One of the most pleasant climbs of Washington's big volcanoes, chill the whole way with exceptional scenery.
After the Old White Chuck Road washed out in 2006, the standard route up Glacier Peak shifted from the Sitkum Glacier to the Suiattle and Cool Glaciers. A normal ascent is now a 36 mile, 3 day round trip instead of 20 miles in 2 days. Even with the longer approach, that doesn't seem to deter climbers from this peak.
We started a little late, 8:40 am from the North Fork Sauk Trailhead. The trail is in excellent condition, and the USFS trail crew is doing great work clearing brush. Thank you! After 5.2 flat miles the trail climbs 3,000 ft to White Pass, with the scenery improving as you go. There is no water on the switchbacks except one spring, which you can hear from the trail and reach by dropping about 15 ft to refill. The scenery gets even better past White Pass and along the Foam Creek trail. There are so many marmots on the marmot knob! They aren't afraid of people, and there are so many of them!
After crossing the knob and one more basin, we reached the once glaciated basin at 6,700', where most people camp for the night. Campsites have melted out all the way across the flat basin. There were at least 10 groups camped there and still space for more. (Glacier Gap also has 10+ campsites.) After 9 hours of hiking, we decided to pitch our tent.
The next day we woke to a whiteout at 2 am and started at 3. Route finding was a bit tricky in the dark and whiteout from 6,700' to Glacier Gap. After Glacier Gap, it is easy and straightforward. We put on crampons for the initial snow slope, which was too icy to descend without them, then ditched them on a broad ridge, then put them on again where the boot track climbs the snow slope on climber's right.
We roped up for the glacier traverse at 8,400'. Though 90% of parties didn't, there were crevasses near the boot track, and they were opening up. The glacier itself is mellow, and before long we reached the final pumice ridge behind Disappointment Peak, where we unroped and set our sights on the summit. We kept our crampons on for the scree because there was a 30 degree snow slope ahead of us, still hard in the morning. The ascent is easy and straightforward, and we soon reached the summit. Unluckily, there was no view waiting for us, as clouds had rolled in while we climbed the ridge. I didn't find a summit register, only a USGS benchmark.
The descent was uneventful, and we were back at camp around 2. Since there was plenty of daylight left, we moved our camp to White Pass. There are so many campsites on the bottom bench of the pass that you don't need to worry about being left without one. Water is currently available at the bottom, but the toilet is grim and full.
We slept well at White Pass, and a 5 hour hike out on our last day concluded this pleasant trip to Glacier Peak.
