| Chronology - Mount Rainier Area | Home |
Mount Rainier National Park, the Tatoosh Range, and
areas to the east including Chinook Pass and Crystal Mountain.
For topo diagrams of Mount Rainier ski descents,
click here.
For other chronology items, click here.
Key:
| White = Foreground chronology | Blue = Background chronology | Yellow = Undocumented chronology |
Undocumented items require more research or documentation. To submit comments, corrections or additions click here.
| Year | Month-Day | Who | Where | What | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1899 | - | U.S. Congress | - | Mt Rainier National Park established | subject index |
| 1900s | |||||
| Before 1910 | - | Milnor Roberts and others | Longmire to Paradise | Scattered use of skis by individuals in the park | Milnor Roberts, Thor Bisgaard |
| 1910s | |||||
| 1912 | - | - | Paradise | Road to Paradise opened (summer only, gradually extended in winter during the 1930s) | subject index |
| 1912-13 | New Years holiday | Mountaineers Tacoma branch | Longmire | First organized winter outing to Mt Rainier, which became an annual event through 1930. Olive Rand participated using skis. | subject index |
| 1917 | July 29 | Northwest Ski Club | Paradise | First annual ski jumping tournament | subject index |
| 1920s | |||||
| 1922 | February 13 | Jean and Jacques Landry, Jacques Bergues, with Charles Perryman | Mt Rainier, Gibraltar route | First winter ascent of Mt Rainier, skis abandoned at Anvil Rock | spi-1922-feb, mtneer-b-1922-may, cp-newsreels, soyp-1936-y1922, dm-papers, molenaar-1997-p154 |
| 1927 | May 2 | Andrew W. Anderson, E. Lester LaVelle, W. J. Maxwell | Emmons Glacier | Attempted ski ascent of Mt Rainier, reaching 12,500 feet | wjm-rainier-1927, mtneer-a-1927-p49, mtneer-photos-alb13, mtneer-a-1941-p5 |
| 1928 | April 8 | Bill Maxwell, Andy Anderson, Fred DuPuis, Lars Lovseth, Walter Best, Otto Strizek, Otto Giese | Emmons Glacier | Ski-climb, abandoning skis at 11,800 feet. Three men continued to the summit on crampons. | mtneer-b-1928-may, mtneer-a-1928-p45, giese-photos-alb7, mtneer-photos-alb13, mtneer-a-1941-p5, bowen-1963-ch6, seattle-1969-dec-p49, molenaar-1997-p169 |
| 1930s | |||||
| 1930 or before | - | W.J. Maxwell et al | Mt Rainier area | Popular tours established: Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, Cowlitz Rocks to the Paradise River, Pinnacle-Castle saddle, Camp Muir, Paradise to the Nisqually glacier snout, and from Steamboat Prow (Interglacier) to Storbo mining camp in Glacier basin | mtneer-a-1930-p53 |
| 1931 | - | Edwin Loners, Clifford Solberg, Robert Sperlin | Mt Ruth | Ski ascent (not the first?) | st-1933-sep-23 |
| 1931 | Summer | State Highway Department | Chinook Pass | Highway completed | subject index |
| 1933 | April | Paul Gilbreath and J. Wendell Trosper | Little Tahoma | Ski ascent (SE flank) | molenaar-1997-p192 |
| 1934 | April | Otto Strizek, Orville Borgersen, Ben Spellar | Mt Rainier | Ski traverse from Paradise to Glacier Basin via Camp Muir and Emmons Glacier | tt-1934-apr-17, mtneer-a-1934-p20, skimag-1936-jan-p13a |
| 1934 | April 22 | Don Fraser, winner | Camp Muir to Paradise | First Silver Skis race | subject index |
