July 2, 2011 - Clark and Luahna

Climbing route. Camp in the bottom right. Red outline is the gpx track we used for much of the climb, which we stayed on rather close, save for the orange path as we climbed Luahna.

Two peaks were up on the list for 4th of July weekend- this was our first mountaineers glacier trip and we were anxious to get out and walk around on some snow covered ice. The frantic packing the night before had switched us over from our medium sized ~38L packs to our full on backpacking packs. At the trailhead we discovered most other folks with packs in the 30-40L range... d'oh! Needless to say many lessons were learned on packing and what not to bring on this trip.

We drove out towards Lake Wenatchee and up the White River road. The first 4 miles were an easy mosquito plagued jaunt along the river.

4 mile stretch along the White River

Eventually the bugs relented as we began to climb up and away from the river on hot dusty steep trails. The stream crossing at 4100' was quite cold- I'm glad we had brought extra shoes to swap into. There were basically 3 medium sized streams that got up to about knee level. By the end of the second I couldn't feel my legs, but figured I should just get across the third one quickly! We lunched on the other side and relaxed in the sunshine before continuing upward.

Leader Susan pushing on through wildflowers

The trail above the stream is a bit harder to find and we often lost it and wound up in dense patches of slide alder. We were forced to basically traverse through the alder until we found a clearing or the trail again- because of the heavy snowpack and avalanches these plants live through they basically bend downhill, making downhill travel somewhat easy as you can just continuously step on them.... but going up is a different story.

Glacier lillies

After what seemed like a few hours we had worked our way above most of the trees and could begin to make out our target: Boulder Pass.

We hit continuous snow and made steps up to the pass where we enjoyed a longer break and started to discuss the time we had left to make camp, which still lay a few hundred feet up and a glacier away. After climbing a bit further up and finding a nice rocky area near some flat snow patches we decided we had found our camp- great kitchen off the snow and easy tent pitching. That night we relaxed while making dinner and all quickly disappeared into our tents as the sun went down and the winds began to pick up. It was quite windy for most of the night- our tent seemingly trying to roll on down the mountain.

Lenticular... a sign that it may be a bit windy...

We're on ropes and traveling the next day at 6AM- taking off towards Luahna which is now the first objective of the day. We are quickly on the Clark (or Walrus) Glacier. Visibility is rather poor and we get about 200' too high on the traverse under Clark towards Luahna. We poke around for a bit, finding only vertical snow walls as a means to get down.... maybe doable, but we keep looking for a better way. We eventually find our way around by skirting down the ridge and over towards Richardson Glacier. To actually get down to the Richardson Glacier we had to downclimb a 200' narrow chute... made a bit more spicy by the relative thin cover of snow over some icy spots, making axe placements difficult. We eventually made our way to Luahna's base after rushing past some ominous cornices. A few switchbacks up the steep east face of Luahna and we were at the notch along its SE ridgeline. The snow got significantly softer and more sugary higher up so we were forced to stop a few hundred feet below the summit and relaxed and had some lunch. The views from this perch were wonderful though, with the first sighting of nearby Glacier Peak- so close!

Nicole topping out on the 200' climb out of Richardson Glacier basin with Luahna behind

On the way back to camp we were to get to the top of Clarke, which we had walked past and around to get to Luahana. The weather was breaking and we hoped for good views from the top. There were steps on what appeared to be an obvious route up the east ridge, but our beta and climber's on our trip who had summited before guided us over to the south face, where a quick view showed how annonying going up the east ridge might have been- getting up would not be much of an issue, but then you'd be left to traverse along the narrow rocky / moat ridden ridge.

The enticing east ridge of Clark (left) and our steps traversing to the south face

The south face ascent direct to the summit was much better, although still rather steep.

The final steep stretches to gain Clarke Mountain's summit

We lounged on the summit of Clarke for a little while, taking in views all around including Glacier and our steps on Luahna. Eventually we made our way back down and walked back to camp in time to make food and collapse into our sleeping bags with no thought as to when we might wake again.

Beautiful sunset greeted us after our climbing day

A leisurely morning in camp was enjoyed the next day as we ate a hot meal, slowly packed our items up and began our descent back down.

Good morning! A leisurely morning in camp is a great thing

After gaining Boulder Pass once again we descended into shady snow, which required crampons, though the snow was still soft enough such that feet would slide a few inches before your points would dig in, making for trying conditions for travel. We managed to descend easily enough and before long were back on the trail above the stream crossing. This time we followed the trail much better, only straying in a few spots where snow covered the way, but easily finding the trail on the opposite side. The stream crossing was just as cold, but felt pretty nice as we were descending into the heat of a July day.

The last four miles along the river took a few days seemingly- Nicole and I discussing the merits of bringing inflatable kayaks along with for our next approach along a river. We rounded a few corners saw plenty of whitewater and both decided walking was just fine. The climb was strenuous, but was also a great introduction to glacier climbs- hopefully something we'll be doing a lot more in years to come!