the glacier blues

the glacier blues

The Hoh river trail and Mt. Olympus was recommended to me by several persons, and i most remember by interns from Seattle when i was in grad school. The groves of mossy trees in the temperate rain forest river valley are unlike places i have lived. I don't know if there is there is a seasonality, where the moss is most ubiquitous. I did not expect the groves of redwoods that far north on the coast. The random large trees throughout the forest broken near their base from wind and/or snow is also a memory - i'm sure it's something to see when one of the large trees snaps and falls. The blue glacier is a true glacier (nothing comparable in Colorado), with a river-like appearance from the terminal moraine and nearby there near there on the lateral moraine. Summiting Olympus finds several miles of glacier travel over much of a day's time.

Several trip reports I have seen address marathon style visits to Mt. Olympus, so I thought I would add a description covering the more traditional expedition style (big packs, and rest days) for those more familiar and content with the risk associated with that type of trip. I wanted to also cover shortcomings in descriptions I have seen. That said, I hope to help plan for any style of trip you might take.

Our general itinerary in 2021 was:

Saturday 7/03 (TRAVEL DAY, stayed in Port Angeles after flying to SEA)

Sunday 7/04 (BACKPACK, Hoh TH to Lewis Meadows camp)

Monday 7/05 (BACKPACK, Lewis Meadows camp to Glacier Meadows camp)

Tuesday 7/06 (REST DAY, at Glacier Meadows camp)

Wednesday 7/07 (SUMMIT DAY, at Glacier Meadows camp)

Thursday 7/08 (REST DAY, at Glacier Meadows camp)

Friday 7/09 (BACKPACK, Glacier Meadows camp to Olympus Guard Station camp)

Saturday 7/10 (BACKPACK, Olympus Guard Station camp to Hoh TH, stayed in Port Angeles)

With our itinerary, the starting weight for my backpack was 61.6 lbs with a frontpack at 19.7 lbs  for a total of 81.3. The ending weight for my backpack was 48.2 lbs with a frontpack at 19.4 lbs for a total 67.6. Emily’s pack was around 60 lbs. The itinerary is for a 6 day trip, also with rock climbing gear, so it follows to expect a pack heavier than Rainier, where I was checking in with 60-65 lbs in multiple previous trips.

We found key information lacking, and coming from out of state in Colorado it is essential to get good information before travel. So I will clarify considerations and describe in detail where needed.

-Emily called the ranger on the park 1-800 phone beforehand and this was counterproductive. With incorrect information like ‘’bears will follow you on the glacier to the summit’’, it’s clear we had more experience than the guy on the other end of the phone. Maybe watch less Hollywood climbing movies next time, buddy! While there are less climbers on Olympus than Rainier, reliable recent information is essential. Hopefully the park can eventually rectify the situation. It was helpful to stop by the visitor center on arrival near the trailhead – the rangers there had good information as some had been to Glacier Meadows in recent days. At least this allows you to drop unneeded gear in your vehicle prior to a long approach.

Some other corrections of bad information from the phone follow…

-While there were river crossings (two notable on fallen trees, with waypoints below), we did not ever ford the icy Hoh river in chest deep water. With recent record heat, it’s unclear if there was factual basis to this phone ‘'warning'’.

-There was no snow in base camp at Glacier Meadows. Early July is often ideal for climbing in the Pacific NorthWest (good snow conditions and the start of summer weather). It can be an issue to find widespread snow coverage necessitating camping on snow starting at 4000’-6000’ in early July. This can come up particularly on the north aspects of major mountains (Rainier, Adams, Baker. Glacier Meadows is located in the forest (not much ‘meadows’ remain), as can be verified from satellite before visiting. Checking at the visitor center confirmed the correct conditions – no snow at all; less gear (shovel, sleeping mats) was needed, and a lighter summer tent was sufficient in the forest.

-Contrary to phone advice, bear wire (a clip on a metal cable with a pulley) was available at all major camp sites. While everyone brought the acrylic bear vault canisters for food, which is required and clearly purposed, the bear wire was very helpful for our Ursack bags because it took the first couple days to eat the food that did not fit in the bear canister. Do bring a bear can for your base of food though, the wires are not solely sufficient for the many visitors on weekends. For example 2-3 groups were typically climbing during the week, while Glacier Meadows was completely full on weekends.