| 1937 | - | Ralph Eskenazi, Sigurd Hall and Dwight Watson | Cowlitz Chimneys | Ski traverse of Governors Ridge from Cayuse Pass to Summerland | mtneer-a-1937-p28, mtneer-a-1945-p32, dw-scrapbook-idx |
| 1937-38 | - | Chauncey Griggs and Jim Parker | Paradise | First rope tow at Paradise | subject index |
| 1938 | May 22 | Sigurd Hall, Dwight Watson and others | Old Desolate | Ski summit | dw-scrapbook-p459, dw-scrapbook-p101, mtneer-a-1945-p32 |
| 1939 | July 2 | Sigurd Hall and Andy Hennig | Emmons Glacier | Complete ski ascent of Mt Rainier, partial ski descent | spi-1939-jul-04, st-1939-jul-17, mtneer-a-1939-p30, mtneer-a-1941-p5, summit-1963-jun-p32 |
| 1940s | |||||
| 1940 | April 2-4 | Mel Borgersen, Bill Butler, Ome Daiber, Bob Hayes, other park rangers | Mt Rainier | Ski traverse from White River to Carbon River | mrnp-ranger-1940-apr |
| 1940 | June 9 | Virginia Hill, Otto Trott and Dwight Watson | Mt Rainier | Ski traverse from Colonnade to Klapatchie Park | dw-scrapbook-idx, dw-scrapbook-p73, dw-scrapbook-p97, dw-papers-box2-F |
| 1941 | February 10-14 | 15th Infantry Ski Patrol, including John Woodward and ranger Bill Butler | Mt Rainier | Ski traverse from White River to Mowich Lake | mrnp-ranger-1941-feb-Chief, woodward-john, burton-1971-p88a |
| 1941-42 | Winter | 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army | Paradise | Army units trained at Paradise | subject index |
| 1948 | July 18 | Charles Welsh, Cliff Schmidtke, Dave Roberts, Kermit Bengtson | Emmons Glacier | First complete ski descent of Mt Rainier | mtneer-a-1948-p37, molenaar-1997-p169, welsh-chuck |
| 1950s | |||||
| 1953-54 | - | Gov. Arthur B. Langlie | Paradise | Tramway controversy | subject index |
| 1955 | July 24 | Robert McCall and Marcel Schuster | Emmons Glacier | Second ski descent of the mountain | molenaar-1997-p169, snw-1990-feb-p14 |
| 1960s | |||||
| 1961 | June 18 | John Ahern, Bill Briggs, Roger Brown, Gordie Butterfield, Joe Marillac, Roger Paris, Jim Whittaker and Lou Whittaker | Ingraham Glacier | Ski descent | summit-1961-aug-p14, tnt-1961-oct-15, nwskier-1961-oct-20-p1, nwskier-1990-nov-p8, isha-1997-3rd-p28, isha-1998-3rd-p19 |
| 1961 | August 5 | Erline Anderson Schuster Reber (with Robert McCall) | Emmons Glacier | First ski descent by a woman | molenaar-2001-p208 |
| 1962-63 | - | - | Crystal Mountain | Crystal Mountain Ski Area opened | subject index |
| 1970s | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1980s | |||||
| 1980 | May 3-4 | Dan Davis, Tom Janisch, Jeff Haley | Fuhrer Finger | Ski descent | molenaar-1997-p343 |
| 1980 | May 12 | Chris Landry | Liberty Ridge | Ski descent | spi-1980-jun-08-p1, robinson-1996-ch24, summit-1994-win-p76 |
| 1984 | July | U.S. Congress | Mt Rainier Area | Washington Wilderness Act establishes Clearwater, Glacier View, Norse Peak, and Tatoosh Wilderness Areas | usfs-1984-wmaps, cascadian-1984-p7 |
| 1985 | Spring | Dale Farnham | Kautz Glacier and chute | Ski descent | nwmj-1-skoog |
| 1986 | May 24-30 | N.L. Kirkland, Terry Pritchards, Dana Rush and Dr. Roy Walters | Mt Rainier, High level orbit | Complete ski orbit of Rainier (clockwise from Paradise) | tnt-1983-jun-5-mag10, molenaar-1997-p320, filley-1996-p254a |
