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Background: This is a trip report for the frostbite ridge of glacier peak. WHo was there? Me (the slab doctor), the anchorman, and capt. Kirk himself. In yearly tradition we go climb something every summer. Unfortunately the final disciple (Professor Science) was unable to make the trip due to life choices outside of his own comprehension. Day 1: after getting to the North Fork Sauk trailhead somewhat late in the afternoon, the disciples hiked up to the PCT and then down slightly to camp in the large bowl just below the ridge. stats: 11.5 miles and 4.8k gain Day 2: We slept in and hauled butt down to the Kennedy creek crossing. we had heard that you must actually wade to get across this but it was no issue for us to cross on logs. We then started the climb up to glacier creek and left the PCT there. Shortly after leaving the PCT we were at the toe of the kennedy glacier (3:45 pm?). There is a nice bivvy site here. We decided to attempt to make it up to the bivvy at 8.8k. Going up the side of the Kennedy was horrendous work. Large patches of glacial till/mud, exposed blue ice, and loose gravel made for tedious going. We made it to 8.8k camp at 7:30/8pm ish and were all pretty kicked in at this point. The bivvy was one of the best I have had, a beautiful inversion left us above the clouds with stunning views of Baker, Shuksan, and the North Cascades. Unfortunately the anchorman had the piles & was shitting a lot over the last 2 days. There are 2 flat spots for tents at the 8.8k site, but only 1 of them has a substantial rock circle. I would highly recommend not sharing this route with other parties for this reason, and for the significant choss hazards on the ridge that arise late season. stats: 12 miles and 5k gain Day 3: We were going by 7:30/8am up towards the rabbit penis on what I can only describe as some of the worst choss of my life. We were kicking down serious amounts of rockfall, I'm talking 4 or 5 basketball sized rocks at a time that would not stop and continue off the ridge until they were out of sight. Again I would really not want to be behind another party on this route, unless there was significantly more snow. After going tucking around to climbers right the rabbit peen we got on a short section of steep snow and then a cool sidewalk with significant exposure above the upper kennedy. We gained the ridge again after the sidewalk and crossed over to the other side. Here we went almost between the rabbit ears, and after spotting a cairn on the other side of the ridge we down climbed and began the short up and down section before the final ice pitches.IMG_3263.HEIC The ice was pretty trivial and we probably could have soloed all of it but out of an abundance of caution we pitched out the lower section. We then de-roped and simul soloed the final 100 ft of snice / steep snow. If you stay to the right side you will put out exactly below the summit rock jumble. After shmoozing it on the summit with a cool party of climbers from Kerala who offered us whiskey & cigs, we began our mad dash out. Our goal was to make it to the (former) Mackinaw shelter camp site which would leave us with a cool 5 miles to complete monday morning --some of our disciples had work the next day >: ) . We again busted serious ass and were at the shelter by 7pm ish that day?? 15 miles and 3k gain Day 4: an early wake up allowed us to do the 5.5 miles back in about an hour and a half and everyone got to work on time. 5.5 miles and 500ft gain.

Nice romp, great pics, and a pretty significant "attempt" I'd say!

Very cool trip! Thanks for posting.

That is totally schwack-afied badassery.

@traildirt Any chance you'd do a brief 'whats in my pack' list for this? Also wondering what y'all did for food, you must have been stoked to not eat a freeze dried meal at the end!

Nice work. I had a similar experience on the Forbidden Glacier - very marginal in approach shoes. If I did this route again, I'd go early season and/or wear boots.

Thank you! I worked hard on this one.

Awesome work! Been curious about rock in the marble creek drainage for a while and glad to see some climbing out there!

Awesome job on the climb and the write-up, that was a treat to read.

Whoa. How many caches of food did you have???

Great TR Nick! I especially liked the asides about the first ascensionists. I think you captured the yin and yang of that route perfectly. What a line though....

Thanks for JasonG for the great overview photo! This route has been on my list for a while. The quality is so-so, and it's kind of dangerous with all the loose rock, but it sure was a grand adventure. https://spokalpine.com/2025/07/30/eldorado-peak-west-arete-iv-5-8/

Thanks man. Hopefully not too understated! Every day was hard af! Full effort, plus some luck… glad you enjoyed the tale 🤘🏽

Looking for people to climb / hike with in the cascades. My schedule is clear for the next 2 weeks! I’m doing Eldorado and Sahale. If anyone needs another Rainer man also let me know!

Amazing! Great work

7 days worth from Artist Point, and another 7 from hwy 20! was pretty heavy but we should have carried more

Wow! It has taken me 40 years to get half of that done! Thanks for the TR.

Hey! Thanks for the super helpful report. It appears the images you originally attached aren't accessible anymore any chance you still have them onhand and can re-upload them??

Dan Mcnerthney and I climbed the Stoddard buttress exactly 10 years ago in mid July and here is my few cents. 1. The approach from the Crescent creek basin to the base of Stoddard buttress IS long. It took us 9! hours which included climbing the snow/ice couloir plus dry rock to the col, 2 rappels into a moat, ice climbing out of the moat (steel crampons and boots were highly appreciated here), followed by traversing Mustard glacier on cl. 4 - low cl. 5 ledges and more ice climbing to get on to the buttress. 2. The climb itself to the true summit of Terror IS much longer and more complex than most descriptions make it sound. Simul climbing was feasible on the bottom half of the route but climbing becomes harder higher up.

Did you read the TR? Resupply at hwy 20.

@Phil K and Rod above the snow arete 2006 (check out the glacial differences from the photos above): Looking down from near the top onto the glacier: Strong work @JonParker!!

Holy shit! Amazing. You carried 17days worth of food?

Holy cow!!!

This is rad, I dig the understated and humble approach to the write up. Inspiring.

Amazing!