Mt Olympus 5/12-15

[Suz]

Three of us headed up to try Mt Olympus May 12-15 despite questionable weather forecasts. A few showers on the way in, then rain and clouds the night of our scheduled summit start, so no dice. A nice soggy slog out. We did wander up the Blue Glacier to Glacier Pass the afternoon before, however, which afforded a beautiful view over onto the Hoh Glacier, with Hermes, Athena, and all the rugged-looking peaks on the other side before the clouds and sprinkles moved in.

 

Approach notes: The trail is entirely snow-free all the way to Glacier Meadows. The ranger hasn't set up there yet, so we had the place entirely to ourselves. No entries in the climblog since January (?), but then, we didn't log in, either.

 

A little snow above camp to the moraine, but not a whole lot left. Most notably, there was already a but of blue glacier ice and crevasses melted out on the flat portion of the Blue Glacier! I hadn't been up there before, so don't know what normal conditions are, but Snow Dome still looked covered, though most of the rock around it was almost completely bare. We didn't get up to the top of Snow Dome, so no report on the 'shrund. Snow was solid enough to boot on, despite the rangers' passing along a report that another party was "postholing up to their waists". (Read: Didn't know how to stay out of streams?)

 

It's going to be a very short season up there! The WIC mentioned the possibility that the route will be closed (officially or by crevasses?) sometime in July.

 

As a side note, has anybody been up via Glacier Pass, the upper Hoh Glacier, and an East-Middle-West Peak traverse? Looked good on the map, and sounds like more fun.

[Divot]

Wish I could make time to hit Olympus, that and Hood are the two which I havent climbed......Just wish I made time.....Well hopefully I will.

[jbclimber]

Has anybody been up there more recently? I have heard some horror stories about the route being out of shape, and the summit block having a moat that has melted out 40 feet from the summit block and about 30 deep, requiring a Tyrolean Traverse.

 

- John

[thelawgoddess]

I have heard some horror stories about the route being out of shape, and the summit block having a moat that has melted out 40 feet from the summit block and about 30 deep, requiring a Tyrolean Traverse.

yikes.

[olyclimber]

Seems like it would be easier to go to the bottom of the moat and climb up than setting up a tyrol traverse...

[cj001f]

Seems like it would be easier to go to the bottom of the moat and climb up than setting up a tyrol traverse...

After watching a party be guided up last summer, no.

 

A 40' moat would be some serious melt in less than a year.

[Norman_Clyde]

You don't absolutely have to cross a moat to reach the summit block. If I recall correctly, you can access the summit block directly from the east, just after crossing at the saddle, without getting back on snow and rounding the summit to the north. It's just that this ups the length and difficulty of the rock climb, maybe 350 vertical feet instead of 75, on a less than appealing chossy face. (Although I also doubt the presence of a 40 foot moat.) In September 2002 the moat was too wide to cross at its highest point, so we couldn't take what looked like the easiest rock route on the north side, but starting from lower down on the eastern shoulder remained straightforward: we simulclimbed and had to place only a couple of pieces. It will help if exposed, chossy, low 5th class alpine rock doesn't rattle you.

[Hoosierdaddy]

Here's some very disturbing beta I found on the Mountaineer's website as posted by Kirkalm:

 

http://www.xsorbit6.com/users/stevefireb...;num=1118224349

[cj001f]

Last year you had to "descend" into the bergshrund at crystal pass. It involved maybe 10' of ice downclimbing. Sounds like there's been a lot of melt if the reports are accurate. Would be interested in seeing a first hand accoutn.

[Kraken]

shit! I was planning on doing this as part of the bailey traverse...ARGH!

[Hoosierdaddy]

Clintoris: I'm doin' the Baileys from the North to include the Skyline Trail beginning on July 17th. When are you going & what route/direction?

[Kraken]

i'll either go just before that or several weeks after. I'm going to be in Washington DC from the 16-22nd of July. Then I'm going to Chelan from teh 25th to the 31st, so it might be in early august.

 

Let me know how it goes though, I need more info on it before I go.

[Ducknut]

Anyone have any recent beta. This variation isn't sounding like too much fun.

[Fairweather]

Just thought I'd pass this along.....

 

I'm possibly headed up there this week, so I called the ranger at the WIC in Port Angeles and she confirmed the poor condition of the route to West Peak. When I asked her more detailed questions she seemed to be quoting, ver batum, the condition report as stated in The Mountaineers report from earlier this summer. "Expert mountaineers thwarted, late season conditions", etc.

 

I then called the on-duty ranger at Hoh River. He had a completely different story to tell. He stated that another ranger had just returned from a solo climb of West, Middle, and East Peak, and found the route in decent shape, albeit late season on The Blue. The "gaping 40 foot moat" is easily passable; the cross-over from the apron to the ledge on West Peak is a simple "step across"; and that both the direct route from Snowdome and the Crystal Pass route are passable! He told me that he has heard about all of the poor condition reports, and that he has contacted the main WIC in PA instructing them to discontinue passing these along as valid.

 

Anyway, I'll hopefully have more firsthand info next week. If the route is in bad shape, we'll be climbing East Peak and Athena via Glacier Pass instead.

[Harry_Pi]

Hello capitalist!

 

Mt. Olympus is only a grade II climb just like the Tooth, ladies.

Thank you for allow me to post.