Glacier Peak - 8/17-19/2012

The road is opened to the TH to Glacier Peak.  It had been closed for years before making this a 5-day adventure, it opened for 2 months 2 years ago when Peter tagged the summit and I missed it.  Seeing that the road is open again, I wasn't going to wait for another time again.  Peter wasn't going to join as he wanted to ski it the next time he goes.  I posted it as a basic trip 6 days before the trip date and wonder if I'd be going alone (sob sob), turns out a few others shared the same interest.  I was delighted to see a few familiar names on the roster. Peter decided that a day in the mountain trumps a day in the salt mine and decided to join at the 11th hour.  On Friday morning, 10 of us met up and gave it a go.

Our objective - Glacier Peak at sunrise

Day 1 

Beautiful hike over White Pass on the PCT

Forecast was for a heat wave, so we started early.  4:30a meet up at a P&R, off and moving from the Sauk River North Fork TH at 7:30a.  We took 2 hours for the 5.5 miles to Mackinow shelter.  a quick break and off up the 3000 ft up for the next 3 miles. Reached White Pass before noon.  the trail got hot at the end and the tail of the group got the heat treatment.  Long break with lunch at White Pass. met a PCT hiker who's been out since 4/29 and heading towards the Canada border.  We are moving at 2:30p, after some blister management, following the foam creek trail to its end.

our campsite at a beautiful basin with heather meadow and running water.
Tents can be seen in the middle of the photo

We headed up hill over the crest into the White Chuck Glacier basin where we got the first view of our objective.  We dropped down to a nice heather basin  at 6500ft with running water and settled for the evening at 4pm.

Glacier Peak at Sunset

Mt Baker at Sunset

Day 2 - summit day

Anticipating another hot day, the group got moving at 5a. Mike's feet were chewed out by his boots on the approach so he's staying in camp for the battle with the marmots. 9 of us headed up.  Where the maps indicate as the White Chuck glacier, it is a deep basin with the glacier completely missing.  we dropped into the basin and found mud that sucks your boots in all the way up over the ankle if you don't move fast.  so the game of frogger begins, the trick is to jump from rock to rock and never be on the mud.  We reached Glacier Gap at 6:40a with the view of Glacier peak greeting us with the sunrise.  We took a quick break for sunscreen and sunglass and off we go again.  From Glacier gap, you can see about the entire south route, it is a hike on the ridge with a path.

We roped up for the Cool glacier and put crampons on.  Other than some exposed blue ice, there wasn't any open cravasses.  The glacier section was short, we ditch our ropes, ice axes and crampons after the glacier portion and scrambled up the last part of the summit block in light packs.  View from the summit was awesome, it was warm and calm, many of us didn't even pull our jackets on.  we stayed on the summit to our hearts content, Noam shared fresh cherries as summit treats.  We took summit naps and soaked up the view.  This is the last unclimbed Washington volcano for me and a few in the group, it was satisfying to tag it in such grace.

Peter on the ridge looking back to the Honeycomb glacier	Beyond the cool glacier, more ridge walk up to the summit
Summit group photo	Crossing some blue ice on the Cool Glacier

Day 3 - Camp to TH

We started early again at 6a at a more relaxed pace.  i wondered if we should be sleeping in on our last day but catching the sunrise view of Glacier peak (top picture on the blog post) and White pass basin was worth waking up early.   Temperature was pleasant and we were soaking in the view.   We took a break at White pass, then another one at Mackinow Shelter.  For the most part we kept a steady and relax pace, stopping only for Huckleberries, Blueberries, Timbleberries and Salmonberries  We reached the TH around 12:30p and high fives all around for an awesome outing tagging a big volcano!

Marmots	Sound of music theme song please

Moving time for 33 miles and 10,000ft elevation gain

Day 1 - 6.5 hours in total excluding breaks.  2 hours TH to Mackinow Shelter.  +3 hours to White Pass.  +1.5 hours to Camp at 6500 ft meadow

Day 2 - 5 hours and 40 min Camp to summit including breaks.  1 hour 40 min to Glacier Gap, 4 hours Glacier Gap to summit.  2 hours on the summit.  3 hours summit to Camp

Day 3 - 6 hours camp to TH

Gear Notes:

3 30M glacier rope

3 pickets (1 for each rope) - did not use

1 Shovel for the group - did not use
crampons

ice axe
helmet

standard glacier set up

bug juice - bugs were not too bad

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