I did that climb solo in February 1983 Took two days to get to blue glacier one day to summit snowshoeing up the glacier ice ax and crampons near the top. Walked all the way out fourth day. Carried 80 pound pack and food for two weeks
Awesome! I soloed this in 26 hours on-site. I remember passing fixed pitons on the summit block. The fog rolled in while I was on the glacier coming down. I was lost and screamed at the gods. The fog parted and I saw the way out.
Yeah I had no idea either that's why I went up the wrong peak. It's confusing up there if you have to go around the pass vs heading straight up the peak. The views were good though!
Nice work, Trent! I summited two days before you did, though I didn't go solo. We did the 2 pitch, 5.4 route up the north side of the true summit block (rock is pretty solid there), so if you ever go back with someone to bag it, I think that's a better route than going up the shitty scramble route on the west face, which is what most people do. Also, a WTA post on August 13 (very shortly after your trip), shows that they replaced that ladder at the Glacier Meadows washout with a new one, fwiw. And I don't know if you watch Randy T's youtube channel (lots of solo climbs around the Cascades), but he posted his solo trip up Olympus. He has some really good vids.
Thanks for the info! Yeah that was a long day to not summit haha, I’ll probably have to try again. I think the worst thing was there were no other teams up there when I was up there, I was expecting there to be multiple teams up there. Apart from that, the gps route I had in my phone went directly across some crevasses, so I went around the back way which is where the boot pack was. I lost the trail when it went into the rocks though. Oh well live and learn lol
@@trenthari IMO, summiting kind of depends on the nature of the mountaintop. There are various peaks along the broad Olympus massif, so you got one of them. Looks like you bagged the pinnacle just east of the true summit block. I think you did *a* summit of Mt Olympus, just not the "true" summit of the west peak (the highest point), which is fine. View is the same, pretty much. In fact, the view of the Blue Glacier, for instance, might be better from where you were. So you got it, as far as I'm concerned. Same idea for people who reach Rainier's crater rim, Point Success, or Liberty Cap. If they get to any of those, they summited, even if they didn't do the little hike over to Columbia Crest and touch the USGS medallion for a photo op. On the other hand, mountains like Forbidden and Eldorado that have a summit in the form of a pinnacle, well, OK, you gotta get to the medallion in those cases because of the nature of their form.
The ultimate Olympic experience is to take the next step and spend the night on the Olympus summit. City lights from Portland to Seatac to Vancouver and Victoria are visible and are spectacular glows in the distance in a sea of stars. In August-early September crossing the glacier isn't difficult, as all the hazards are exposed. Ropes, crampons, ice axes and minimal training are required.
Your segment walking out and almost falling asleep was excellent and I remember that feeling. I once slept next to the trail a mile from the car at 11 pm.
That is amazing, looking to do the hike this summer but over a couple days. Beside the sketchy rock climbing at the end was everything else pretty manageable? Hats off for nailing it in under 24 hours.
The glacier was pretty sketchy and near the summit there’s some crevasses and occasionally a bergschrund. I’d make sure to either go with someone that knows the route or have really good current beta to avoid accidentally going the wrong way like I did. The route near the summit changes quite a bit over the season I think.
I wouldn’t for sure, the glacier was worse than I anticipated, I would definitely recommend having a rope team for this summit (and maybe trad rock climbing gear)
I definitely wouldn't recommend it, there were crevasses all across it and at one point I punched through and about broke a leg. On top of that you're really exhausted after so many miles so trips and stumbles are more common.
Yeah I just left it because I went up the scramble and I didn’t want the extra weight and I needed both hands to climb. I only need it on the glacier and I used it to get back down the glacier.
Man, some sketchy stuff near the end. This is why climbing Cascade peaks and Olympic Mountain peaks can be so difficult. They're not the tallest mountains in the world, but all that loose rock and scree just makes it so dangerous. Hard to trust any holds knowing they could break off at any point. Not to mention the glaciers. Good attempt, though. I could never do this in a day.
