We started at the TH at 10 am and climbed up to ~7600 feet where we camped. The route is in good shape, no blowdowns. But this past couple weeks, the freezing level had not dropped below the summit staying at 11,000 ft, so we were hiking in full packs in mashed potatoes, but there was really no postholing. Some route finding may be necessary through some still snow covered sections through the trees, but once out of the trees, the route is easy to follow. When you transition from the trail to the glacier, watch for snow above you on the rocks. There are some large chunks of snow/ice on the cliffs above the trail that are melting out quickly and will likely continue to release with the warm weather. We encountered a glide avalanche and sent people across one at a time and quickly.
The first high camp is at 6400 ft. We took a break here, but moved up higher to a camp at ~7600 feet to give us an early start on the rib. There is a very large flat area here, perfect spot to spend the night if you’re up for the extra elevation. This camp also allows for more solitude than the lower camps, as we were the only group camped here. No running water so we melted snow, without filtering.
Climbing
We roped up and stayed on the west side of the glacier. The east side of the glacier is more heavily crevassed, but as of Sunday, there was a large distance (300-400 feet+) from the climbing route to any openings on the east side of the glacier. There is one large crevasse right at the top of Hell’s Highway, but it’s obvious and easily avoidable. We ascended to ~8600 ft and went to the obvious notch where the route begins. There's enough room for 6 people, I hip belayed my followers up to the notch. I transitioned to rock climbing but did not wear rock shoes. The SE rib is 5.4, positive handholds, and airy. 2 pitches with a 60 meter rope because we simul climbed it. I wish I owned tricams because those would have been helpful. I brought small nuts, small cams to 0.75, and 10 singles and 4 doubles.
Descent
From the summit there's an obvious rap station climbers left of the gully. But we scrambled down to the next rap station. 4 raps with a single 60 m should do it but we had two 60 m ropes so we were leap-frogging, sending the second rope with the second climber. The second rap traverses the gully and then the two other raps finish climber’s right of the gully. The fourth rap station we set up a double rope rappel to get us to safer ground.
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