[TR] Glacier Peak - Disappointment Cleaver via Lit

[PVD]

Trip: Glacier Peak - Disappointment Cleaver via Little Wenatchee/PCT

 

Date: 9/22/2009

 

Trip Report:

 

 

I headed out on the Little Wenatchee River Trail around noon Monday (Sept. 21) morning, intending to climb Glacier Peak via White Pass in three days.

This is an interesting approach, with alternating open riparian meadow and forest and closed-canopy Pacific silver fir forest for about five miles before a fairly steep ascent to Meander Meadows.

I stopped for lunch next to Kodak Peak, where I caught my first views of my destination. I had a looonnnnggg hike ahead of me.

 

The views of the meadows, ridges and minor peaks were very cool -- especially with the fall colors:

 

 

White Mountain:

 

 

I arrived at White Pass around 5:45 p.m. The views of Sloan Peak and the Monte Cristo peaks from my camp on a bench west of the pass were great.

 

Sloan Peak:

 

 

Tuesday morning, my watch alarm failed to wake me, and I didn’t get started until 7:45. I had hoped to summit and return to the pass that night, but the late start meant there was a decent chance I'd be sleeping somewhere closer to the mountain. I packed my bivy sack.

I hiked a well-defined path below White Mountain and climbed the ridge east of the peak to a spectacular view of the maze of landforms that I would need to negotiate to reach Glacier Peak:

 

 

I spent a few minutes matching landscape to map and selecting my route, then traversed northeast along the northern aspect of the ridge, trying not to lose too much elevation. I then crossed a beautiful, flat alpine basin below some steep cliffs...

 

 

 

 

I hiked through glacial till of all shapes and sizes above the White Chuck tarns, crossing several glacial melt streams. I stayed high and right on my way to Glacier Gap to maintain elevation and avoid a steep headwall with a waterfall.

The view near Glacier Gap:

 

 

 

From this col, I traversed on glacier around a ~ 7,600-foot hump before descending to a saddle near the base of Disappointment Cleaver. I scrambled over boulders and talus for a stretch, then dropped to the Gerdine Glacier after dealing with some particularly loose boulders. I saw fresh tracks on the glacier and spotted a tent west of the ridge, so I knew I was not alone on the mountain. I donned crampons and hiked the low-angle glacier for a while before climbing back onto the ridge to avoid some crevasses:

 

 

To this point, I had no idea whether I would ascend over Disappointment Peak or traverse around the peak on Cool Glacier. From afar, the peak looked pretty sketchy – like a nearly vertical pile of loose boulders just waiting to collapse:

 

 

However, the crevassed glacier was littered with fallen rock, so I decided to continue up the peak. The crux for me was ignoring my fatigue around 9,200-9,500 feet as I negotiated loose cobble and shifting boulders under hot sun. A couple of steep steps near the top bordered on Class 4 – but with minor exposure and seemingly solid rock it seems fair to call them Class 3. I crossed the summit, descended to the 9,600-foot saddle, and hiked steep pumice toward the top. About 100 feet below the summit, I ran into the owners of the tent – two guys from Seattle (Neil and Scott, I think). They had barely touched the rock on their way up, opting for the glacier traverse. They thought the rock looked too sketchy, especially without helmets. They had hiked in along the North Fork Sauk Trail two days prior -- meaning their round-trip would be around 10 miles shorter than mine. Hmmmm. I had not realized that trailhead was again accessible by car.

I continued easily to the summit and awesome views:

 

 

 

 

 

I spent 40 minutes on top, eating lunch, enjoying the scenery, and drinking from a snowmelt trickle.

Sliding down the pumice to the saddle took less than 15 minutes, but the down-climb of Disappointment Peak was predictably tedious and slow. About halfway down the cleaver, I descended to the glacier and followed it to the base of the ridge. From Glacier Gap, I again hugged the ridge to the south as I made my way down toward the White Chuck tarns. It was at least 6:30 by this time; there was no way I could get to White Pass before dark. So, around 7 p.m. -- with the sun starting to set – I settled in my bivy sack on sandy glacial till. Wearing long johns and a couple of fleece pullovers, I was cool but relatively comfortable, as temps never dropped into the 30s. Wind kept me awake much of the night, but I probably slept five hours.

 

View from the bivy site in the morning:

 

 

In the morning, I left the alpine basin via a different route, crossing the divide next to White Mountain farther northeast. I found a boot path near the headwaters of Foam Creek, then followed a good trail south of the ridge crest back to White Pass. I ate breakfast and headed out.

