The highest peak in Washington’s Olympic Mountains, Mount Olympus is accessed via the very long approach via the Hoh River Trail, which wanders for nearly 14 miles along the valley floor before beginning a steep ascent into the alpine. The peak’s location on the Olympic Peninsula in one of the country’s only rainforests also means that weather can be…dicey. The summit had been on our radar for years, awaiting the right combination of not-yet-melted-out glacier conditions, reasonably clear skies, and long weekend availability from all members of our party.
Despite my attempts to convince everyone to make the most out of the remaining snow in Washington and ski something, I was outvoted and volun-told into climbing Mount Olympus. I had the option of bringing my splitboard but figured my back would thank me for not carrying it for the ~45 mile round trip when we already had camping gear since we were planning on doing the climb over 3 days. This didn’t stop me from looking on in jealousy at the ski tracks we saw in the snow and thinking that maybe a car to car attempt could make it more reasonable in the future…
Day 1
Kaitlin and I started the morning off in high spirits. Spending the night at the trailhead sleeping in the van is always super convenient and leaves us feeling refreshed (plus, Kaitlin is able to have one last cup of fresh hot coffee before being relegated to instant coffee packets and caffeine pills).
Everyone arrived at the trailhead around 7am and we started moving at 7:45. The first 13 miles were flat and went by quickly as we paralleled the Hoh River. As the trail began it’s incline, the weight of our packs and the preceding 13 miles became more apparent, but we maintained a decent pace albeit with a bit more perspiration. The day was sunny and cool, and the shade of the forest canopy kept us relatively comfortable for the duration of the hike in.
With camp less than a half mile away, our pace came to a shuddering halt when we encountered the trail’s famous ladder – a section of the trail that had been washed out years ago, now navigable via a long rope and ladder amalgamation. One by one, we scooted along the smooth silt of the washout and transitioned onto the ladder, carefully climbing down each rung as the rest of our group waited their turn to avoid dropping rocks on those below. Finally, we had all members accounted for and arrived at the Glacier Meadows Campsite. After breathing a collective sigh of relief and dropping our packs unceremoniously onto the ground, we got to work filtering water, changing into clean socks, and re-hydrating our gourmet freeze-dried dinners (chicken and dumplings was a strong contender for night one MVP). We also managed to distract our birthday girl, Tess, on a water-gathering mission long enough to hastily assemble a Happy Birthday banner, complete with whiskey and a rice krispie treat cake. After a solid rendition of everyone’s favorite happy birthday song, we tucked in at 7:30pm in anticipation of another big day.
Day 2
We departed camp at 5:30am and quickly made it to the lateral moraine overlooking the Blue Glacier, just in time to watch the sun rise. The established hiker’s trail ended here, transitioning to more of a “pick your own adventure” type of route. This is where the “fun” started. What came next was a steep scree-filled descent down towards the toe of the glacier, which required relatively generous spacing between each of us to avoid rockfall. Finally on ice, we put on crampons, roped up, and continued up.
The climb was enjoyable in the morning light as we took in the beautiful views around us. We decided to follow the more traditional Crystal Pass route, which navigates a relatively gradual approach around the massif, rather than the steeper and more direct Fourth of July approach, which had at least one notable bergschrund running nearly across it in addition to visible crevasses.
Once we made it to the south side of the massif the “fun” continued. We got a bit turned around from no longer having the main peak in view and started following the existing boot path instead of consulting our maps. This led to adding a bit more mileage than needed as we zigzagged around the glacier, but we eventually found the saddle between one of the false summits and the true summit. After downclimbing a small couloir that was completely iced up and crossing the saddle, we were at the summit block! Finally!
We opted to climb the North Face which is rated at 5.4 which I thought was fairly accurate. I climbed it in single layer mountain boots with cams from .5 – 2, a single rack of nuts, 6 alpine draws, and some larger slings. I think this was the perfect amount of protection, along with taking advantage of the two rappel stations at the mid point and top of the climb. Unfortunately, the base of the summit block was also completely ice, and I was forced to start the climb in crampons to even be able to get to the base safely. This led to it being a bit of a mixed climb until about half way up when I was able to take my crampons off. Once I made it up, I fixed the rope and the rest of the group came up one by one on traxions, effectively top rope soloing. On the way down, we rappelled using two 60m ropes to make it past the ice at the start of the climb (but one probably would’ve been fine).
After a quick regrouping, we made it back up the icy couloir – which had become somewhat less icy by this time in the day – and began retracing our steps, minus the zigzags. Descending the blue glacier took a fraction of the time it had taken to hike earlier in the day, with the soft snow making for quick plunge steps (note: both Brittany and Kaitlin were at different times swallowed up to the waist in small bergschrunds). Once back to the base of the glacier, we again made our way up to the lateral moraine, successfully dodging loose rocks and choss. By 7:30pm, we arrived back to camp, safe and sound with the exception of some blisters, and ready for dinner.
Day 3
Wanting to get a good start on what we knew would be a long day, we packed up camp and started the walk out around 6:30am. Climbing up the ladder was more stable than going down on the first day had been, and didn’t require us to go one at a time. We noticed that the rope at the top of the washout, which had been intact just two days prior, had since frayed and been stripped down to strands. The 17 miles back to the trailhead went quickly with minimal stops from wanting to finally have our packs off for good. Once back at the van we celebrated by theragunning our sore muscles before the 5 hour drive back to Seattle.
All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend adventuring with friends!