| 1988 | Spring | Dale Farnham | Gibraltar Chute | Ski descent | nwmj-1-skoog |
| 1990s | |||||
| Circa 1992 | June | Jim Collinson | Wilson Glacier Headwall | Ski descent | nwmj-1-skoog |
| 1995 | - | Jethro Robinson | Lane Peak | North chute, right ("Zipper"), ski descent | undocumented, strawman. |
| 1997 | May | Rob Gibson, Aaron Horwitz, Darrel Howe | Tahoma Glacier | Partial ski descent (and traverse of the peak) | nwmj-1-skoog |
| 1997 | July 19 | Armond DuBuque, Doug Ingersoll, Andrew McLean, Carl Skoog | Edmunds Glacier Headwall (Mowich Face) | Ski descent | backcountry-1998-jan-p22 |
| 1998 | July 3 | Luke Edgar and Chad Kellogg | Success Glacier Couloir | Snowboard descent | couloir-1998-oct-p22 |
| 1999 | May | Aaron Martin, Lel Tone and Tom Wayes | Fuhrer Thumb | Ski descent | undocumented |
| 1999 | May 24 | David Persson | Liberty Ridge | Fatal fall while attempting ski descent | harlin-2001-p113 |
| 2000s | |||||
| 2001 | June | Matt Farmer and Ned Randolph | Tahoma Glacier | Complete ski descent (and traverse of the peak) | nwmj-1-skoog |
| 2004 | June 22 | Donnelly Miller | Winthrop Glacier Headwall | Ski descent | nwmj-2-shorts |
| 2005 | May 30 | Phil Fortier | Little Tahoma | Lower NE Face (from 10,400ft entry point), ski descent | undocumented, strawman. |
| 2005 | July 18 | Sky Sjue | Central Mowich Face | Ski descent | nwmj-3-shorts |
| 2006 | June 11 | Sky Sjue | Kautz Headwall | Ski descent | nwmj-4-shorts |
| 2007 | May 31 | Sky Sjue | Sunset Ridge | Ski descent (used crampons below Liberty Cap to reach top of ridge) | nwmj-5-shorts |
| 2008 | May 1 | Aaron Mainer, Oliver Deshler | Nisqually Icefall | Ski descent (one rappel) | undocumented |
| 2009 | May 23-25 | Joe Schaaf, Lance Young | Mt Rainier, Sourdough Ridge | Ski traverse from Buck Creek to White River. (Traverse extended to Burroughs Mtn in June 2012 by Kyle Miller.) | undocumented |
| 2010s | |||||
| 2010 | May 9 | Andy Bond, Jesse Dudley | Sunset Amphitheatre Couloir | Ski descent | undocumented |
| 2010 | July 15 | Dan Helmstadter, Eric Wehrly | Sunset Ridge | Ski descent (continuous) | undocumented |
| 2011 | April 22 | Andy Bond, Tyler Jones, Seth Waterfall | Nisqually Ice Cliff | Ski descent | undocumented |
| 2011 | May 4 | Andy Bond | South Tahoma Headwall | Ski descent | undocumented |
| 2011 | June 26 | Eric Wehrly, Pete Hirst, Dan Helmstadter | Ptarmigan Ridge | Ski descent (with rappel and crampon traverse around 11,200ft) | undocumented |
| 2011 | July 2 | Andy Bond | South Edmunds Headwall | Ski descent | undocumented |
| 2012 | May 15 | Aaron Mainer, Oliver Deshler | Liberty Ridge East ("Cryogenesis") | Ski descent (two rappels near Liberty Cap, one at bottom of face) | undocumented |
| 2015 | May 2 | Jeff Rich, Carl Simpson, Rowan Stewart, Andy Traslin | Little Tahoma | NE Face (from 10,700ft entry point), ski descent. (Also see May 30, 2005 descent.) | undocumented |
| 2017 | May 23 | Peter Dale, Aaron Mainer | Willis Wall ("Thermogenesis") | Ski descent (rappel over bergschrund at bottom of face) | undocumented |
Copyright © 2002 Lowell Skoog. All Rights Reserved.
Last Updated:
Mon, Oct 21, 2019 11:54:08 AM