[TR] Glacier Peak - Disappointment Peak Cleaver 8/19/2012

[cookiejar]

Trip: Glacier Peak - Disappointment Peak Cleaver

 

Date: 8/19/2012

 

Trip Report:

My wife and I climbed Glacier Peak on 08/19-08/22/2012, and bagged our last WA volcano. It was a fun and tiring trip. Some beta to share:

 

* If you go with Beckey's approach notes, he tells you to go E from White Pass for 1 mile to a 6500' saddle. That was a looooong mile. It took us 45 minutes. Granted we were not moving very fast towards the end of the hot day. The Foam Creek trail starts at White Pass (5900'), gradually ascends to 6200' and contours at that elevation. After crossing several drainages, leave the trail and ascend a wide open slope on the left. There is a carin marking the branch off. Keep your eyes peeled after about 40 minutes from White Pass. The climber's trail ascends a couple hundred feet to the 6500' saddle and this will be your first view of Glacier Peak.

 

* At the saddle, move right for 20 ft and follow a carin and some boot tracks down for a couple hundred feet before ascending again to a ridge at about 6500'.

 

* You'll then go up and down for another couple of times before reaching White Chuck Glacier. You'll have an awesome view of the peak and the basin. We camped here. Dry spots available and there is plenty of running water.

 

* Going from White Chuck Glacier to Glacier Gap is slow. It took us 2 hours. Others reported similar times. Basically, you need to traverse on talus field, snow patches, and mud. You need to walk on the rock with crampons or on the snow without crampons, otherwise you'll be taking them off and putting them on many times.

 

* Glacier Gap is melted out too. Running water is a little ways from flat camping spots.

 

* After ascending and descending a couple hundred feet, you'll see the cleaver and Disappointment Peak in front of you, just like the picture in Beckey's book. A big carin marks the start of a climber's trail on the ridge at ~7200'.

 

* Ascend the ridge for about 500', hop on the snow after the first rock outcrop to avoid loose crap. Going is a lot faster on the snow from this point. We made a mistake and continued on the ridge for another 200-300 ft and we regret that. On the way down, we descended to 7700' on the snow and climbed up the ridge via a small ramp.

 

* We went through the glacier without a rope. The crevasses were scarce and clearly visible. There was literally one place where you needed to cross a big snow bridge. The crevasses were shallow and not intimidating. If you fall into the crevasses, you probably won't die, but it will be some work to get yourself out. We were comfortable enough not to rope up, use your discretion.

 

* At the saddle between the true summit and Disappointment Peak, leave your crampons. It's snow free all the way. Near the summit register book, there is a flat spot with stone walls, perfect for a nap in the sun.

 

A brief time line:

 

Day 1, we left TH at 10am and reached camp at 6:30pm. We arrived White Pass at about 3:30 and took a long break there.

Day 2, we left camp at 6am and summitted at 1pm. We wasted some time on the ridge. Had we hopped on the snow earlier, we could have saved about half an hour. We started descending at 1:30 and got back to the camp at around 5:30pm. We took a longish break at Glacier Gap.

Day 3, we left camp at 7:40 and were back at the car at 3.

 

Edited August 23, 2012 by cookiejar

[Leland]

Thanks for the details! Thinking about having a go at this in the next couple weeks...