ClimbWashington.com: Glacier Peak / Sitkum Glacier Ski

From SkiMountaineer.com
"Glacier Peak is the only true wilderness volcano in the Cascade Range. Unlike the other volcanoes, Glacier Peak has no roads reaching its flanks, and access to its base from any direction involves a hike of several miles. The heavy snowfall of the North Cascades feeds a dozen glaciers which flow from its summit cone in all directions into deep river valleys below. The shortest climbing route follows the White Chuck River Trail for 5 miles and then ascends the fairly inactive Sitkum Glacier along the western flank. This route provides a rare opportunity for solitude on a moderate route on a volcano."

The approach was hellish, as the snowline did not start until 5700' in Boulder Basin, and the trailhead elevation is 2300'. There was also about 5-6 miles of hiking with skis and boots on our pack before we could start to skin to base camp. It rained on saturday night and was pretty crappy on sunday morning.

I told everyone there was no way I was not going to go for the summit even if the weather was junk. Since we had tracks from previous climbers and we had 50 wands and only had about 3500 feet to go to the summit from base camp, there was no reason to sleep in. But since it rained and was windy, tracks were hard to follow.

The night before, I skinned over a hidden crevasse on the lower sitkum when I went to yo-yo the slope, but it turned out to be white out for my ski down, so it was a total waste of time. Sunday morning we got up to Sitkum ridge and found our way up to the upper sitkum glacier, and around 9k it opened up to blue skies and we rose above the clouds on our ascent.

From there to the upper ridge it was perfect skinning conditions. Unfortunately, I decided to leave my crampons at the base of Sitkum ridge for the final few hundred feet to the summit. The conditions did not require crampons until we were about 100 yards from where we left them. At that point, I decided I could just kick steps with my AT boots, which worked okay, just not totally secure in some situations.

We traversed under the summit and the others took a right right to the summit and I went left since there were steps up the gulley. I then went straight up a short and steep headwall to the summit plateau, and then a few final steps up to the summit. Calm and cool on the summit, we all chilled while Craig went into a fetal position coma. Probably because he had not brought his snowboard. Leave it to a snowboarder to f'up.

The ski down was icy and Chuck and I followed previous tracks, and from the ridge saddle down to the lower ridgeline was some of the best skiing I have had this year (2003). We skied past 2 rope teams of 3 on the way down. After the ridge where we turned right to catch the lower Sitkum Glacier, it turned to mush since it had rained there and it was survival skiing from there until we took the skis off. The ski down from base camp (7200) to our shoes sucked as well, but better than booting it. Our shoes were soaked that we had left behind, and the hike out literally sucked since we had the skis on our packs with a full pack.
All Photos >>

Our times were:
TH to Base camp: 5 hours
BC to Summit: 3 hours
Summit to BC: 23 minutes
BC to TH: 4 hours

Directions: From Mountain Loop Highway 10.5 miles east of Darrington, follow White Chuck River Road 11 miles to road end and trailhead.
Map: USGS Glacier Peak West / Green Trails Glacier Peak No. 112
Trail Conditions: click here
Road Conditions:: click here
Web References:
SummitPost.com
USFS Flood repair efforts
SkiMountaineer.com
USGS
USGS Eruption History & Reports (It's going to blow soon)
PeakBagger.com
CascadeClassics.org

Additional Info :
- White Chuck Road closed indefinitely at 1.4 miles due to bridge washout.
- A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at all trailheads.
Video::

"Painful Inflammatory"

Glacier Peak Ski Highpoint Elevation: 10,541 feet Region/Location: North Cascades & Glacier Peak Wilderness Trip Length: 2 days Route: White Chuck River Trail #643 / Sitkum Glacier Difficulty: Grade 1 Glacier Elevation Gain: 8300 feet Roundtrip Distance: 22 miles! Trailhead Elevation: 2300 feet Date: May 31, 2003 Video:: "Painful Inflammatory" Photos by: Scott Harder [Click here to view the shutterfly photo collection]
From SkiMountaineer.com "Glacier Peak is the only true wilderness volcano in the Cascade Range. Unlike the other volcanoes, Glacier Peak has no roads reaching its flanks, and access to its base from any direction involves a hike of several miles. The heavy snowfall of the North Cascades feeds a dozen glaciers which flow from its summit cone in all directions into deep river valleys below. The shortest climbing route follows the White Chuck River Trail for 5 miles and then ascends the fairly inactive Sitkum Glacier along the western flank. This route provides a rare opportunity for solitude on a moderate route on a volcano." The approach was hellish, as the snowline did not start until 5700' in Boulder Basin, and the trailhead elevation is 2300'. There was also about 5-6 miles of hiking with skis and boots on our pack before we could start to skin to base camp. It rained on saturday night and was pretty crappy on sunday morning. I told everyone there was no way I was not going to go for the summit even if the weather was junk. Since we had tracks from previous climbers and we had 50 wands and only had about 3500 feet to go to the summit from base camp, there was no reason to sleep in. But since it rained and was windy, tracks were hard to follow. The night before, I skinned over a hidden crevasse on the lower sitkum when I went to yo-yo the slope, but it turned out to be white out for my ski down, so it was a total waste of time. Sunday morning we got up to Sitkum ridge and found our way up to the upper sitkum glacier, and around 9k it opened up to blue skies and we rose above the clouds on our ascent. From there to the upper ridge it was perfect skinning conditions. Unfortunately, I decided to leave my crampons at the base of Sitkum ridge for the final few hundred feet to the summit. The conditions did not require crampons until we were about 100 yards from where we left them. At that point, I decided I could just kick steps with my AT boots, which worked okay, just not totally secure in some situations. We traversed under the summit and the others took a right right to the summit and I went left since there were steps up the gulley. I then went straight up a short and steep headwall to the summit plateau, and then a few final steps up to the summit. Calm and cool on the summit, we all chilled while Craig went into a fetal position coma. Probably because he had not brought his snowboard. Leave it to a snowboarder to f'up. The ski down was icy and Chuck and I followed previous tracks, and from the ridge saddle down to the lower ridgeline was some of the best skiing I have had this year (2003). We skied past 2 rope teams of 3 on the way down. After the ridge where we turned right to catch the lower Sitkum Glacier, it turned to mush since it had rained there and it was survival skiing from there until we took the skis off. The ski down from base camp (7200) to our shoes sucked as well, but better than booting it. Our shoes were soaked that we had left behind, and the hike out literally sucked since we had the skis on our packs with a full pack. All Photos >> Our times were: TH to Base camp: 5 hours BC to Summit: 3 hours Summit to BC: 23 minutes BC to TH: 4 hours Directions: From Mountain Loop Highway 10.5 miles east of Darrington, follow White Chuck River Road 11 miles to road end and trailhead. Map: USGS Glacier Peak West / Green Trails Glacier Peak No. 112 Trail Conditions: click here Road Conditions:: click here Web References: SummitPost.com USFS Flood repair efforts SkiMountaineer.com USGS USGS Eruption History & Reports (It's going to blow soon) PeakBagger.com CascadeClassics.org Additional Info : - White Chuck Road closed indefinitely at 1.4 miles due to bridge washout. - A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at all trailheads. Video:: "Painful Inflammatory"