[oliverdeshler]

The other kind of first descent....

County 5: Liberty Ridge

 

[abron]

That's Awesome ! Congrats on persistence,and staying safe....I have really enjoyed your other blogs too, on Embudo and Vallecito. cheers!

 

[WaFlyCaster]

*Rainier.

Nice trip report summar and blog.

 

[GunnyRyan]

Sick! great pics too

 

[wasatchbill]

Nice, good effort. I guess you mean "personal first descent" since the Liberty Ridge has been skiied a number of times, the first documented descent being 1980.05.12 by Chris Landry.
Liberty Ridge - Wikid Steeps
...and even telemarked by Jimmy Katz in 1989.
Alpenglow Ski History - Free Snow, 1990-99

 

[oliverdeshler]

Liberty Ridge itself has been skied for a long time. We skied a variation off the ridge - in between the ridge and Thermogenesis which is to the east and on the Willis Wall. It was a couloir starting from the top of the ridge and ending in Thermogensis. Not sure it wasn't skied before but its unlikely - at the end of the couloir you are exposed to ice and rockfall and then you have to negotiate a large bergschrund at the bottom. We assumed that said issues would likely have prevented a previous descent but you never know... Regardless it was a great line.

 

[wasatchbill]

Nice!! I read the blog more carefully; that is a striking line indeed. (the photos of Wyoming and Alaska threw me off a little about what photos were where). After Jimmy Katz telemarked Liberty Ridge, I thought about snowboarding it, but the long access sounded brutal (especially in pre-splitboard days). In Little Cottonwood (Utah) you can get to 50 degree+ chutes in a few hours of hiking, rather than a few days . I did spend 17 days skiing Shasta and Shastina in 1989; with views of Rainer, Adams and Hood, if I recall correctly. Awesome peaks.