Basic Glacier Climb - Mount Olympus/Blue Glacier

Trip Report

Everything on this trip just fell into place, making for a great climb.  We spent Wednesday evening in the campground at the trailhead, which made was for a nice leisurely start (thank you Marissa).  When people tell you the parking lot fills up by 8am, they are not joking, even on a weekday!  A 10am start of day one got us to camp by 3pm. An easy 10.5 mile (maybe 500 ft of elevation) to Lewis Creek Meadows.

The creek crossings (before the Guard station camp) are easy to navigate and very stable.

Day two took us up to Glacier Meadows camp (7 miles, 3200 feet of elevation gain).  We started at 8:30am to try to beat the oncoming heat of the day, but delt with it as best as we would could.

Lunch at Elk Lake camp allowed us to be fueled up for an afternoon on the ladder .

Whoever provided the tip of wearing helmets on the ladder, thank you.  There are loose rocks that collect on the rungs of the ladder and dislodge at any given time.  We decided to travel down (and up) the ladder in groups of two to speed things up.  Provide plenty of time here, as it gets crowded.  The ladder is in good shape, but has one rung at an angle and one completely missing about 3/4 of the way down.  the rope that helps to get onto the ladder is intact.   Made it to Glacier Meadows camp by 4pm.  Being a Friday afternoon on a busy weekend, camp was crowded, but we were able to find a spot large enough for all of our tents.

We left camp at 3am on Saturday morning.  Made it to the top of the Moraine by 3:45.

  The groups ahead of us were already at the bottom of the moraine, so we were able to find our way down without worrying of kicking rocks on people below.  Once at the bottom, we made our way across the Blue glacier to a short rock scramble to access the snow ramps to the base of the Snow Dome.

  We filled up with water here and then made our way through the snow patches to the base of the Snow Dome.

From here, we crossed the Snow Dome to the base of the steep approach to the rock summit.  The snow bridges over the upper crevasses are intact, so we opted to do the direct route (4th of July route) instead of Crystal Pass to the snow slope before the rock summit.  Once we got to the base of the rock summit, the line of people was long so we had a nice long wait (2.5 hours) before we could start the rock climbing portion.  Marissa led the rock pitch using the two 40 meter ropes, placing a #2 cam about half way up.  From here she fixed both ropes so we could use them as handlines for the others to ascend (our group and a group of three behind us).  After a short break at the top, we rappelled back to the snow and our gear a little before 2pm. We retraced our path back to camp, arriving a little after 7pm. 

On Sunday morning with a long hike back to the cars, we left Glacier Meadows camp at 6:20am.  Stopped at the Patrol Cabin camp before 11am for an early lunch stop, and made it to the parking lot by 3:30pm.  Sunday turned out to be the warmest day of the trip, so it was nice to have this on the way out.

Group Gear

• 4 pickets (never used)
• 2 ice screws (never used)
• 3 cams (.5, 1, 2) only used the #2
• 2 Ropes (8mm X 40m)
• 2 stoves
• 2 water filters

The summit anchor is in great shape, so we didn't need to add anything to it.

Four of us in the group carried bear cans, but the bear wires at the camps we stayed at  (Lewis Meadows and Glacier meadows) are up and work fine.  On Friday night at Glacier Meadows camp they were about maxed out.  Plan accordingly.

The outhouses at camp were good and not so good.  The Lewis Meadows outhouse is about maxed out, but still usable.  Glacier Meadows has two, and both were redone last year, so they are in great shape.

The bug situation was not bad, but very noticeable.  The potential for them to be bad was there there, but never materialized.  

 This is a beautiful climb, and one worth taking the time to do.  The crux on this trip for me was getting to the glacier from the top of the Moraine (it helped doing it in the dark!).  Would I go back and do this trip again, heck yes!  Will I find the time to do it again, yet to be determined!

Map