-There are multiple black bears in the park, some with a reputation for being more curious around sapien visitors. We did not see bears in person, but there were recent scratch marks on trees indicating active territory above Elk lake and near Mt. Tom camp. We were reminded on the trail that the human voice is unfamiliar and quite scary to bears. So talking and yelling at bears while standing your ground wearing a big pack (sizeable and also quite threatening) may be the most helpful strategy.

-We checked in at the park entrance behind 2 cars at 8:51 am using a previously purchased US national parks pass. This was the -best and only legit- advice by phone. The waiting line of cars at the entrance was at least an hour long when we later left on Sunday afternoon. Stay in Forks or wake up early in Port Angeles if it helps you get to the park early, especially on a weekend.

-The coast is warmer than the continental weather we are used to (in winter or spring snow climbs in CO). Still, I found I wore the single set of capilene base layer (only overnight as PJ’s) and fleece (vest during am climb and separate jacket in camp) and the single pair of neoprene gloves (overnight or climbing) that I brought. After a week of record heat in the NW, we found continued fair weather. It was sunny, warm and did not rain during our trip. There was morning fog in the valley some days and the maritime layer lifted up to the lateral moraine on our return to camp on the climbing day. West coast summers are predominantly sunny, even in the NW. Early or late season will increase the chance of rainy days. The ranger at Glacier Meadows set up her tent without the rain fly for better ventilation to stay cool overnight - again, there was no forecast for rain through the week. The Blue glacier was breezy with a chill before dawn. I used a buff, but did not put on my balaclava. With the weather forecast above freezing, I did not even pack ski goggles. I brought a lightweight down belay jacket and rain pants in case of sustained wind or emergency on the glacier, but never needed to use them.

-We did bring bug shirts (think bee keeper looking mesh shirt with sleeves) based on a trip report describing Elk lake as a mosquito infested hell-hole. There -were- mosquitos, but we did not find it terrible. We are used to massive spawns in July, where the mosquitos disappear starting at dusk (it can freeze any night of the year in the Rockies). In practice, the mosquitoes in the Olympics were more like hanging out in town in Minnesota. Present and mildly annoying, but not terrible.

-I never filtered directly from the silty Hoh river. I remember a friend destroying my water pump in front of my eyes on first use in the similarly dirty Green river in Wyoming. That will quickly wreck your device!!! It's best to use the much clearer (cleaner) side streams as a source for water. Or there was a neighboring small pool of water dammed off from the Hoh at Lewis, allowing the sediment to settle.

-Some people brought fishing gear for the Hoh river. I did not see any fish caught, but trust that can be done. There is a mercury warning, not to eat too many fish from the river or if you are pregnant.

-We used white gas and went through one 22 oz fuel can in 6 days. I had dehydrated pouch food for breakfast and dinner each day. We did not cook specialty foods (e.g., portable oven) through the trip. We shipped our stove and fuel can by ground to our hotel ahead of the trip. It may help considerably to pre-arrange and pre-print return shipping forms for return shipment. We almost lost out stove because there is no shipping store at SEA airport. For example, FedEx does not have great weekend hours or may not be open on weekends in many store locations.

-I used 1.5 rolls of toilet paper over 6 days. The outhouses at the camps were all useable (not full), but did not have any TP – bring your own! Plan in case of emergency, e.g., a case of Crayola butt or whatever might happen to you.

-Because there was no snow before the glacier and most people leave their poles at the edge of the glacier, it probably does not help to have snow baskets on your poles (more likely to lose them into rocks). I took 1 pole with me on the glacier, ice axe in other hand, as is popular for low angle glacier travel in South America. The snow was never overly steep (roughly 45 degrees or less), so an ice tool is not needed for the standard route.

-I used most of a full rack of cams on the rock climb, including the largest #3 cam. I also used ½ of my full rack of nuts. I am not a great rock climber, and probably placed more protection than you would. See photo of the gear from my harness for reference. I brought 6 quick draws and improvised 2 to 3 others at the base of the climb from Emily’s extra carabiners and prussiks.

-A 60 m dry rope is good for the rock climb (I had 10 extra feet on reaching the rappel anchor near the top of the west summit). Including rope stretch, a 60 m rope reaches to work for the rappel. 50 m would have been too short. We heard the climbing conditions had gone great recently at the visitor center, otherwise we would have brought a much lighter 30 m dry rope and not climbed the summit rock. We coiled the ends of the 60 m rope on the glacier, because 60 m is a long way to be separated in the event of a crevasse fall.