A couple of miles after leaving the pass on the PCT, my left achilles started to burn. I expected the pain to subside, but it persisted. I limped to my car about five hours later, a bit concerned that I had shelved myself for quite some time. As I write this, the pain is mostly gone – though I have yet to test the achilles with even a brisk walk.

Overall, this was a great trip. The climb ranks among the most scenic mountaineering trips I’ve done. What an incredible, remote place.

While this route is not much of a technical challenge for most of the folks who frequent this site, it was very demanding physically. I don’t think I have ever before gained so much total elevation (~ 10,500 ft) and covered so much mileage (~ 44 miles) in such a short time (3 days). The incredible scenery, though, makes the big physical effort worthwhile. While the approach via the Little Wenatchee Trail is longer than some other options, the views along the way are spectacular and the 5-6 miles of PCT from Kodak Peak to White Pass are pretty painless (if your achilles is intact).

 

 

 

Approach Notes:

 

Long.

 

[mountainsloth]

sweet man! that is the first mountaineering trip I went on out here. It is definitely long, but what a wild and amazing place. I hope to one day go back again and climb it from the north.

Edited September 28, 2009 by mountainsloth

[t_rutl]

long trip but well done!

[Le Piston]

Nice work! I can't believe how bare Glacier looks...like a different mountain than I climbed years ago. I enjoyed the TR and pictures.

[danhelmstadter]

those hills look like they are thirsting for snow, i was looking at glacier pk. from maple pass yesterday - the north side of the mountain looked like it's a little more glaciated than the aspect in your pics... nice work and thanx for tha tr!

[billisfree]

Great report... would be nice if you could post a map of your route, and save me the trouble of figuring out where you went.

 

I want to climb that peak... eventually.

[iluka]

We completed this route yesterday. We opted to do the Gerdine and Cool Glacier route rather than go over Disappointment Peak. Here's an update on conditions following the snowfall last weekend...

 

- Little Wenatchee River Trail is completely snow-free

- Trace amount of snow in small patches on PCT on way to White Pass and then onto Foam Basin. Snow-free campsites at White Pass

- A few inches of snow mixed in with rocks on north side of pass you cross getting out of Foam Basin to unnamed basin west of the White Chuck Glacier. We camped on dry ground in that basin.

- Ascent from that basin up to the White Chuck Glacier Basin is snow free. The route through that basin all the way up to Glacier Gap between the White Chuck and Suiattle Glaciers has small amounts of snow in spots but travel is very easy. Plenty of bare spots for camping if needed.

- There is new snow on the Gerdine and Cool Glaciers. Still some bare ice in spots, new snow in others. Anywhere from 2 to 6 inches. We generally punched through a crust in most places but the depth was pretty minimal so travel was reasonably fast. The ridge running on the west edge of the Gerdine has only trace amounts of snow and made for fast travel to the upper Gerdine

- A few easily passed crevasses on the upper Gerdine below Disappointment Peak

- The transition from the Gerdine to the Cool Glacier is really broken up but we were able to find a straightforward route through

- Several large crevasses on the Cool Glacier but solid bridges allowed us to cross each one

- The final ridge to the summit is largely snow free until the last 400 or so feet and travel is easy up the remaining part of the ascent with snow to 4-6 inches or so in spots, exposed scree in others.

 

Things look really pretty up there right now.

Edited October 9, 2009 by iluka

[PVD]

 

 

Nice work Iluka!

 

Billisfree:

 

Thanks.

Sorry, but I'm not tech-savvy-enough to post a marked map on this site. Basically: I climbed the ridge extending east from White Mountain at what appeared to be the easiest spot, then traversed northeast on fairly steep slopes to more level ground below the ridge. I stayed east of all the little humps and landforms on my way to the area that used to be covered by the White Chuck Glacier. As I headed east-northeast to Glacier Gap, I again stayed high and right, traversing some pretty steep ground. From Glacier Gap, after you get past a small hump, it is a straight shot up from the saddle to the summit. I don't know if my way is the best way; earlier in the season, with more snow, there may be better options.

[xernrek]

Great trip and great report. I am planning on trying Glacier Peak this summer and would like to know as much as possible about Disappointment Peak. I was first going to try that from the North Sauk river but then thought it might be better to go around it on the glaciers to the east of it. Your report seems to suggest that Disaapointment peak is a reasonable route. Can you tell me any more about that part of your trip? Thanks

 

Jim