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Trip Report    

Basic Glacier Climb - Whitman Crest/Fryingpan Glacier

Good snow and just a few crevasses starting to open up. Phenomenal wildflowers around Summerland Camp, and great views along the approach and at the summit. 13.5 hours car to car.

  • Road suitable for all vehicles
  • Route is still in good condition. No open crevasses on the main route, though some cracks are forming and sunken areas visible. Snow is melting fast. In late season Fryingpan glacier gets covered in open crevasses with exposed ice and running water.

    • Easy to cross Fryingpan Creek via two log bridges with handrails on one side.
    • Working outhouse at Summerland Camp.
    • Water available at Fryingpan Creek, near Summerland Camp, and from snowmelt at the bottom of the Fryingpan snowfield.
    • Route is snow free until the Fryingpan snowfield.
    • Our glacier crossing was uneventful. No open crevasses in our way.
    • Take care on the final scramble to the summit. The rock is extremely loose and exposed.

Basics

  • This trip started as a pivot from Sahale Peak, when Highway 20 was closed due to wildfire.
  • We had 9 participants, including 3 rope leaders and 6 basic climbing students from 4(!) different branches.
  • 12.6 miles round trip, ~5500' elevation gain
  • It took us 13.5 hours car to car:
    3:45am Start
    5:45am Summerland Camp
    8:00am Meany Crest
    12:00pm Whitman Crest summit
    4:00pm Departed Summerland Camp
    5:20pm Back to TH

Permit & Trailhead

  • I picked up our permit from the White River ranger station at 4pm the day before. It's faster if you give them a printout with each climber's: name, phone, climber's fee confirmation #s (pay.gov ID and agency ID), emergency contact, vehicle description & license plate, and previous routes climbed in MRNP.
  • Summerland TH now has weak cell phone coverage.
  • We double-parked in the long parking spaces to conserve space.
  • Group gear check and discussion on priorities for the day:
    1. Return safely
    2. Have fun
    3. Learn something
    4. Summit

Summerland Camp

  • The trail to Summerland was clear and easy to navigate even in darkness.
  • The Fryingpan Creek is crossed by two log bridges, each with a handrail on one side.
  • Beautiful wildflowers on approach and in the meadow:
    summerland-approach.jpg
    Approach to Summerland Camp (photo courtesy Peter T.)

  • Kept voices quiet to minimize disturbing the nearby campsites.
  • Working outhouse.
  • Water is available a short walk to the nearby creek.
  • Many of us stashed approach shoes here and we all switched to mountaineering boots (though we could have switched to boots higher, just below the scramble to Meany Crest).

Meany Crest

  • From Summerland, we spread out to minimize impact as we crossed the meadow and picked up a climbers trail to the base of the scramble:
    summerland-meadow.jpg
    Meadow above Summerland (Peter T.)

  • The scramble to Meany Crest was a mix of loose rock and dirt:
    meany-scramble.jpg
    Scramble to Meany Crest, with Little T and clouds forming above Tahoma in the background (Peter T.)

Fryingpan Glacier

  • We stayed high on the ridge between Meany Crest and the camping area at 7600'. The ridge has bigger, solid rock/slabs to scramble on compared with looser talus and scree further to climber's right.
    above-meany-looking-back.jpg
    On the ridge above Meany Crest, looking back

  • Plenty of snow-free camping spots in the flat area around 7600':
    camping-area.jpg
    Approaching the flat area with great camping at 7600'. Lined up on the horizon are Whitman, Little T, and Tahoma (Autumn C.)

  • We roped up and donned crampons just above 7600' at the base of the snowfield.
  • Also used this time to filter water from the melting snow. Strong flow.
    roping-up.heic
    Roping up at the base of the snowfield (Alexa Z.)

  • On the glacier, we started by navigating WNW on snow below a short rock ridge, shown above.
  • Turned SW, mostly in a straight shot towards the saddle at 9200' S of Whitman Crest.
  • There were no open crevasses in our path, though some cracks and sunken areas starting to form, and a couple large crevasses below the summit:
    crevasses.jpeg
    Crossing the Fryingpan Glacier. Note two large crevasses below Whitman Crest, center (Julia C.)

Summit Scramble

  • At the top of the glacier there is a saddle around 9200'. We unroped and left our packs here. Most of us removed crampons.
  • The final 200' scramble to the summit comprises extremely loose and exposed rock. We dislodged a number of rocks, included two volleyball sized rocks that rolled several hundred feet down the upper glacier. Take lots of care here, especially if there is anyone above or below you.
  • Approaching the summit, you get a front row seat to Little Tahoma. Note two climbers coming down the upper snowfield, and two other climbers coming up at lower left. Also note the massive ice fall from 7/26 on the Ingraham Glacier on Tahoma, in the background (left hand side):
    little-t-sideways.jpeg
    Up close and personal with Little Tahoma (Julia C.)

  • Phenomenal views from the summit:
    panorama.jpg
    Panorama from the summit

    summit.jpg
    Whitman Crest summit party (Peter T.)

Descent

  • After a brief victory party, we started heading back down the summit scramble:
    descending-summit.heic
    From the summit, looking back at our approach (Alexa Z.)

  • We retraced our steps to descend. The snow was a little softer, but not enough for good plunge stepping.
  • During the descent, we spent some time practicing echelon formation, zig-zag end runs around (simulated) crevasses, and vertical picket placement for running belays (with just one picket!):
    skills-practice.jpg
    Practicing (simulated) crevasse navigation (Autumn C.)

  • The long route down was made easier with expansive views and great weather:
    descending-meany.jpg
    Below Meany Crest, looking down all the way to Summerland Camp

    meadows.HEIC
    Meadows above Summerland Camp (Autumn C.)

  • After a good rest at Summerland, everyone was in good spirits and we covered the last 4 miles back to the TH in just 80 minutes.

Thank you to all the participants for a fantastic trip!

Note: At time of writing, OpenStreetMap labels Whitman Crest in the wrong location. It is at (46.8482, -121.6871), marked below.