local glaciers?

[Rick]

being new to the area and to mountaineering I am curious if there are any glaciers close by with easy access for some training?

[whillans]

Big 4 ice caves. You'll learn a lot by hanging out there.

[rbw1966]

Perhaps if you told us where you were we might be able to provide you with some advice on where to go. Unless of course this is some sort of lame troll.

No glaciers around here.

[Alpine_Tom]

I retract my earlier smart-ass comments.

There aren't any really easily accessible glaciers, and as a rule, glaciers aren't safe places to explore unless you know what you're doing. The easiest to get to might be Interglacier, on Mt. Rainer, up the White River trail. (Coincidentally, that's the only glacier I've ever been on where a member of my party has fallen into a crevasse.)

A good orientation might be RMI's one-day crevasse rescue school, or their "Glacier Hike" See www.rmiguides.com

[This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 03-19-2001).]

[philfort]

The easiest-to-access serious glaciers are probably the Coleman on Mt Baker, and the Nisqually on Rainier.

It's about a 2.5 hour drive to the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead at Baker(currently snowed in, but it should melt out early this year - trailhead elevation is 3600ft). Then it's about an hour hike to the glacier.

The Nisqually can be reached hiking up the paved trail out of Paradise (also ~2.5hr drive), and hiking down from Alta Vista (or glacier vista?) - maybe - 45 minutes from paradise?

Phil

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[vegetablebelay]

There is one up on the way to Mount Baker. It's a nice little town - be sure to hit the Italian restaurant.