_connuh_ - Oct 5, 2019 5:55 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2019
2 night summit
This summit can be divided into six main parts from start to finish.
1) Take West Glacier trail to get on the ice.
2) Cross the glacier to the base of Mt Wrather.
3) Ascend to the summit.
4) Descend back to the glacier.
5) Cross glacier to West Glacier trail.
6) Hike back to trailhead.
PART 1) We started day 1 late, planning to get on the ice just before sunset, but got delayed and we didn't start until 7:30pm. We ended up getting on the ice a little after nightfall and slept at base of 2nd icefall.
PART 2) The beginning of day 2 was pleasant, we were awake, cold, and ready to move. 4 total miles tracked on Gaia (3.98 mi), we did try to cross the 2nd icefall, but bailed due to terrain (½-¼ mi, 30 min delay). No climbing necessary.
PART 3) We reached the base of Wrather (directly below shark fin) at about 9:45am and began our transition from ice travel to bush and rock travel. At 10:00am we scurried up an extremely loose drainage of small to large rocks (2cm-1m), we travelled uphill side by side to avoid [fatal] rockfall. Very steep in gradient for about 200 yards uphill. At the top of this section you are met with a section of bush and trees, with this and steep cliffs served a difficult route finding experience. Scrambling through trees to come upon a cliff that you must then go back into the trees and almost blindly travel in another direction to avoid the cliff. This part was the biggest barrier to the summit in my eyes. My climbing partner and I were feeling discouraged but we pushed on.
At the top of this section (1-1½ mi) was a beautiful alpine environment covered in heather and small low lying berries that overlooked the mendenhall glacier and suicide basin. We continued our ascent up a heather covered ramp, until it slowly turned into bare rock. At this point you can see the shark fin, and looking up you find that you're covering very little ground due to the steep nature of the ramp. All the while the “ridge” that you see above is not the true top, knowing this makes for discouraging ascent.
Pushing on past the shark fin until one finds Wrather’s main glacier and the ridgeline to summit. We decided to beeline across the snowpack since we were pushing our daylight, and we had our crampons. Pushing the last bit over the steep snow with crevasses to summit was perhaps the most difficult bit. Once we reached the edge of the snowpack, a dodgy and high consequence step over the ice’s edge to the exposed rock was necessary. Once we shed the boots and crampons, we were left a 1/8th mile scramble of 4th class to 5.4 climbing to the summit (easier routes exist, we were running short on time). Once we reached the summit, we stayed less than 15 minutes due to time. Left summit at approximately 3:45 pm.
PART 4) The descent from the summit was quick and relatively pleasant. The stress of the glacier in the darkness was becoming more and more of a reality with every step we took. Bushwacking back down was frustrating, and the sun was setting, bugs were out, and route finding required attention to detail. About halfway through the bush section We followed a drainage that spit us out exactly where we entered that saved us about a half hour. We reached the glacier at sunset, 8pm. This drainage is located up and to the left as you move up the first scramble bit on the base of Wrather, would recommend looking for this- for easy route finding on the ascent.
PART 5) After a long day, 4 miles over the glacier in the dark was not what we had anticipated. The sun was set and visible light was vanishing quickly. There were two high consequence sections on the glacier that we wanted to get through before it was completely dark. Using our tracked route via GPS made crevasse route finding more simple and saved us time. One step in front of the other, we made it to the base of 2nd icefall 11:30pm, decided to sleep on WG trail for the night.
PART 6) After a long trek, one final slog off the ice, and a scramble up to west glacier trail, then back down to the trailhead.
Approach start:
19:30 (7:30pm) Saturday, August 31, 2019
Day 1 approach end:
20:00(10pm) Saturday, August 31, 2019
Day 1 total hrs: 2.5
DAY 2
Day 2 approach start:
06:30 (6:30am) Sunday, September 1, 2019
Day 2 decent end:
23:30 (11:30pm) Sunday, September 1, 2019
Day 2 total hrs: 17
DAY 3
Day 3 descent start:
07:00 (7am) Monday, September 2, 2019
Descent end:
10:00 (10pm) Monday, September 2, 2019
Day 3 total hrs: 3
Total hours spent traveling…………………………………………………………...22.5
Total hours spent Car to car………………………………………………………….38.5
Recommendations:
-Seriously reconsider your desire to do this mission.
-Keep your group small: There are a few situations during this summit where it seemed pretty sketchy to be doing with more than 2-3 people. Less people= less likely to get into trouble.
-Track your path: Route Finding down through the bush can take an extensively long time without reference. We were losing daylight and had to cross the mendenhall glacier in the dark- again- difficult without reference. Using a gps can save you hours.
-Bike the first mile and a half of WG trail!
-Allow for more time than you anticipate! We received beta that said it was done in one day, but ice conditions took more time due to a warm summer.
climberben - Aug 20, 2020 11:26 am
Fun climbFun 4th class summit pyramid.
