Guest post by R.L.
June 1978-
This is the story of two attempts on Glacier Peak, Washington in consecutive Junes of 1978-9. 1978 ended in a rainstorm but the next year we were blessed with clear weather and success. It’s a great viewpoint which includes the Olympics, Puget Sound, Rainier, Baker, and the North Cascades.
Offwidth & I had worked at the same soft drink factory in Delta, B.C. and had begun climbing together in 1974. In 1976 we did Mt. Baker and intended to do the other high volcanoes in Washington State & beyond. In the spring of 1977 we encountered a situation that would change our lives. We were headed up Fraser Valley intending on heading up towards Manning Park when we picked up a couple hitching to a trailhead. They were to hike the 9 miles back down the Skagit River trail to their car. It turned out to be DM and it launched a long friendship that resulted in many nice climbs especially between DM and Offwidth. It didn’t take much conversation to realize that DM was a fanatic.
The first time the 3 of us (along with Ken F) climbed together was when we climbed Mt. Adams on July 02,1977 where we were almost blown off the mountain by ferocious winds. One vivid memory was struggling up the North Cleaver and my nose was running like a tap. Soon I was out of Kleenex so I just let the effluent blow horizontally off into space (don’t worry, the others were above me). On our way down we could see it had snowed at our camp 5000 ft below.
Since I had climbed Mt. St. Helens in 1975 my attention was directed to Glacier Peak. At 10,541 Ft it is the 4th highest summit in Washington State after Rainier, Adams and Baker. It was commonly referred to as ‘the last of the wild volcanoes’ as it takes some effort to get to its slopes as compared to the other volcanoes. It’s not visible from many roads and is only visible in the distance at one point along I-5. So in June 1978 on the weekend closest to the solstice we decided to make our attempt.
It turned out that our party was going to be four, Offwidth, Bruce, Ken & myself (Ross). Previously DM had pounded into me the mantra of pack weight reduction. Therefore on the Friday night I decided to go buy a Gore-Tex bivi bag. As the time was getting on I didn’t have a chance to seam seal the bag but it wouldn’t matter, would it.
We got a reasonably good start the next morning as we headed to customs. The forecast was not great but we were not to be deterred! Down I-5 we went to the Arlington turnoff and then along Highway 530 to the picturesque town of Darrington with Whitehorse Mtn. towering above. We then took the Mtn. Loop Highway to the White Chuck River Road and after 8 miles of good gravel road we reached the White Chuck trailhead 2300 Ft. The weather was cloudy as we hiked the 5 miles to Kennedy Hot Springs (3300 Ft) and stopped for a quick dip.
Kennedy Hot Spring
After leaving the hot spring we hiked the 3 miles up to the Pacific Crest Trail where we turned north and half a mile later found the climbers trail up Sitkum Ridge. It was a steep, efficient trail that ended in the krummholtz at about 5500 Ft. We carried on even though we were now in cloud and found a level enough spot to bivi at just under 7000 Ft. It was now about 7pm but we could go no further for today. We set up our foamies on the snow with the sleeping and bivi bags on top. It soon began to rain so it was time to retire to the safety of our bags.
It proceeded to rain harder all night. Another vivid memory was waking up about 1 am and realizing my unsealed bivi bag was letting in a lot of water. It was getting so bad that I had to put on my rain gear inside my sleeping bag. It was an ordeal waiting the last few hours until dawn at about 4:30am. We quickly packed up and headed back down the snow slope to the trail. We proceeded as fast as possible, past the hot spring and the last 5 miles to the trailhead and then back home, a soggy lot.
Stay tuned for part 2…
I remember being on the trip. Bruce was wrapped in a tent fly and headed down early. My recollection included not just rain, but freezing rain as my bivi bag had a sheet of ice in the morning.
those were the days….