Last year when Jim and I were climbing Cowlitz Chimneys, I got my first good look at Little Tahoma Peak. I have spent very little time in Mt Rainier National Park so the ruggedness of the peak was new to me. Jim had climbed Little Tahoma several years ago but the weather was questionable so he was game for another summit.
Last week, we read a report that the snow had still not consolidated. The party that climbed Little Tahoma last week found snowshoes very useful. We were only heading out for 3-days but with all the extra gear, we still had very full packs.
Since this was our first trip with heavy packs this season, we took our time getting to Fryingpan Creek where we were happy to drop our packs for a good 30 minutes. Last year when we were here we saw at least 50 people in 15 minutes. This year we saw 1 other person.
Soon after we left the creek, we got our first look at Little Tahoma Peak. Its the rocky point on the left.
Our goal was to camp 1000 feet above Summerland on Meany Crest. But the weight of the packs got to us and we stopped on a bench about 700ft above Summerland. The views were spectacular and we had running water. 20 minutes of shoveling snow and we had a camp platform complete with a wind break.
One side of camp looked at Chinook Pass, the other Mt Rainier. We could even see the summit of Little Tahoma.
As we enjoyed our dinner on the rock, we were treated to a sunset over the Inter Glacier and Liberty Ridge.
In the morning, we realized our tent was pitched at the perfect angle for me to watch the sunrise from bed.
We sat in the opening of our tent enjoying breakfast and the sunrise.
The pink color on Mt Rainier was very distracting. We kept stopping and taking more pictures.
Eventually Jim and I were packed and ready to head out. Jim strapped the snowshoes on in case the snow got soft in the afternoon.
We could see Little Tahoma from camp yet we hiked and hiked and it never seemed to get any closer. The Fryingpan Glacier is long and hot. The sun was lovely but it was also slowly baking us. There is not enough sunscreen in the world to keep you from getting a sunburn here.
Eventually we could see the gap in Whitman Crest which would allow us to cross over to the backside of Little Tahoma Peak. Thankfully we didn’t have to climb this side.
Whitman Crest greeted us with a nice breeze and a dry spot to take a break.
We could see another party of two coming up our tracks. We waited for them to join us on the crest. We needed help breaking trail. The snow was getting soft making it more and more difficult to hike in.
After a short break together, we let the other two head out. We had more traversing to reach the snow slope that would take us 1600 feet up the peak.
We were on the south side of Little Tahoma and the snow was soft and mushy. Didn’t seem to have a bottom. You could hike along sinking only a few inches with every step. Then out of the blue, you would hit a really soft spot and find yourself treading through a foot of snow then two feet then back to only a couple of inches. Oh and then there were the occasional holes that the person out front had the joy of finding.
We quickly realized that the only way we were getting up this snow slope was to combine forces. Our party of 2 just became 4. Ryan and Marcus were here from Toronto, Canada. Marcus flies out a few times a year to climb. He loves Washington’s rugged mountains. Ryan does lots of outdoor sports but this was his first alpine crag climb. Just two days before they summited Mt Hood which was his first summit ever.
All three guys took turns breaking trail while I dropped to the back and enjoyed all there hard work.
The snow slope was long, hot, and mushy. It felt like 100 degrees.
Eventually the slope broke back giving us a nice high shoulder to take a break on. As the day progressed, our breaks with the guys from Canada got longer and longer. We really enjoyed talking to them.
Though we were sitting in blue skies, we could see thunderheads forming in the distance. We all watched for any signs of lightening. None were found so we decided to head on up the next snow finger. We were 600 feet from the summit.
As we turned around the buttress, we got a good look at our snow finger. It was steep and mushy but not slidey. Up everyone went.
The steepness seemed to keep increasing. We would either be roping up on the way down or backing down, kicking steps.
We were all grateful to find a small rock band at the top of the slope with running water. Mild dehydration was in all our futures.
We could hear more thunder in the distance but still no lightening. It was nice to know that Ryan and Marcus are both Paramedics and pretty cautious climbers. We all agree to continue to the summit which was only 300 feet away.
From here, we climbed a moderate snow slope within 100 feet of the summit where we easily scrambled rock to the ridge. The ridge was wide and comfortable even though the other side dropped 3000 feet to the glacier below. The ridge lines from here were magnificent.
The clouds were coming in. We had blue sky in one direction and couldn’t see 50 feet in the other. The final scramble to the summit had a very exposed gully so we roped up and Marcus belayed Jim to the summit.
We setup a fixed line and one by one prusiked across. It was so fun watching Ryan near his first summit. It was clear, he was hooked.
The summit was comfortable but not very big. It does have a nice couch at the top.
We took time to take summit pictures.
And pictures of Mt Rainier. It is so beautiful in the spring and this is as close as you can get without actually climbing it. We could see a climbers camps. It was really tiny.
With the thunderclouds coming closer, we quickly started heading back over to our packs. Marcus actually had phone reception so he made a quick call from the couch as Jim downclimbed the summit.
As we reversed our tracks on the ridge, we were engulfed by the thunderhead. There was a lot of static electricity but no lighting. Ryan was actually getting shocked by the rock.
Within minutes we were back on the snow slopes and away from the electricity but now we were in a thundershower. I mean a blizzard. Not sure how it can snow that hard when it is 50 degrees out.
The thunderstorm, blizzard, pass within 20 minutes. We backed down the really steep snow and soon regrouped on the flat shoulder. After a few minutes of comparing electricity encounters, we started heading down the long snow slope. The snow was soft but stable. Good plunge stepping down all 1600 feet.
By now the bottom of the slope was super mushy. It was exhausting getting back to Whitman notch.
After a quick break, we started the long slog back to camp. Thank goodness Jim packed our snowshoes. The guys were quite envious as we strolled right passed them.
We regrouped on a rock rib 600 feet above our camp. Jim and I removed our snowshoes and then we plunge stepped back to our tents. Marcus and Ryan took us all the way to the door. They were camped down at Summerland. We have already started planning our next climb with them.
After 12 hours of climbing, I just wanted to eat and climb in my sleeping bag. Thankfully there were light clouds in the morning so sun didn’t wake us at 5am.
The hike out was non-eventful. It was fun to see Marcus and Ryan’s footsteps in the lower basin. They had a flight later today so they were up early. When we reached our car, we found two cold beers waiting for us. My type of climbing partners.
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