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Page Type:
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Trip Report |
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Date Climbed/Hiked:
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Jun 26, 2016 |
Activities:
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Mountaineering, Skiing |
Season:
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Summer |
Glacier Peak: Pure, Gorgeous, Wilderness (???)
Glacier Peak is an interesting grab-bag of alpine goodies. On one hand, it's got long approaches, sparse trails in early season, and rugged terrain. This peak feels a little more like true wilderness and the views (and pictures) bespeak it. There is no paved road to a trailhead at '6000 and no rescue team poised to deal with bumblers every weekend. And on the other hand, it's a simple walk-up. The lack of technicalities may be due to our timing. Having done it once now, I wouldn't do it much later in the season (past mid-July) and would definitely go earlier (May) to capitalize on snow coverage. We encountered a few minor crevasses that were easily avoided and cool temps which allowed for solid snow travel. Crampons added some security (and thereby speed), but axes were not required. The peak was a fun mix of casual climbing and amazing backcountry terrain.
'We approached from the North Fork Sauk River Trailhead, which is also the location of the Sloan Creek Campground. This campground appeared to be free and first-come, first-serve, but bring your NW Forest Pass. The trail is in great condition after the wash-outs were repaired and some newer foot bridges were installed. We saw a few parties camped at the Mackinaw Shelter as we passed and ascended to White Pass, crossing a few patches of lingering snow. The snow was mostly continuous from White Pass onward and we switched to skinning here. After the initial turn off the PCT and onto the Foam Creek trail at the pass, we chose to follow the recommendation in the Beckey guide and cross the ridge early, at the second col, after traversing White Mountain. This deposited us into terrain rugged enough to force us to pack our skis again. We traversed from here into the basin and eventually White Chuck Glacier without too much difficultly, but the visibility was around 100' which slowed us down. On the way back we took a different route, following other report recommendations, and traversed around the eastern-most col on the ridge, which matches the delineation on the GreenTrails map. This route adds close to a mile but the elevation gain/loss is less severe. I think I prefer the early ridge hop.
The navigation up to Glacier Gap is straight-forward and we found several good campsites with rock wall windblocks, away from fragile vegetation. Navigation up the peak is also axiomatic, following the ridge onto the Gerdine Glacier (not marked on some maps) and trending climber's right to traverse below Disappointment Peak (alternatively, go straight up DP for some chossy 4th class unless it's totally frozen). Aim for the saddle at the intersection of the Gerdine and Cool Glaciers, then a hard left to the col between DP and the true summit. For the last 300' the path of least resistance to the summit swings around to the west side of the peak, but several lines are possible.
For more information on this trip, check out the full trip report:
and/or watch the video: