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Trip Report    

Clark Mountain via Walrus Glacier

Successful climb via the Walrus Glacier

Honorio Valdes Honorio Valdes
July 28, 2025
  • Sat, Jul 26, 2025 — Sun, Jul 27, 2025
  • Clark Mountain & Luahna Peak
  • Climbing
  • Successful
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Successful 2-day climb of Clark Mountain via the Walrus Glacier with a group of 9. The unpaved section of the road to the White River TH was in good shape and low clearance cars can make it. Trail was fully melted to Boulder Pass and the Boulder Creek trail was easily doable with poles and hopping boulders. We camped just below the pass, next to a melting snow field that was a great water source. The climbers trails was mostly melted out with one or two snow patches that were easy to cross. Glacier was in good shape with some crevasses that were easy to navigate. The lower traverse to the summit was mostly melted out, except for one snow field that was easy to cross. We found lots of water sources at the trail and near the beginning of the glacier.

Climb with Jason as climb leader, Sarah and myself as assistants, and Ann, Cindy, Miki, Nick, Saransh, and Zihan as students. We left the White River TH at 8:30 and took our time with the approach. The Boulder Creek crossing was easily doable with poles and hopping boulders. We had great views once we got above the crossing and made it to camp just below Boulder Pass a bit before 4. 

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Since we only did the trip on 2 days, we had an early start on Sunday at 3 am. Travel down the climber's trail was a bit tedious since the students did not have experience in this type of terrain in the dark. We made it to the base of the glacier after 1:45 on the move and roped up. The glacier is in great shape with some crevasses to wander around, but there are sections where bare ice is starting to show. 

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The steeper section of the glacier has a few crevasses, but we were able to avoid them by zigzagging a bit. Once we got past this section, the glacier mellowed out and were able to navigate the crevasses that were starting to form.

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We unroped after the end of the glacier and did the lower traverse instead of following the ridge. There was one snowfield to cross, but everything else was melted out. We made it to the summit after 6:45 on the move and headed down after a 20 min break. The descent was a bit tedious due to the snow being mushier than earlier in the day, specially at the steeper section. This required face in down climbing for about 200-300' until we got to more mellow slopes and I opted to belay my rope team in that section. The rest of the descent to camp was uneventful and we made it back around 4:30, after 13:30 on the move. We packed camp and debriefed before heading down and made it back to the TH a bit before 11, after an almost 20 hr day. Despite the challenges we faced, it was a fun climb and a great learning experience for me.

After this experience, I would recommend leaders to do this climb with 2 rope teams or schedule it over 3 days if going with a larger group. Also, the elevation gain listed on the website is incorrect. The gain on the approach should be around 4k and the gain for the summit day should be 2.6k