July 9, 2006, Squock Glacier

Jeff Rich and I camped at the Schreibers Meadow trail head and started hiking a bit after 5 a.m. We took the direct route up the big drainage to the east of the Railroad Grade via easy boulder hopping, then hit the Scott Paul trail to traverse the morain up below the glacier. Jeff took the top of the morain, while I skinned up the drainage next to it (first continous snow). Suncups were small and easy to skin (and ski on the descent). There was one easy crevase crossing high on the glacier (over toward the Easton) but otherwise smooth going. The Roman Wall has some big uns opening up that forced us to remove the skis and climb up (and down descending) on steep mud for 50 feet.

We hit the false west summit around 11:30 in a temporary white-out and gave advice to some lost climbers who were wandering around looking for the Colman-Demming descent. A smattering of rain sent us scampering down slush on top. Jeff wasn't happy with the slow snow, but my newly tunned skis were cruising it. We skied below the clouds on the headwall, then raced the storm down the mountain. Light rain fell as we hiked the trail back to the car.

Snow should be in good shape for a while yet.

Gear notes - bring running shoes for the hike out if you take the trail.

Photos: Climbing the glacier, Jeff on the Roman Wall, Racing the storm below the glacier.