes or skis.  Easy step kicking up the steep slope to St. Elmo’s Pass made for a great day.  Tent platforms on snow made for a great camp that night.  No running water was found.

Day 2: (4hrs) We traversed across the Winthrop glacier to camp at the bottom of Curtis Ridge.  Due to low visibility and moderate winds we decided to pull up short and camp at Curtis Ridge near the edge of the Carbon Glacier.  No running water was found at this camp either.

Day 3: (5.5hrs) Big move up to thumb rock.  Crossing the Carbon Glacier was relatively straight forward.  We made our way up climber’s right of the main ice fall to access good compression zones that led to easy travel.  Once near the bottom of Liberty Ridge proper some tricky rout finding was required to find access to the ridge.  Steep snow climbing led to the ridge crest.  Once on the ridge crest it was good boot packing in styrofoam style snow all the way to Thumb Rock camp. Once at Thumb Rock camp we found generous amount of snow in which to dig a large tent platform.

Day 4: (17hrs)  The great push up and over the mountain is the single most committing part of the climb.  Leaving Thumb Rock camp we encountered boot-top to knee deep trail breaking for the first thousand feet.  Once near the Black Pyramid the trial breaking became more consolidated snow and ice.  No ice pitches were encountered on the route.  However, we were required to do two steep snow pitches to get above the Black Pyramid.  From there it was easy glacier travel up to the bergschrund.  One 12’ vertical snow and ice pitch was needed to ascend up and over the bergschrund.  Once above the bergschrund, steep snow climbing led us up to Liberty Cap! There was moderate winds and light snowfall during the entirety of our climb.  Once on top of Liberty Cap we found ourselves in a complete and total whiteout.  Advanced whiteout navigation skills were required to find our way to Columbia Crest.  Once on Columbia crest we followed the Disappointment Cleaver route all the way to Camp Muir where our DC team was waiting for us with some hot drinks and soup!

Day 5: (2.5 hours) We hustled down to Paradise and were in Ashford for lunch!

A great climb with some great climbers. A special thanks to fellow guide Nickel Wood, who was there with me every step of the way!

Austin Shannon

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

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