Basic Glacier Climb - Glacier Peak/Disappointment Peak Cleaver

Great trip and successful summit with a team of 6. 

Team Description
- Two leaders.
- Three glacier grads, one glacier student.
- All participants were fit and injury free.
- Average to brisk pace with stops only for layer changes and lunch.
- Team packs weights were between 32 - 42 lbs.

Weather
Daytime - Sunny with a high of 60 in alpine zones and summit at high 30s but still felt very hot on the glacier.
Night - Low 30s.

Timing Splits
Friday July 4th
7:30am - Start at North Fork Sauk TH
~12:00pm - Arrived at White Pass and took 30min lunch break.
5:00pm - Arrived at Lower Glacier Gap camp area.
Total: 9.5 hrs

Saturday July 5th
3:45am - Start approach to summit
8:45am - Summit
9:50am - Begin decent
12:45pm - Arrive at Lower Glacier Gap Camp
Total: 9 hrs

Sunday July 6th
9:00am - Start decent to North Fork Sauk TH
11:00am - Arrive at White Pass
3:00pm - Arrive at North Fork Sauk TH
Total: 6 hrs

Water Sources
Lower Valley - frequent water sources and plentiful shade.

Mackinaw Shelter to White Pass - No water sources until just after the junction with PCT, top off before beginning the climb at Mackinaw Shelter but no need to over do it with tons of water weight.

White Pass to Glacier Gap - Plenty of running water along the trails as well as melted out tarns. Running water at upper glacier gap camp.

Glacier Gap to Summit - Once beyond upper camp there is limited open running water sources.

Trail Conditions
Trail was snow free up until just pass White Pass. Some snow fields and thin ice bridges going across the trail. No ice axes needed in the early section.

The trail beyond Marmot Knob begins to get deeper with snow. We switched from trail runners to boots at the pass (48.04880, -121.12716  Elevation: 6,624 ft).

Above Image: Boot path to camp grounds. Glacier Peak in background and lower Glacier Gap camping area up and to the right (not visible). Approx picture location 48.06332, -121.11911, Elevation 6,858 ft

Glacier Conditions
The morning of our summit bid was quite warm (32+) so no crampons were needed for most of the approach. We put crampons when we crossed into steep/firm snow on the Suiattle Glacier (48.09955, -121.10986  Elevation: 8,562 ft). Snow was soft on the way down and was great plunge stepping. Minor opens of crevasses on the way up but were beginning to open up more even on our way down. Highly recommend an alpine start to beat the heat and mushy snow on the approach. 

Above Image: Parties coming up Cool Glacier. Looking down from sandy ridge below the summit. Disappointment peak not visible off to the right.

Final Summit Approach
We dropped all our glacier gear at the start of the sandy ridge (48.10667, -121.11346, Elevation 9,644ft). There was a final steep snow patch to the summit. Ice axe/crampons were needed as the area was a no fall zone with firm snow but appropriate for basic students. Pickets weren't needed unless someone has serious steep snow anxiety. The steps are tall and deep due to parties plunge -stepping the steps deeper. Good to coach newer climbers and foot placement and snag hazards since it's very easy to trip up on this.

Above Image: Sandy ridge line to the final summit. Bergschrund was not present, easy to walk from glacier to sandy area.


Additional Notes
- Black flies were aggressive at White Pass but no biting insect activity once you get beyond the tree-line where you will camp.
- Above upper Glacier Gap camp you'll come to a short rocky jutting gendarme. You can slightly climb down and left of it. If you go right, it had a very exposed snow slope. Some parties went on the slope but wasn't worth the risk relative to the easy rock 4th class scramble to the left. (Rough guess at the GPS  48.09154, -121.10944)