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Adventures > Mt. Olympus 2002
Mt Olympus 7/19-22/02
One of our most memorable climbs this past summer – and over the past 10 years -- involves the beautiful, long approach
along the Hoh River Valley to Blue Glacier and up the rocky pyramid to the summit of Olympus. We planned for a 4-day
Mountaineers climb, and 11 of us successfully reached the summit on Sunday, July 21. Mike Strauss, Rick Anderson,
Laura Nugent, Doug Schurman, and Courtenay Schurman lead 6 Basic grads and students (Anna Hundt, Jack Mclaughlin, Nancy Egaas,
Deborah Greenleaf, Josh Piper, and Lori Jones) up the mountain and along the 22 mile approach and descent route.
We were very fortunate to have dry, clear weather (were we REALLY in a “rain forest”??) and the bugs were only bad
between 4-6 p.m. Luckily, we camped near streams all three nights, away from the meadows where the bugs were the worst,
and did most of our hiking early in the mornings before the biting flies and mosquitoes could wake up. If you’ve never
been to the rain forest, we highly recommend it. Cool and comfortable even during one of the hottest weekends in Seattle.
We hiked in to our reserved group camping spot at Lewis Meadows at 10.5 miles, but there are camping spots all along the
way, well marked with mile markers so that you can accurately estimate your miles-per-hour progress. Another very
comfortable-looking camping spot (for perhaps 2-3 tents) is at mile marker 12.4 before the climbing begins in earnest
(up until then, you only gain about 1200’ in 12 miles.) At 13.1 we crossed a very high foot bridge overlooking the
rushing Hoh hundreds of feet below – on the way in I made a mental note that I wanted to stop and get some pictures as
we came back down that way. In the rain forest, trees grow on trees; moss drapes cedars that are as thick as cars, and
wildlife is plentiful – we even saw several deer as well as a mother black bear and two cubs on two separate days!
On day 2, the plan was to leave camp in the morning around 7 a.m. and hike the remaining 7 miles to “base camp” at Glacier
Meadows, then stroll up to the moraine (another 1-2 miles away) to scout out the route. Jack, Rick, Laura, Doug,
Courtenay and Mike took some water bottles, binoculars and the map and compass with us on the jaunt to make sure
we knew where to exit the moraine onto the glacier below, since we’d be coming up that way in the dark the next day.
The views from the moraine were absolutely spectacular, and we were able to see several parties on the route including
a solo snowboarder ascending, and 2 16-year-olds and their French-speaking guide just coming up the
moraine after their climb to the summit.
Many hikers and backpackers from around the world hike in as far as the moraine. Those who prefer to get technical
can bring along gear for an added day of climbing. Our plan was to climb to the summit on day 3 and then break
camp and return to Lewis Meadows (a 17-mile day) to make the fourth day an easy, flat 10.5 miles back to the cars.
The mood at camp was jovial; we’d talked with climbers who said the route was in great condition; Rick had taken a
plane ride with a friend, Brad Gibson, the weekend before and had bird’s-eye pictures with him to help us with
route finding; and the rangers assured us the weather forecast was for continued clear, glorious weather.
Nothing was going to stop us now!
On summit day (Sunday, July 21) we started out from camp at 2 a.m., some of us in short sleeved shirts! Nary a
breeze, all the stars were out, and we were confident the weather would not be a factor. We had no difficulty finding
the entry to the glacier and by 3 a.m. were heading out over the Blue, a gentle path leading across ice toward the Snow
Dome, where the climbing began in earnest. By the time we were halfway up Snow Dome, the sun was just starting to come
up, and as we topped the Dome and could see the remaining approach to the true and false summits, the views were spectacular
and the red sun poking up over the Cascades shed its light over the entire mountain, bathing it in cotton-candy pink.
The white sky turned to blue as the sun climbed higher, and we made our way along the path through several large crevasses
and bergschrunds until we finally were at the false summit, peering across at the summit pyramid, waiting for climbers.
First, however, we had to descend some nasty loose scree (in crampons, no less) and then scamper up a rather steep snow
slope, and most of our group was at the base of the summit pyramid by about 8 a.m. Mike led out, followed by Josh,
then Rick led out with a hand line attached to set up for anyone wanting assurance on the scramble route. Doug
followed, and belayed most of the students up to the anchor and beyond to the summit. The summit itself can
probably hold 6-8 people (in a tight squeeze) but we preferred to have only one person up there at a time, so we
could keep everyone safely on belay. To get to the summit itself you have to gingerly pick through loose scree and
talus, ever aware of the other climbers coming up behind you and of your belayer down below. Nasty stuff. But the
view is fantastic. From 8-10:30, we worked to get everyone to the top of the summit pyramid and safely back down,
and then it was a very quick descent (primarily plunge stepping, short standing glissades) back to the moraine and we
retuned to camp by 1 p.m. After a brief lunch, foot soak in the icy cold river, and time to break down camp, the group
made their way back to Lewis Meadows by 6:30 p.m.
The 7 miles out from base camp to Lewis Meadows felt like some of the toughest – full backpack, after a long morning of
climbing, on feet that have already covered more than 30 miles – but better to hurt on day 3 and recover in time to
feel great on day 4, than to end the climb with 17 miles of hiking on feet that hurt with every step (in our opinion!)
Rick, Laura, Doug and I headed out on Day 4 at 7 a.m. and were back to the cars by 11:30 for fresh fruit and stretches,
along with a change into clean clothes and time to soak our feet in ice cold water! Refreshing! A fantastic climb
under the right conditions; we were fortunate to succeed on our very first try.
Thread the needle
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Rock pyramid: summit from the false summit
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Final steep approach to base of summit pyramid
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Almost there! 7:30 a.m. and ready to head up the last portion: vertically
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Summit pyramid; 3 options for reaching the top -- we went right
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View from the base of the summit
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Doug and Court at base of summit pyramid
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Doug belays Rick over to the start of the climbing portion. We set up handline for Basic students, but class 3 scrambling is very moderate.
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Rick and Anna look ready to climb.
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Leader Mike Strauss peers down at his Basics ready to climb up
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Climber tops out
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View of climbers down below, from the anchor
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Doug belays everyone up and over to the summit.
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Doug and Court's summit shot
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Nancy at the summit
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Laurie hurries back down from the summit scramble.
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Laura Nugent: "Look, no knees!"
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Laura on the summit of Olympus
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Court belays Doug to the top of the Olympic Peninsula, Mt. Olympus' West Peak at 7969'.
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Crevasse on climb back down
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Glance back at summit (peak in middle of photo) with false summit (which we had to cross to reach true summit)
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Ah, we made it -- back to the moraine and unrope!
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Nasty scree slope up to the top of the moraine
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Laura rests her feet on high bridge near mile marker 13.1
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Deep Hoh chasm beneath a foot bridge; careful or you'll get dizzy!
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Moss hanging from tree
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Trees growing on tree
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Cathedral of cedars at dawn
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Doug for scale; huge uprooted tree
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Laura stretches at waterfall; only 2 miles left!
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Falls at about 1.5-2 miles from trailhead
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Now where else on earth can you hike through a rain forest, climb a glaciated peak, and relax on the beach all in one climb? Doug shows how it's done
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Court and Doug soak and stretch their feet after 46 miles of hiking.
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