We had been wanting to climb the Tahoma Glacier for quite a while and finally got our chance. We started out on a Friday at a locked gate on the Westside Road. Two of us walked while two rode mountain bikes for the first 3.5 miles of the closed section of the old Westside Road. It seems like climbs with long approaches have great scenery along the way. This was no exception. One of the first sights were these towering Columnar basalt cliffs that are hundreds of feet high.
Crossing a footbridge over the South Puyallup River.
Avalanche Lilies growing alongside the trail.
Our objective: the Tahoma Glacier, flowing from the summit down the west side of Rainier. This photo was actually taken after the climb. On our ascent, we had to find our way up the Puyallup Cleaver (left of center) in the fog and wind. We finally climbed out of the fog at the 8,000' level and found a place to bivy. After 2 hours of "sleep," when most people we know were just going to bed, we got up and continued up the cleaver to the 10,000' level. It took quite a while to find a way around the cliffs and down onto the glacier. That's when the real fun began...finding a way through the maze of huge crevasses.
A drop-off on one side and a deep crevasse on the other! Mt. St. Helens in the background.
There were huge crevasses everywhere! Each one is different and amazing. You just want to stand there and look at the layers of snow, icicles and giant features of snow and ice that hang and span from one side to the other. There is nothing like seeing one of these up close and in person.
Our rope team moving up a steep section.
Ron climbing a snow ramp to the upper lip of another big crevasse.
The team crossing a snow bridge to get by another one.
Slow and steady progress on a smooth part of the glacier.
Ron, David, Doug (and Mark) on the summit.
This debris filled crevasse was easy to cross.
We wanted a challenge and we got it! With a low camp and a lot of route finding challenges, we ended up summiting late and then spent a couple of hours on the descent that afternoon postholing up to our knees in soft snow. The 3 quarts of water that we each started out with was not enough. We ate a lot of snow on the way down. We finally made it back down to camp 24 hours after we started! Needless to say, we slept really good that night! Since we summited on Saturday, we were able to take our time getting up and heading out on Sunday. We were all smiles as we headed back down to the treeline, stopping to look back at least a dozen times. This climb starts way lower than most on Rainier and it has a lot of big ups and downs. When we got back to the trailhead, the GPS unit indicated that we had climbed 15,000 vertical feet over a distance of 32 miles. It's no wonder we were tired. It was a weekend well spent making memories with good friends! Out of all the climbs we have done, we all agree that this was one of the best!
