Mount Rainier: Central Mowich Face. 06/04/2023


My friend Vadim and I climbed Central Mowich Face on 2-nd - 4th of June 2023.

 

 

 

GPX tracks:
Approach to Curtis Ridge
Approach to North Mowich Glacier

We climbed the route in 3 days, starting from White River trailhead on Friday. We did approach in 2 days and climbed the mountain on a 2nd day, descending on Emmons glacier. 2 days allow us to approach in relaxed pace and camp earlier to rest and acclimatize. We did 1st camp on Curtis ridge

 

 

This year mountain looks pretty dry from the north side.

 

Liberty Ridge

 

Liberty Ridge from June 2023 (left )and from July 2013 (right)

 

 

Crossing Carbon glacier and climbing to Ptarmigan Ridge was straightforward. As described in other reports, Ptarmigan Ridge descend starts approximately at 8200 feet. After some nasty scree traverse we took snow slopes and traversed left and down to North Mowich Face glacier. We camped on a broad shoulder of a prominent gendarme at approximatele 9200 feet. We checked another camping spot closer to our planned line, but found it not safe in terms of rockfall.

 

 

The mountain looks quite different now compared to the pictures in "Mount Rainier a climbing guide" book. There was a constant rumble of falling ice from North Mowich icefall, however our camp was safe.

 

North Mowich icefall. I doubt this route is climbable now.

 

Next morning we started at 3:10 am and summited Liberty Cap at 10:20. The route line is shown on a topo above. Ther was no ice on a route, only hard neve. The snow slope angle was never steeper than 50 degrees. Because of strong winds, we did not go to the main summit and descended Emmons glacier.

 

Crossing the bergshrund.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion: The route is a bit dry, but pretty much climbable and relative safe.

 

Approach:

No flotation is needed.

 

Gear notes: