
Trip Report
Basic Glacier Climb - Mount Daniel/Lynch Glacier
Mount Daniel via Lynch Glacier
- Tue, Jul 23, 2024 — Wed, Jul 24, 2024
- Basic Glacier Climb - Mount Daniel/Lynch Glacier
- Mount Daniel/Lynch Glacier
- Climbing
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
We started at the Cathedral Pass Trailhead shortly after noon. A quick, uneventful three hour hike up to Peggy's Pond, and we found excellent campsites right by the lake. It was great to cool off in the lake on such a hot day.
The next morning, we started from camp at 4:30 am. The route wanders along Hyas Creek until you come up to an obvious right-leaning ramp to gain the ridge at approx. 6300 ft.
From atop the ridge, the route continues at roughly the same elevation, traversing the scree slopes westwards and then north, all the way till you get near the saddle above Pea Soup Lake. A good spot to drop down towards Pea Soup Lake is at 6600 ft.
Descending towards Pea Soup Lake involves a steep scree slope, after which we ascended snow heading directly towards the Lynch Glacier. We arrived at the glacier at 8:15 am, roped up and started ascending the glacier. There were a large number of visible crevasses directly above us which we wanted to avoid, so we opted to traverse low, and head towards the gendarme that splits the Lynch Glacier. After this, we headed straight towards the middle summit and the steep snow ramp that tops out on the summit area. There was a visible cornice to the right of the snow ramp, but it is easy to avoid.
After topping out, we hiked up towards the west summit, scrambled up the short, Class III summit block and enjoyed the views for a bit.
A quick lunch by the campsite just below the summit block, and we hiked out via the scramble route. There was one patch of snow one the route, as we approached the saddle near the east summit which we had to navigate around.
A quick swim back at Peggy's Pond and we packed up our tents and started the hike out. Another quick dip in the river right by the trailhead left us very refreshed for the four hour drive back to Bellingham.
Notes:
4:30 am started from camp
5:15 am op of first ridge
7:00 am saddle at pea soup lake
8:15 am roping up at glacier
10:00 am topping out the glacier
10:30 am summit
11 am started heading down
1 pm back at camp
2 pm started hiking down
4:45 pm back at TH
(11.24 mi, +2940 ft, -5180 ft)