July 25-28, 2003
Mt. Olympus Climbing Trip
Hoh River
Olympus Guard Station
High Hoh Bridge
Elk Lake
Glacier Meadows
Blue Glacier Moraine
Mount Olympus aka Sunh-a-do (7969′)
——————– Trip Report Summary ——————–
Region: Olympic Mountains (Washington)
Sub-Region: Mt. Olympus – Bailey Range Group
Area: Olympic National Park
Starting & Ending Point: Hoh River Trailhead at Hoh Visitor Center (Upper Hoh River Road)
Way Points: Hoh River & Mt. Tom Creek Camp & Mineral Creek & Cougar Creek & Five-Mile Island Camp & Clide Creek & Olympus Guard Station & Hoh Creek & Lewis Meadow Camp & Slide Creek & High Hoh Bridge & 13.3-Mile Camp & Martin Creek & Elk Lake & Glacier Meadows (trail hike)
Campsites: 13.3-Mile Camp & Glacier Meadows Camp & Martin Creek Camp
Sidetrip 1: Blue Glacier Lateral Moraine (trail hike)
Sidetrip 2: Blue Glacier Lateral Moraine (trail hike)
Summit: Mt. Olympus (ascent & descent via Lower Blue Glacier—Snow Dome—Crystal Pass—Upper Blue Glacier—High Saddle—North Face [Route 1] )
Approximate Stats: 47 miles traveled; 8000 feet gained & lost.
—————— Full Trip Report By Laura Zimmerman ——————-
Jim, my two brothers (Mike and Kirk), and I did an ascent of Mt. Olympus the last weekend of July. Here is my report.
Day 1 – Trailhead to 13.3-Mile Camp:
We decided to split up the approach into two days. We drove over Friday, hiked in to 13.3-mile Camp (6.6 hours from TH) just beyond the High Hoh bridge for the first night.
- Kirk, Mike, Laura, and Jim At Trailhead
Day 2 – 13.3-Mile Camp to Glacier Meadows + Blue Glacier Moraine:
On Day 2, we continued up the trail and established a base camp at Glacier Meadows (2.5 hours from Camp 1) at just over 18 miles. The trail is nearly flat to about a mile before the High Hoh Bridge, after which it begins to climb to Glacier Meadows. There is a section of trail beyond the bridge that crosses a steep scree slope with a narrow boot path. It gave us pause, looking down hundreds of feet of hard-packed dirt and loose rock. Glacier Meadows camp is nice; they even have a boulder that you can practice using your prusiks. We spent a little time practicing on the boulder, as well as hiking up to the Blue Glacier Moraine for a view of Mt. Olympus.
- Mt Olympus From Blue Glacier Moraine
Day 3 – Mt. Olympus Summit Climb:
We couldn’t have asked for better weather! Bluebird, all day! Left camp at 5:00am, later than we wanted because the darned alarm didn’t go off. Worked our way up the Blue Glacier, made an end run around some rock buttresses, and topped out on the snow dome. It was all in good condition thus far, with just a few crevasses opening up; we had to leap over two.
- Blue Glacier Crevasses
Started to see other people on the route—but with the weather forecast, we didn’t think we’d have the mountain to ourselves anyway. We chose to go the Crystal Pass approach to the summit block. The steepest snow was about 40 to 45 degrees, and there was an excellent run-out.
- Traversing Ledge Toward Summit
We chose to ascend a route on the north face of the West Peak. Although the books and other trip reports mention a class 4 scramble, what we saw looked much harder than class 4. There was another party ahead of us, but in the true spirit of alpinism and cooperation, we joined forces and shared ropes. A bergschrund is developing, with a hefty step to get to the rock. It may be difficult to access the rock as time goes on and this heat continues.
- Mt Olympus Summit Block
The other party’s leader started up on their rope, a second person trailed our rope and then they fixed them at the summit. The rest of us ascended the fixed rope using prusiks to self-belay. It was a scene reminiscent of the Hillary Step! I would recommend this if there are more than three in the party; take a second rope so you don’t have to belay halfway, unless you are comfortable simul-climbing fifth class rock.
- Snow Rib and Summit Block
We summited at 1:00pm that afternoon (8.2 hours from Camp 2). We agreed that the final rock pitch was probably lower 5th class, like 5.4-ish on fairly sound sandstone.
- Jim and Laura On Mt Olympus Summit
There is a rappel rock at the summit with several slings, a few of them look new. It is nearly a full 165-foot rappel from the summit to the snow. After a short time on top taking photos, we rappelled down to the snow for an enjoyable glissade. We got back to base camp at around 6:00pm (4.3 hours from summit).
Evening 3 – Glacier Meadows to Martin Creek:
We packed up and moved camp down the trail to attempt to take some of the sting out of the hike out the next day. We moved down to a nice site at Martin Creek, near Mile 15 (1.4 hours from Camp 2). Our tired, hungry bodies didn’t want to go any further that night.
Day 4 – Martin Creek to Trailhead:
On Monday, our feet felt no better, and our packs seemed to have gained weight! The hike out was grueling, and our feet ached! We took occasional breaks, but each time we stopped, our feet would hurt worse. We had 15 miles to hike out to reach the trailhead and clean cotton. Going slower only prolonged the pain.
About mile 12, I decided to just kick it in, ratchet up the pace to about 3 miles per hour (from the steady 2 mph we had been keeping), and I stopped for nobody! Not even the group of very large men in dark glasses wearing brand spankin’ new backpacking gear. I was tired of getting no respect, nobody yielding the trail even though I had the law of momentum on my side (large pack x fast pace), but I must have had this crazy, wounded bear kind of look, ’cause these guys parted like the Red Sea!
Only later did I find out that Laura Bush was visiting the park that day, and it was her entourage that we passed, she was on the side of the trail with a park naturalist (my brother noticed her, as he lives in DC) and there I was, all 5’4″ of me forcing the secret service off the trail! But I hurt too badly to stop! I mean, everyone knows that you don’t mess with a wounded bear! Needless to say, we were focused. My two brothers were well ahead of Jim and me, and it wasn’t until we were back to the parking lot (5.9 hours from Camp 3) that we realized what was going on in the rain forest.
It was truly a magic climb – one to be savored. We only wished we had more time to enjoy the trip out, too, and not beat out the last 15 miles, but we were ready for real food, cotton clothes, and a hot shower.
Footwear notes: I wore leather hiking boots in and used plastic boots on the climb. The shoe change was great! My feet felt great during the climb. I loved the plastic boots on the climb; I took off the plastic shell for the rock pitch. They started aching again on the way out. I was wondering if it is just that the hiking boot isn’t designed to support that kind of impact (flat trail, heavy heel strike, heavy pack). Yes, I realize that I could have taken lighter gear, packed lighter, but I think I did well to keep my pack to under 40 pounds for a four-day trip with climbing gear. Mike and Kirk did the approach in trail running shoes. They had aching feet, but not as badly as Jim and I did in hiking boots, and not until the hike out. The running shoes seemed to be the footwear of choice among our small group.
————- Photo Gallery (click to enlarge) ——————
