Basic Glacier Climb - Clark Mountain/Walrus Glacier

clark 7-2 - 7-4-2021

the approach down low is notoriously buggy and yes there were bugs, but was considerably less buggy than my july 2010 trip.
this trip we were exceptionally slow, so our times posted below should be taken with a grain of salt.
we made reasonable time to the boulder river crossing(below knee deep, which we brought shoes to ford), and even found a bug free spot for a break, on the way.
camped on dry ground at boulder pass. buggy, but the wind kept them mostly at bay.  the heat did not effect the snow as much as i thought - late in the day it was a few inches soft on top of a firm base.

water found all along the approach, so did not need to carry more than a liter.

descended from camp differently than before, descended directly down from where the trail crosses the pass - maybe 15' of ~40deg snow that get less steep below. this took us 45min, since we went one at a time. in hindsight, should of put a handline in to make it go faster - hindsight is 20/20 :>)
the walrus glacier(nice crampon snow) was beautiful and instead of end running the crevasses, crossed a few crevasses on substantial snow bridges, stepped over a few small ones. at the begining of the glacier, on the moderately angled slope, with not a great run-out, we protected with 3 pickets on the way in(did not protect this on the way out, nor on either of my 2 previous trips). we also did a moderately steep high traverse above some crevasses on great snow that we protected with 5 pickets in and out.
scramble from the top of the glacier to the summit was an easy snow traverse followed by easy class 1/2 to the summit(no register).
now, that i've done the walrus glacier approach - twice for clark, once for luahna - is so nice, i was happy to do it more than twice :>)
crazy thing, in july 2010, when we returned to our cars, we were happy to not need blood transfusions from the many misquito bites. contrast that to this july 2021 trip, which we ended by leisurely hanging out at a bug free trailhead, at least on our out day. fun trip :>)

day 1 - 12.39mi 4309' gain(including 1.11mi 115'gain starting up the wrong trail due to my error)
7:58 car to camp (including 0:30 starting up the wrong trail due to my error)(also including 0:30 crossing boulder creek) (~2:30 car to boulder creek crossing when going on the correct trail)

day 2 - 6.44mi 2797' gain
6:46 camp to summit (including 0:45 spent descending initial steep snow)
0:34 summit stay
4:08 summit to camp

day 3 - 10.61mi 124'gain
4:57 camp to car

equipment: ice axe, crampons, 50m rope, 40m rope, 5 pickets, harness, helmet, bug spray, water shoes
equipment brought, but not used: shovel

compare to clark mt 2010:
7:29 car to camp

9:20 camp to summit to camp including breaks and detour towards luahna
3:45 camp to summit
0:29 summit
1:30 summit to luahna turnaround
0:42 break at turnaround
0:40 back to clark saddle
0:20 clark saddle break
1:54 clark saddle to camp

4:36 camp to car including breaks (compare to 2010 luahana trip from same spot to car: 3:47)
0:14 1st break
0:11 2nd break
0:11 3rd break