-Some people pack their mountaineering boots to use lighter footwear or shoes for the approach.  Emily did this. I had enough stuff where i preferred to have boots, so i used expedition socks with my mountaineering boots. There were hot spots on my feet from the weight of my packs, no superficial hot spots or blisters to speak of. I brought flip flops for camp, so i could also soak my feet. I did appreciate a smaller, lighter day pack for summit day, which served as my front pack on other days.

-I don’t recall descriptions identifying the trail follows exposed ledges before the ladder section. This might be a concern for those not comfortable with exposure or in bad (slippery) weather. Then again those person have no business in glacier travel.

-We used the infamous rope ladder at the previous avalanche location close before Glacier meadows camp. It is missing at least 5 rungs, a couple of those are two in a row. We found the rope set up with the ladder in bad shape on arrival (exposed core). This is the sketchiest setup I have ever seen in a US national park. The rope was replaced on our return, possibly by another group donating their rope.

-Both the N and NW faces of the summit rock make for climbing routes, see image. The N face is more vertical. I took the NW face, which had a couple nuts remaining from previous group(s) in difficult spots. I can confirm the climbs are low 5th class.

-We accessed the summit rock by snow, all north aspects were accessible. The steepest snow on the Blue Glacier route occurs below the summit rock, immediately followed by a bergschrund close to the base of the rappel. From conversation, the summit rock may not have a climbing season in limited snow years. There was a conspiracy theory in our group that a permanent bergschrund between the snow and rock summit had developed because of global warming - untrue at least for now - this was not the case on our trip.

-We found the snow in good condition. There was an obvious track in the snow from recent use (if only 2-3 groups the previous day). Some crevasses were opening up in recent days, snow bridges were mostly solid (a couple were recently abandoned or routed around). While a little slushy, the NW snow pack is so much more dense than the Continental snow we are used to.

I can give the key waypoints along the way, saved on the trail and slightly different than in my map based on satellite information before the trip. 

Hoh River TH: N47.86047° W123.93429° at 636’ 

Mt. Tom camp: N47.86777° W123.88054° at 748’ 

Five Mile camp: N47.86718° W123.84122° at 782’ 

Happy Four camp (or Happy Hour camp?): N47.86826° W123.83001° at 804’ 

river crossing 1: N47.87743° W123.78155° at 931’ 

Olympus Guard camp: N47.87842° W123.76621° at 805’ 

river crossing 2: N47.87954° W123.75398° at 1069’ 

Lewis meadow camp: N47.87912° W123.73941° at 1041’ 

start of the true uphill ascent: N47.87873° W123.70748° at 1363’ 

13.2 camp: N47.87624° W123.69441° at 1526’ 

Martin camp: N47.86020° W123.69103° at 2517’ 

Elk lake camp: N47.85737° W123.69238° at 2603’ 

rope ladder N47.83677° W123.69279° at 4518’ 

Glacier meadow camp: N47.83251° W123.69143° at 4241’ 

lateral moraine: N47.82486° W123.68318° at 5112’ 

descend lateral moraine: N47.82307° W123.68047° at 5146’ 

start blue glacier: N47.81989° W123.68104° at 4961’ 

base snow dome: N47.81132° W123.69449° at 5578’ 

Crystal pass: N47.80374° W123.70245° at 7284’ 

base rappel: N47.80148° W123.71090° at 7845’ 

Olympus west summit: N47.80130° W123.71085° at 7921’

times (summit day): 

wake time: 12:20 am. From trip reports, many groups wake or start at 3 am. With the hot, sunny weather we thought to get an early start to take advantage of the freezing of the highest snow from radiative cooling overnight. 

start time (departed camp): 2:03 am 

arrive lateral moraine: 02:56 am 

arrive blue glacier: 03:31 am. As advised by a recent group, it helped to gps track and waypoint the descent of the moraine the previous day. By knowing the route, we passed a group that started 30 minutes before us. 

started glacier travel: 04:15 am. We lost some time here not having remembering how to gear up for glaciers. 

arrived base snow dome: 04:35 am. 

arrived base summit: 09:50 am 

summitted: 11:52 am. We lost a lot of time here hemming and hawing about which face to climb, and I climbed slowly and cautiously. 

end rappel: 01:15 pm 

arrive lateral moraine: 4:45 pm. 

arrive camp: 6:16 pm. 16 hours round trip baby! Familiar groups may be able to shave 4 hours off of that. For me, it’s nice to take pictures and the comfort of going at your own pace.

link to album of photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/19047247@N04/albums/72157719560642152

Hope all this helps - good luck on your own trip!!!