_connuh_ - Oct 5, 2019 5:55 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2019
2 night summitThis summit can be divided into six main parts from start to finish.
1) Take West Glacier trail to get on the ice.
2) Cross the glacier to the base of Mt Wrather.
3) Ascend to the summit.
4) Descend back to the glacier.
5) Cross glacier to West Glacier trail.
6) Hike back to trailhead.
PART 1) We started day 1 late, planning to get on the ice just before sunset, but got delayed and we didn't start until 7:30pm. We ended up getting on the ice a little after nightfall and slept at base of 2nd icefall.
PART 2) The beginning of day 2 was pleasant, we were awake, cold, and ready to move. 4 total miles tracked on Gaia (3.98 mi), we did try to cross the 2nd icefall, but bailed due to terrain (½-¼ mi, 30 min delay). No climbing necessary.
PART 3) We reached the base of Wrather (directly below shark fin) at about 9:45am and began our transition from ice travel to bush and rock travel. At 10:00am we scurried up an extremely loose drainage of small to large rocks (2cm-1m), we travelled uphill side by side to avoid [fatal] rockfall. Very steep in gradient for about 200 yards uphill. At the top of this section you are met with a section of bush and trees, with this and steep cliffs served a difficult route finding experience. Scrambling through trees to come upon a cliff that you must then go back into the trees and almost blindly travel in another direction to avoid the cliff. This part was the biggest barrier to the summit in my eyes. My climbing partner and I were feeling discouraged but we pushed on.
At the top of this section (1-1½ mi) was a beautiful alpine environment covered in heather and small low lying berries that overlooked the mendenhall glacier and suicide basin. We continued our ascent up a heather covered ramp, until it slowly turned into bare rock. At this point you can see the shark fin, and looking up you find that you're covering very little ground due to the steep nature of the ramp. All the while the “ridge” that you see above is not the true top, knowing this makes for discouraging ascent.
Pushing on past the shark fin until one finds Wrather’s main glacier and the ridgeline to summit. We decided to beeline across the snowpack since we were pushing our daylight, and we had our crampons. Pushing the last bit over the steep snow with crevasses to summit was perhaps the most difficult bit. Once we reached the edge of the snowpack, a dodgy and high consequence step over the ice’s edge to the exposed rock was necessary. Once we shed the boots and crampons, we were left a 1/8th mile scramble of 4th class to 5.4 climbing to the summit (easier routes exist, we were running short on time). Once we reached the summit, we stayed less than 15 minutes due to time. Left summit at approximately 3:45 pm.
PART 4) The descent from the summit was quick and relatively pleasant. The stress of the glacier in the darkness was becoming more and more of a reality with every step we took. Bushwacking back down was frustrating, and the sun was setting, bugs were out, and route finding required attention to detail. About halfway through the bush section We followed a drainage that spit us out exactly where we entered that saved us about a half hour. We reached the glacier at sunset, 8pm. This drainage is located up and to the left as you move up the first scramble bit on the base of Wrather, would recommend looking for this- for easy route finding on the ascent.
PART 5) After a long day, 4 miles over the glacier in the dark was not what we had anticipated. The sun was set and visible light was vanishing quickly. There were two high consequence sections on the glacier that we wanted to get through before it was completely dark. Using our tracked route via GPS made crevasse route finding more simple and saved us time. One step in front of the other, we made it to the base of 2nd icefall 11:30pm, decided to sleep on WG trail for the night.
PART 6) After a long trek, one final slog off the ice, and a scramble up to west glacier trail, then back down to the trailhead.
Approach start:
19:30 (7:30pm) Saturday, August 31, 2019
Day 1 approach end:
20:00(10pm) Saturday, August 31, 2019
Day 1 total hrs: 2.5
DAY 2
Day 2 approach start:
06:30 (6:30am) Sunday, September 1, 2019
Day 2 decent end:
23:30 (11:30pm) Sunday, September 1, 2019
Day 2 total hrs: 17
DAY 3
Day 3 descent start:
07:00 (7am) Monday, September 2, 2019
Descent end:
10:00 (10pm) Monday, September 2, 2019
Day 3 total hrs: 3
Total hours spent traveling…………………………………………………………...22.5
Total hours spent Car to car………………………………………………………….38.5
Recommendations:
-Seriously reconsider your desire to do this mission.
-Keep your group small: There are a few situations during this summit where it seemed pretty sketchy to be doing with more than 2-3 people. Less people= less likely to get into trouble.
-Track your path: Route Finding down through the bush can take an extensively long time without reference. We were losing daylight and had to cross the mendenhall glacier in the dark- again- difficult without reference. Using a gps can save you hours.
-Bike the first mile and a half of WG trail!
-Allow for more time than you anticipate! We received beta that said it was done in one day, but ice conditions took more time due to a warm summer.