Rad Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 Climb: Olympus-standard route Date of Climb: 7/8/2006 Trip Report: Others have posted good reports lately so I'll be brief. 41 miles in 41 hours. The weather was perfect, the Hoh rainforest stunning, the trail conditions excellent (if long), the glacier soft but not sloppy, the crevasses mostly still closed, the rock on the 5.fun summit pyramid exposed and solid, and the rangers motherly. Details after photos... Friday 7/7 9:30pm Tell and I departed Hoh river trailhead. Rambled by headlamp on a clear night. We startled grazing elk several times - everyone jumped. Stopped around 12:30am (9.1 miles) near the ranger station and drifted into dreams under the stars. Started down the trail again at 7am. Arrived at Martin Creek (14.1 miles) at 10am to cache overnight gear on bear wires. Met the rangers at Glacier Meadows at 11am (17.4 miles). 'I'm very concerned about you guys starting up the glacier this late (the weather looks great and the days are long)... The snow is very soft, I hear (good because we don't have crampons)...I haven't been up there but...have you climbed before? (we rattle off a few alpine routes)... Do you have ropes? (we list our gear)...I'm not going to stop you but...I want to see you back here by sunset (sounds good to me). We left him standing there. The poor guy probably worried about us all day. We roped up on the glacier (probably not necessary as we never stepped over cracks over 2 feet wide). Climbed to Snow dome in blinding sunshine, stopping to refresh and rehydrate at water running water on rock halfway across the traverse toward snow dome. Crossed over Crystal pass, tramped up to the false summit, down 3rd class, up a short steep snow step with a clean run-out. Chose the 3rd class to 5.fun Western route up the summit pyramid. The 5.fun was on solid rock that will take whatever size gear you bring. Lounged on the summit in the sunshine from 5 to 6pm with no wind, unbelievable visibility, and no other parties on the entire upper mountain. We rapped back down off lovely gear left by parties from last weekend. The descent was like butter - boot skiing rocks! Checked in with the Glacier meadows rangers at 8:30pm (before sunset as promised). Twilight baptism in Martin Creek, dinner and bed. Frisky rodents jumped on my head at night, but otherwise we slept like the dead. Sunday we woke late and hiked out. Scored blueberries between the 12.4 mile site and the 10 mile mark. The snow was like soft-served icecream - crampons would be useless but self-arrest is still possible. Gear Notes: No stove, no fuel, no pot, no crampons, no tent. A few rock pieces in the 0.5 to 2 inch range to protect 40 feet of 5.6. 2 30m skinny ropes allow you to skip the poor intermediate anchor on the rap off the summit. Approach Notes: No need to ford any rivers. When the trail seems to end at a river crossing at mile 8 go left (North) 50 yeard to a tree crossing. Other crossings are obvious. We drove around via Olympia and Aberdeen to avoid ferries. It took less than 4 hours from trailhead back to Seattle. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.