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raising3hikers
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raising3hikers
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PostMon May 04, 2015 5:12 pm 
This peak inside Mt Rainier National Park is tough to see from just about anywhere unless you know exactly where to look. It stands 6670' tall with 430' of prominence and everyone i've asked about it thinks it has been unclimbed before. When viewed from the West, it blends into the taller ridges as it divides the Puyallup glacier into two tongues. On a trip last fall in the Glacier View Wilderness with iron, we made a point to try and see the peak and come up with ideas on how to climb it. The westside gullies up either side of the steep looking peak appeared extremely horrible with glacier debris and waterfalls all through out. So a glacier plan was put into place with a lot of elevation gain and loss.
Nasatin Pk
Nasatin Pk
Our group of Greg K, Hotpantz, Iron, Stefan and I left on bikes up the Westside road around 7am on Saturday morning. The road was in great shape as we rode up and over Round Pass to the South Puyallup TH. Other than one deeper washout, we all thought the road should be drivable. So we hiked the nice mossy trail until the Wonderland trail junction and headed South up to the ridge where we hit snow.
Rainier from the S Puyallup bridge
Rainier from the S Puyallup bridge
We put crampons on as the snow was still firm going up the long ridge towards Tokaloo Rock. The higher we went, the views just kept getting better on this sunny spring day. We traversed under Andrews BM and gained the ridge again but still couldn't see our peak hiding behind another ridge.
Rainier
Rainier
looking down at the Tahoma glacier terminus
looking down at the Tahoma glacier terminus
Glacier Island
Glacier Island
Tokaloo Rock(L) and Rainier
Tokaloo Rock(L) and Rainier
hiking along the ridge
hiking along the ridge
It was hot and we took a break at the saddle (7480') just East of Tokaloo Rock to enjoy the awesome views, they were extraordinary! The Puyallup and Tahoma glaciers are tumbling and pouring down from the summit of Rainier and look very broken up.
Tokaloo Spire and Sunset Amphitheater
Tokaloo Spire and Sunset Amphitheater
Tahoma glacier
Tahoma glacier
Puyallup glacier
Puyallup glacier
We roped up into two teams, Greg and Stefan on 1 rope and Iron, Hotpantz and I on the other. We started our 1200+ foot descent down the Puyallup glacier with still no view of our peak.
the view down the Puyallup glacier valley, where we'd go
the view down the Puyallup glacier valley, where we'd go
the awesome Puyallup glacier
the awesome Puyallup glacier
After a half mile or so, we could finally see the top of our peak. It looked more and more intimidating as we got closer.
Nesatin Pk emerging from the fog
Nesatin Pk emerging from the fog
bluebird day on the glacier
bluebird day on the glacier
Just as we were almost at the saddle to Nesatin, we got cliffed out. We searched for quite a while and knew we had to rappel back down to the broken part of the glacier. After many ideas, we settled on and made a bollard for our anchor backed up with a picket.
what a view!
what a view!
Stefan volunteered to go first as he wanted to make sure we'd be able to make it back up. He rapped with success and confidence that we would get back up.
Stefan ready to rappel
Stefan ready to rappel
another look at Nesatin
another look at Nesatin
We roped up again for just a couple hundred more feet as the lower glacier was fairly crevassed. We reached the base of the unknown route hoping our plan would work. We were elated as we saw the steep gully filled with snow going to the upper flatter area.
We took the highest and longest snow gully on left
We took the highest and longest snow gully on left
We couldn't believe our good luck with great bucket kicking steps on great snow. We reached the top engulfed in fog. We sat there for a while hoping it would break but only got a brief view through the cloud.
Greg at the Nesatin summit
Greg at the Nesatin summit
iron hoping for a better view
iron hoping for a better view
iron coming down the gully
iron coming down the gully
We stayed for about a half an hour but the clouds never broke. We brought 2 60m ropes with us thinking we'd need to rap, but the snow was so good, we front pointed down using our steps. Stefan lead back up the cliff and belayed us up as the clouds were starting to clear again.
Hotpantz and Stefan at the belay station
Hotpantz and Stefan at the belay station
Greg
Greg
Now we had to do the 1200' climb back up towards Tokaloo. The clouds went in and out as it increased the mysterious glacier experience. We trudged along and hit the Tokaloo saddle again. Hotpantz suggested we tag Tokaloo, so her, Iron and I went up and hoped the clouds would lift for one more expansive view. It didn't but not 15 minutes later after leaving the summit, everything was mostly clear again.
Greg and Stefan
Greg and Stefan
Hotpantz emerging from the cloud
Hotpantz emerging from the cloud
It was good to be heading back down the ridge with time still on our side. We made it back to dry ground as we new we didn't have too much daylight left. We hopped on our bikes and rode the 5 miles back to the blocked road without having to use headlamps.
last look at Rainier
last look at Rainier
volcanic rock near the S Puyallup trail
volcanic rock near the S Puyallup trail
I'm very thankful for my strong climbing partners on this trip. Everyone made solid contributions to the plan and execution of the trip. It was a great overall experience with the big close up Rainier views, the crumbled glaciers, and teamwork. Greg came up with a few good name suggestions but iron found a meaning that fit this peak perfectly. Ne' sa tin means=foot of the mountain, which this one was exactly that. 23.5 miles (10 miles on bike) 7700' elevation gain (1300' on bike) 14 hrs

