Fern and I had talked about sleeping on top of a volcano for years, and the opportunity finally presented itself in July of 2018. He had been dealing with a stomach bug for a while and hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days but was finally feeling better and said he was good to go despite the calorie deficit. What a hero climbing partner!
The weather forecast was looking HOT (at least in the Puget Sound area) and was going to be clear and sunny in the mountains. Because of the temperatures and the zero percent chance of rain, we opted to leave the tent at home and cowboy camp on the summit. Our plan of attack was three days and two nights – one day to approach, summit day with a bivy on top, and then we would hike out the next day.
Once again demonstrating our acumen for alpine starts, we didn’t head out until 2:15 pm from the North Fork Sauk Trailhead. The weather forecast was correct so far, because it was hot and muggy as we started through the dense woods of the river valley.
The process of climbing Glacier Peak is fascinating to me. Starting in a deep valley surrounded by big evergreens at around 2000’ of elevation is very unlike the experience with the other Cascades volcanoes. It gives it a much more adventurous and expedition-like feel.
The first 5 and a quarter miles or so were beautiful but uneventful as we pulled into Mackinaw Shelter for a break. The shelter was a dilapidated old wooden cabin with a caved in roof that had seen much better days. The weather was oppressively hot we took a quick dip in the river there. We had bought some flip-flops from the dollar store in Arlington on our drive in to use as river and camp shoes and Fern somehow lost one during his swim. We really didn’t want to litter the stream and leave it there, so we spent a good ten minutes searching amongst the logs and rocks, eventually finding it wedged into a jumble of logs a bit downstream. We were hyped up to find it, and sprits were high as we left the “shelter” and began our journey upwards.
Getting such a late start actually proved fortuitous for us because the switchbacks that climb up and out of the river valley would be brutally hot if it were in the heat of the day and in the direct sun. It was still warm and muggy as we began our ascent, but the sunlight was less direct. A series of switchbacks quickly brought us up 2500’ to where we were out into open meadows. Views started to open up and we found ourselves in classic GPW terrain. At about 5400’ the trail banks to the east and contours across the open slope below White Mountain, coming into White Pass at about 6000’. It intersected with the PCT and crossed several perfect water sources in the process.
The late afternoon/evening light was beautiful the views were top notch as we departed White Pass. The well-loved climber’s path left the PCT and made a long contour above the headwaters of the White River. Here we had to cross a few inconsequential lingering snowfields, but they didn’t pose any issue. We eventually reached a knob in the ridgeline and began to look in earnest for a spot to set up camp. Without a tent we could be flexible, so we ventured up to the tippy top of a point on the ridgeline above. Here we found a surprisingly good spot for both of our sleeping pads and amazing views in all directions.
The sunset was spectacular on Glacier Peak (which was still looking very tall), as well as out in the direction of the Mountain Loop peaks. We settled in for a cozy night on our little mountain peak after making dinner and watching the glow of sunset fully disappear.
We knew we had nothing else to accomplish that day besides reaching the summit, so the next morning was a slow one at camp. We were visited by a bunch of curious marmot friends in the morning, which was fun. We took our time packing up before heading out and descending the ridgeline to join the official climbing route.
From this little pass, we entered a whole new world of vast snowfields – a far cry from the green, meadowy zone we had just left. This area was expansive and relatively flat, making for quick travel. You could imagine how massive glaciers once filled this area and carved the landscape. Glacier was still looming high above us, a reminder that we still had a lot of work ahead of us.
After a little over 2 hours of traversing snowfields, we reached Glacier Gap, the main camping area for parties attempting Glacier Peak. From this flat shelf-like area, we climbed up and over a rise before descending 100 or so feet. Now it finally felt like we were closing the horizontal distance between us and the summit. It still towered above us, but it was beginning to feel more manageable.
The next section was actually a sandy, rocky ridgeline. The Suiattle Glacier was below us to our right, but this ridge was high and dry. Climbers before us had carved out a pretty nice trail, so we rapidly made progress up to about 8200’.
At this point it was finally time to step out onto the glacier. We roped up and headed out, traversing below Disappointment Peak. There is an area of pretty significant rockfall coming off the flanks of the peak above us, arguably the biggest objective hazard of the climb (especially because we were ascending in the heat of the day). Because of this, we gave it a wide berth, steering outside of the zone where most of the rocks lay and moving as quickly as possible.
We made it through with no issues and were soon climbing up to where the route joins the Cool Glacier. I particularly loved the view of the broken up glacial ice and the prow of rock that sticks up close to where the two glaciers converge. As we looped back up and around the backside of Disappointment Peak the summit was starting to feel a lot closer. We were able to exit the glacier and scramble up some pumice to the saddle below the summit at around 9700’.
Here, we unroped and began the final ascent to the summit. The first bit was on 2 steps forward, 1 step back pumice that was particularly exhausting, but we were still feeling good so were able to power up it without too much worry. The final 200 or so feet to the summit was on a steep-ish snowfield, so we took our ice axes out and climbed up it in no time, topping out on Glacier Peak at 1:30 pm. It was a great feeling!
The views were stunning in all directions, it seemed like you could see just about every mountain in the Cascades from this high, central location. The weather was also perfect, it was darn near too hot on the summit and I was in a t-shirt and shorts. We noted a nice little hollow in the snow that would provide a nice, sheltered spot to put our sleeping pads.
It was a liberating feeling that we didn’t have to leave the summit - we could just relax and there was no pressure to go anywhere. Because of this, we took the time to hack the summit register out of its icy, snowy prison. We were the first people to sign in in 2018! We thought it was funny that the register paid homage to the Marmot Kingdom we had just walked through.
The sunset that night was spectacular. We took our time exploring the whole summit area, taking in the unique view in all directions. It had gotten quite a bit colder, but was still very pleasant, and we reveled in the unique experience of being on top of a volcano for an extended period of time. The sun bathed everything in a warm glow, from Sloan Peak to Bonanza to Mount Baker, everything was lit up and we felt like we were on top of it all. It was a very special experience.
As darkness eventually set in, we rummaged amongst our stuff and got in our sleeping bags. What a weird experience just lying on the snow on top of a volcano with no shelter above our heads!
The night got decently cold, but not cold enough to where I wished we had a tent, and we were woken up by the sunlight of another warm day hitting us. It was hard easy to snooze for a bit longer with the newfound warmth hitting us.
We had a long day ahead of us, but it was still nice to enjoy the summit and not rush off too quickly. We had spent a long time alone on the top and it was going to be bittersweet to leave! We eventually tore ourselves away at 7:30 am, to make the long journey back to the car.
The upper snowfield and pumice ridge went quickly – and before long we were roped back up crossing the Cool Glacier and looping back under Disappointment Peak on the Suiattle. It was another warm day, so we once again gave the rockfall zone a wide berth. Climbing back up to Glacier Gap felt steep, but then it was all easy snow for what felt like forever.
We eventually reached the gap where we stepped on grass for the first time in what felt like forever, bidding adieu to Glacier Peak in the process. We bypassed our first camp, on the more official trail/route this time, which involved a steep climb down into the headwaters of Foam Creek and back up the other side. Once at this point, we were home free on good trail, with only occasional snowy patches. We made the long traverse through White Pass and beyond, admiring the views and green meadows as we went.
We reached the intersection of the PCT and the North Fork Sauk Trail 6 hours after we left the summit and began our descent into the valley in earnest. We beat the heat by swimming in the same spot at Mackinaw Shelter – losing zero flip flops in the process – and then powered out the last 5+ miles to the car. The Glacier Peak summit bivy was one for the books!
Final Stats: 34 miles /10,609 feet of gain
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