4/22/06
I've been itching to go up towards Eagle Peak from Longmire in Mt Rainier National Park for awhile now. Finally had a nice spring day to do it! I parked across from the community center and walked back down the road to the trailhead. There was no snow for the first 3/4 mile or so. After that it was well packed down all the way to tree line (another 2 1/4 miles). I diverged from the trail at this point to head straight up to the ridge line (to go to Eagle Peak Saddle, head left at tree line then up). I went thru the gap behind the pointed tower.
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After a steep pitch to get to the top of the gap, I saw on the other side a whole bunch of white!
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I dropped down into the bowl then headed up towards Wahpenayo Peak (6231). The snow was fairly solid, with a lot of minor slides having packed things down. I did not bring snowshoes and didn't need them. I punched through rarely so travel went fast. Below Wahpenayo, I decided to attempt a circle by traversing along the ridgeline - hitting the peak along the way. However, heading west along the ridge about 200 feet below the summit I decided to turn around due to a thinning ridge and iffy cornices. See pic below.
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I dropped back down into the bowl, travessed back under the north face and turned left to get up the western shoulder of the ridge.
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From a point (see above photo for highest point) just below the summit I saw things were not going to finish easy. Photo below shows the final ridgeline to the summit .
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From here, I dropped down the south slope then headed straight up the 45 degree slopes. From the summit:
To the North and Rainier:
Sweet pics Mania! I was up there a month ago on a mountaineers outing. The snow conditions weren't that good and we stopped right before the gnarly cornices... Looks familiar
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