Glacier Peak/Disappointment Peak Cleaver

7/25 - 7/26

Arrived at the TH on Friday morning (7/25) and set off on the trail at 8:30am. Arrived at White Pass at 2:15pm. Took the White River col crossing and traversed down to camp at 6500' and arrived at 5:10pm (8 hours 40 mins total - 13 miles).

On summit day, woke up at 3am and had boots on the ground at 4am. Arrived Glacier Gap at 5:30am, climbed the cleaver and dropped onto the Gerdine Glacier at 6:45am and roped up. Arrived on the summit at 10am. Left summit at 10:20am and arrived at camp at 2pm. (9+ miles total)

The route is pretty straight forward. We did not ascend the White Chuck Glacier to attain Glacier Gap but instead climbed steeper snow and scree (class 2/3) in a more direct line from Glacier Meadows. This seems to be the route everyone follows and there is a climbers trail and cairns through many of the scree/talus fields.

There was a thin snow bridge between the Gerdine and Cool glaciers that may require an alternate route through that section as it continues to melt out. The rest of the route was pretty straight forward and obvious.

On the return trip, we took the Foam Creek col crossing. I would recommend this one over the White Pass col since most/all of the trail is melted out and easy to negotiate and follow. It took us about 6 hours to hike from camp to TH on day 3.