Kautz Glacier Summit - My first ice climb

Kautz Glacier Summit - My first ice climb

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We left Paradise on 6/20/15 at 10am and hiked up to Glacier Vista where we dropped down to and crossed the Nisqually Glacier. Once we descended the Nisqually we had two options to gain the ridge, navigate the heavily crevassed Wilson Glacier or ascend the very loose and rocky Fan. We watched another party climb the Fan and decided to go up that way and move as fast as possible to avoid rockfall. After gaining the ridge we took the Wilson Glacier and the Turtle Snow field all the way to around 10,800 ft where we found a safe bivy area a few hundred feet below Camp Hazard.

The next day, 6/21/15, we woke up at 230am and didn't want to get out of the bivys because the wind was howling. We left camp around 4am and found the fixed line down to the Kautz Glacier. After watching the only other party that we saw on our route simul-climb the first pitch, we began leading the first pitch. After reaching the end of our 60m rope, my partner set an anchor and belayed me while I climbed. The second pitch was steeper than the first but I climbed it more confidently. At the top of the ice pitches we began the long, cold, and very windy 3,000 ft climb to Point Success. We were climbing up steep snow that was still frozen in a spiky formation. There were many crevasse crossings that we had to navigate around or find a snow bridge over. We reached the true summit at around noon and found the wanded Disappointment Cleaver route, which we took down.

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