Dakobed (Cool)

Glacier Peak

7/7-7/9

I headed out to Glacier Peak starting at 7 am to have a time alone in such a beautiful place. The weather was forecasted to be in the mid-50’s at the summit of Glacier Peak, and even warmer at lower elevations. The wind speeds were forecasted to pick up to 20 mph near the summit on Monday.

I hiked slowly up to White Pass, passing happy trail crew volunteers who were improving the state of the trail. The trail is in great shape with plenty of streams to refill the water bottle along the way. The mosquitos were not too bad either! I passed quite a few skiers who were heading out- I guess I missed the party! I planned to camp at White Pass early to avoid the heat of the day.

At camp, I nestled in just as the heat of the day began. After a large dinner, I slept for 12 hours and woke up at 2 am to begin walking by 3 am. The night had been extremely windy. The traverse to Marmot’s knob was straightforward but there were many snow crossings which admittedly slowed me down.

At ~7000’, I put my skis on when I dropped into the basin past Marmot’s knob. I crossed the boulder basins to Glacier Gap, passing a couple’s tent who were still asleep. The snow was firm and barely edgeable in many places. The firm snow cups were deep (could hold a soccer ball or a water melon) and I caught the tip of my ski once, whoops.

I sat at Glacier Gap to watch the sun rise on Glacier Peak and happily drank some caffeinated water, waiting for the snow to soften up a bit. I had not brought my ski crampons because I did not expect to need them. The snow remained firm and barely edgeable but this issue was avoidable by dropping down to the basin below Glacier and ascending up snow fingers, instead of traversing towards Cool Glacier.

As I slowly climbed, the snow quickly became soft and corn-like by the time I reached the true glacier’s edge. It was enticing to turn around to maximize the quality of skiing, but I continued on. Soon enough, the heat of the day began at around 10 am and I found myself barely moving from how hot I felt. There were wind speeds consistently at 15 mph with occasionally wind gusts of 20 mph, yet it still felt unbelievably hot. The snow was not concerning but rocks were starting to tumble down from melting slopes nearby. I opted to avoid skinning over the glacier and booted up on the flanks of it towards the sandy walkway that leads to the final pitch of the climb. I then attempted to skin up to the summit, but the snow there was still too firm to grab an edge, so I attempted to boot. I did not want to walk up the cobbly pumus ramp to my right either for the sake of my boots, so the alternative was to begin post-holing. The wind must have created the perfect firm layer that was too supportable for the ski, but not supportable for the boot. Beneath the firm layer was a foot of mush.

I joined up with an established but brief boot pack under rime ice, feeling like a baked potato in an Easy bake oven. This is not a safe place to be. Keep moving!

The summit was achieved by 11:40 am and a strong wind was consistent up there. I could spot a haze filling the valleys around me from the Chelan fire, and I noticed a new fire a couple ridges south of White Pass. I headed down and skied to the bottom basin quickly, although the snow was too sticky to enjoy fully so most of the skiing was straight lining..

Now the day had become extremely hot and I found myself crawling over the snow, having to stop frequently to slow my heart rate down and calm the dizzy-spells. By the time I had reached Marmot Knob, it was 430 pm! All I wanted to do was sit in a deep kiddy pool filled with ice or move to Iceland, or bathe in ice cream, or take a trip to Antarctica..

I reached camp by 6 pm and stumbled upon a group that was celebrating a woman’s birthday. It was nice to be around cheerful people. All my hopes of getting to Baker Lake by midnight were dashed and I realized that it was better to sleep again and leave the next morning. After a delicious meal of mashed and boiled lay’s chips with tuna, I laid in my tent and watched the sun set through the hazy skies, the sweat bees buzzing all around my tent.

By no means was this a difficult trip, but it was certainly beautiful.