Glacier Peak is the only wilderness volcano in Washington - there are no roads that climb its flanks. The standard approach to the climbers high camp in Boulder Basin involves a 10 mile hike and several thousand feet of elevation gain. I had been to Boulder Basin once before, in 1997, so I was familiar with the approach (and painful feet).
When my friend Craig announced to me his planned visit to the Pacific Northwest, and intention to climb, I initially thought of doing the North Ridge of Stuart with him. But considering the exposure and seriousness of that climb, I opted to try Glacier Peak with him instead. A nice backpacking trip where he and I and several other friends could get together and shoot the shit for a few days seemed the appropriate speed.
| The members of the expedition included the guide (thats me), two city-slicker clients from New York (thats Craig and his friend Josh), and what would an expedition be without a crazy woman to throw into the mix? (thats my friend Rachel, currently a Hood River resident, hardcore whitewater kayaker, who Craig and I went to school with). Oh, I guess our expedition didnt have a doctor, oh well. We took off to Kennedy hot springs in the early afternoon, and ended up taking a bit longer than expected for the first five miles. We met some of my climbing friends on the way out, and got conflicting reports on the conditions. But we toiled on, taking only a few minutes at Kennedy to take a break. The trail above the hot springs was very muddy, but finally after many hours on trail, we reached Boulder Basin. |
Josh is a beginning backpacker, so was not going to the summit. Rachel, Craig and I were, though, so the plan was to get up at 4:30, brew up, and get on the road. Craig had the alarm, but didnt get up and wake everyone at the agreed-on time, so we ended up getting up at 5:30. It was then that we discovered that the stove was broken. No matter, we go cold! We geared up and left camp. Immediately it became apparent that Rachel would not be able to climb - she had no crampons (I was hoping it would be soft), and the snow was very hard after an over-night freeze. I felt realy bad, because I know how much effort it takes just to get to Boulder Basin.
Craig and I continued at a slow pace up the Sitkum. The first half is a gentle rising traverse, and the second half of the route climbs past Sitkum Spire directly towards the summit cone. We didnt rope up at all, I thought the glacier was very benign. There were only 2 other climbers on the mountain, who had left camp an hour before us. We caught up to them as they were taking a break below the summit cone, perhaps 700 vertical feet below the summit.
The final push to the top involved traverse under the summit cone and a small snow slope up and left to the summit ridge.
The views from the top include an expansive view of Mt Baker to the northwest, and Mt Rainier to the Southwest.
