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Basic Glacier Climb - Clark Mountain & Luahna Peak

Two successful climbs of Luahna and Clark (one party of 6 climbed Luahna and the other party of 6 climbed Clark).

Rodica Manole Rodica Manole
July 12, 2022
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The approach to Boulder Pass was uneventful. We had to deal with some big blowdowns before the major creek crossing which we had to ford as expected. Calf deep water in places and faster deeper flow on our way out.  The trail up to the pass had patchy snow on the first 2/3  and it was completely covered in snow on the upper 1/3.  Boulder Pass is completely under snow. Clark Glacier was in great conditions with a few crevasses starting to open but easy to navigate. 

Luahna report:

We had to face in downclimb on the east side of the Boulder Pass while avoiding the cornices still present at the pass and the moats starting to build-up.  Once at the toe of the glacier we decided to go for our planned Option 2 for camping, rope up, and carry overnight packs up high at 8100 ft right at the top of Clark Glacier to have a more manageable day on Sunday. On the summit day we roped up and started at 4:30 am in the whiteout contouring around north side of Clark ,  crossed the ridge northwest of Clark, between Point 7970 and Clark Mountain.  Traversed west under Point 7970  , crossed the chossy  southwest slopes of Luahna then gained the south ridge crest and scrambled class 3 and 4 for the last 250 ft to the summit.  On our way back we were able to avoid some of the choss on the south west slopes by staying on snow on the east side of the ridge. We ended up placing some pickets to protect a steep traverse around Clark's north side on our way back to the camp.

11.5 hours car to 8100 ft camp (started at 5:15 am)

4 hours camp to summit

3.5 hours summit to camp

2 hours camp to Boulder Pass

5.5 hours Boulder Pass to TH

Clark report by Tim Bliss:

"
We did the direct line up from your camp.  Worked well.  On the way back down that steep snow slope we practiced self arrest skills.  We camped at Boulder Pass and had running water. Sunday AM I anchored a prussik line down the steep snow slope on the east side of Boulder Pass and everyone belayed themselves down to easier snow.  In the afternoon we ascended back to Boulder Pass w/o ropes.
7 hrs car to camp
5 hrs camp to summit
3 hrs summit to camp
5 hrs camp to car"