We camped at the Sage campground the night before, so we were on the trail @ 4:45 AM and at Second Lake a couple hours later.
We passed a couple of backpackers stirring in camp, but hadn't seen anyone on the trail when we made the turn off to head for Sam Mack Meadow.
We rested at Sam Mack for a few minutes before heading off for the final stretch to the glacier where we intended to camp.
The trail to the glacier is slow going, but the views get better and better as you climb.
And at last, we arrived at the glacier and were able to drop the heavy packs.
The glacier is in pretty sad shape and you can actually hear the roar of the water running on top of it.
We setup "camp" and then spent about an hour and a half in our bivy sacks while it rained/hailed/snowed.
The next morning we woke @ 5 AM and headed for the North Couloir.
Crossing the talus was uneventful. The edge of the glacier was a mess of ice and frozen mud/gravel. This section slowed us considerably, but it went without issue thanks to crampons.
The chute to Glacier Notch was dry and we quickly made our way up the class 2/3 chute.
Once at Glacier Notch we were surprised to find the North Couloir was dry. We slogged up the couloir which was nothing more than class 2, albeit a bit loose.
Due to fatigue and the terrain, I did not take any pictures between the top of the couloir and the summit. The class 3/4 section was covered in snow. We roped up for 2 pitches and made it through without incident.
The scramble from the top of the class 4 to the summit was longer than we were expecting, but easy. We were stoked when we finally strolled onto the summit!
The descent was slow, but uneventful.
Thanks for reading!
Brian
