MRNP - Central Mowich Face

On Tuesday Lucas Cairns and I wrapped up our 2024 ski season with a bang on Rainier's Central Mowich Face - so easy to see from Puget Sound, yet so hard to reach! We were originally planning to climb and ski a different route, but the Mowich turned out to be a pretty great Plan B when conditions didn't quite line up for our original objective. This was a 2-day affair with a night spent on Ptarmigan Ridge.

After arriving at the point where the Edmunds Headwall & Mowich Face routes diverge, we climbed the Mowich and skied from 12,600' where the small connector comes in from upper Sunset Ridge. Tuesday was extremely hot on the mountain and we didn't feel comfortable continuing up to Liberty Cap due to both the temps and conditions above that point. The connector still had a small amount of snow, but it was extremely dirty, icy and suncupped. So...if you ski the Mowich top-down this year and live to tell the tale, you get all the style points. Lucas and I were happy with our decision to forego the style points, do it bottom-up and stop at the top of the face.

Despite some initial concerns about rockfall, the climb was uneventful. The two shrund passages were easy, and once in the bowling alley we moved quickly between small islands of safety. We dropped in around 2PM and the skiing was phenomenal - not a bad turn all the way down the Mowich. Skiers left side of the face was quite suncupped, but skiers right was smooth and fast. Despite the reputation of the Mowich, on this particular day it felt pretty mellow, especially when compared to our descent of the Coleman Headwall a few weeks ago.

I was going to write a long description of what was involved in getting to and from the base of this route, but Lucas does a way better job of capturing it in his GoPro edit that I possibly could with words:

 A few notes for anyone thinking of heading out this way in the near future: Edmunds Headwall was looking pretty beat up with deep runnels, recent avalanche activity and a questionable shrund crossing. Mowich Face is definitely the better ski line this year. Knapsack Pass approach had patchy snow and is not recommended - take Spray Park trail and be prepared to hike a long way with skis on your back. Finally, NPS is giving skiers a big "F.U." (what else is new) by choosing to plow most of the road but not the last 1/4 mile, and leaving the gate locked 5+ miles from Mowich Lake even though the road has ample space for parking cars along the side.

This was #9 in my project to ski as many as possible of the 24 existing routes on the mountain. Given the uncertainty surrounding my creaky knees, how much longer I'll be in WA, and my dwindling enthusiasm for long approaches and overnight ski tours, 12 currently seems like a reasonable goal. Adios Tahoma, see you in 2025!