Eric Eames
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wildernessed
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PostMon May 04, 2015 5:26 pm 
up.gif up.gif

Living in the Anthropocene
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Distel32
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PostMon May 04, 2015 6:33 pm 
up.gif unique find!

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RichP
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PostMon May 04, 2015 6:42 pm 
I've never heard of that one. Great shots of The Mountain.

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Tom_Sjolseth
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PostMon May 04, 2015 7:14 pm 
Nice-looking trip guys!

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Justus S.
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PostMon May 04, 2015 9:07 pm 
Nice! A few years ago when I looked at all the peaks in the park I thought that would be a interesting peak to visit. up.gif up.gif

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MyFootHurts
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PostMon May 04, 2015 9:29 pm 
wow. All I did today was schlep up the old Mt Si trail and turn around about 1 mile before the top.

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b00
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PostMon May 04, 2015 9:40 pm 
raising3hikers wrote:
Hotpantz suggested we tag Tokaloo, so her, Iron and I went up
huh? a first ascent wasn't enough. she sure has been bitten by the peak bagging bug. great job guys! you are awesome! :>)

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iron
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PostMon May 04, 2015 9:42 pm 
pics of the peak from afar:
View into North Puyallup from between St. Andrews and Klapache Park
View into North Puyallup from between St. Andrews and Klapache Park
someone in the group wanted to climb it from this route. he/she shall remain nameless...

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Magellan
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PostMon May 04, 2015 10:25 pm 
Great story! up.gif Congrats on the probably FA.

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the Zachster
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PostMon May 04, 2015 10:33 pm 
What an awesomely obscure and fabulous trip! I LOVE that part of the Park. It looks very different in snow, but is this it?

"May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am"
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silence
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PostTue May 05, 2015 7:19 am 
Awesome climb ... way to go guys. And yeah ... the Puyallup Glacier is pretty awesome too!

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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hotpantz
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PostTue May 05, 2015 8:41 am 
b00 wrote:
raising3hikers wrote:
Hotpantz suggested we tag Tokaloo, so her, Iron and I went up
huh? a first ascent wasn't enough. she sure has been bitten by the peak bagging bug. great job guys! you are awesome! :>)
Not quite. I wasn't confident in my ability to get up the peak, so I held back (bummer! because it went easily enough), so I wanted to get up something and coaxed Eric and Mike to climb Tokaloo with me.

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Stefan
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PostTue May 05, 2015 8:48 am 
And some more pictures. Thanks for the day!

Art is an adventure.
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Jetlag
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PostTue May 05, 2015 8:52 am 
Splendid early May jaunt on those Westside glaciers. They are what I look at most mornings from my cabin. When the Westside road was driveable, I used to take students up to see that wonderful view from Tokaloo Rock. Never noticed that great snow route up newly-named Nesatin!

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