I backpacked the White Pass/Pilot Ridge loop over Labor Day weekend in a group of four, two of us summited Glacier Peak along the way. This will be a bit of a long trip report to cover all the ground we covered!
Friday: Depart Seattle, Arrive White Pass
Saturday: Glacier summit, stay at White Pass again
Sunday: White Pass to Upper Blue Lake
Monday: Upper Blue Lake to trailhead via Pilot Ridge
Road Conditions
The road in off the Mountain Loop Highway is terrible! Much worse than trip reports made it out to be. We drove in a large truck and although there were several sedans in the lot, they must have been bottoming out constantly the last 5 miles or so. Huge ruts in the road, all passable but jarring. Trailhead to White Pass
We left the trailhead around 11am and made it to White Pass at about 6pm. It’s a slog uphill the last few miles. White Pass definitely fills up on the weekends and we were glad to have arrived Friday night. By Saturday, people were tenting on top of one another, basically.
The campsite is nearly dry - if you follow the creek running through the meadow downhill about 200 yards, there is a thin stream that is clean and usable. But it’s slow and required some work to get enough water for a party of four. Glacier Peak
The two of us summiting Glacier left Friday night to get down the trail. The goal was high camp near Glacier Gap but that was going to be too far in the shortening daylight hours. We instead camped about 2 hours down the trail in a basin (near the lower camp). From the low camp:
3:30am - Left camp
4:30am - High Camp (below Glacier Gap)
5:00am - Glacier Gap
7:15am - Left ridge, put crampons on
8:30am - Off snow, on summit ridge
9:15am - On summit
9:45am - Back to snow
11:00am - Off snow
3:30pm - At White Pass
Worth mentioning that from the ridge to the summit, we were hauling, moving quickly to make a return time to White Pass that we had agreed upon with our partners. This timing was ambitious and we took way longer on the descent that we figured.
The crevasses are definitely open, but they’re also easily passable with gear. We booted straight up past them, but on return we took the MUCH easier route through the field as some guides are charted a nice bootpack through.
Other considerations - it’s hot out there! And dry, from a few trickles at the bottom of Glacier Gap to the summit there’s no water and it bakes on that snow field. White Pass to Upper blue lake
Slog to Upper Blue Lake, particularly that final ridge above the lake. The overall gain for the day doesn’t seem intense but we all were dragging in the heat.
Shortly after gaining the ridge and dropping down, we encountered a party in distress. A woman was sitting on the trail, clutching her leg. We stopped and asked if they were okay, her partner reported that they were not okay, they needed help, and the woman in pain on the trail had badly sprained her ankle coming downhill. Luckily a third person in their group had taken the injured person’s pack downhill to the lake.
My partner is a nurse and we moved to stabilize the ankle. Because the trail was so steep, we lent her a pair of gloves to help protect her hands as she crab-walked down. We hustled off the ridge and dropped packs. Returning, three of us helped carry her down to the lake where a PT helped assess and wrap the ankle. The PT (invaluable! Thank you so much!) thought the ankle was broken and they called for help.
Within the hour, a helicopter approached the lake, circling once before lowering a person on a line. They then lifted her and her bag to safety and zoomed out of there. There were maybe…twenty people at the lake, all gawking and in awe of the rapid response. Really amazing to witness.
This was the first time in many years of backpacking I’ve experienced something like this and it was intense! It was really nice to see the help other people offered, and a tad disheartening to reflect on how many people, including a large group just ahead of us, had walked past a group clearly in distress.
Also important to note that in Washington State, RESCUES ARE FREE! This is an incredible state with incredible search and rescue staff. Wow. Upper blue lake to Trailhead
Uneventful, long, downhill slog home.