Capt. Kirk & the alpine disciples go disaster style on the Frostbite Ridge, Dakobed (Glacier Peak) 7/26

[macropipette]

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.

Edited 5 hours ago by macropipette