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| Disappointment Cleaver from Dunn's Roll. 8/14/19 |
Twice in the past four days Rangers conducted patrols of the Disappointment Cleaver route. Overall, conditions are still quite good for an attempt of this route. With somewhat cool temperatures off and on this season, the glaciated upper portion of the route is still intact and fairly straightforward. However, the typical "watch outs” for the route still exist and are consistently producing ice and rock fall hazards.
Watchout Zones!
As per usual, the portion of the route between Ingraham Flats and the Nose of the Cleaver itself--and area known as the Icebox and Bowling Alley--are the greatest contributors to overhead hazard on the route. The icefall that characterizes the “Icebox” dropped a large serac a couple weeks back and has dropped some additional debris in the last few days. The current boot pack travels through this debris field. While afternoon warming can be a contributor to ice fall, seracs are also notorious for breaking without warning in the cold of the night.
The next watch out zone of significance is the “Bowling Alley”. This is the exceptionally loose cliff band that climbers travel under in order to reach the Nose of the Cleaver. This area is a repeat offender for natural and climber-initiated rock fall. Over the weekend, a significant natural rock fall event dropped VW bus and microwave size boulders directly across the climbers trail. Most natural rock fall is the result of daily warming trends, and this event happened midday while a group of 3 climbers sat only 50 feet away donning their crampons for the next glaciated section. They were still quite spooked when they returned to Camp Muir an hour later!
Take Home Point - Do not stop moving or rest when significant overhead hazard exists! This is true even if debris has not yet fallen into a particular piece of terrain, but also where potential overhead hazard exists. The image below exemplifies where not to rest on the boot pack between Ingraham Flats and the Nose of the Cleaver!
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| Debris in the Icebox |
Camp Muir to Ingraham Flats
This section of the route is straight forward with an obvious boot pack. However, crevasses are beginning to open up on the Cowlitz Glacier just out of camp and significant crevasses exist below the boot pack. These are fantastic locations to practice crevasse rescue on a layover day in camp. The rocky path up to Cathedral Gap is essentially trail walking. Make sure to keep your crampons on however, as the terrain approaching Ingraham Flats from Cathedral Gap has a large portion of exposed glacier ice. Slips and falls are common in these conditions, even with spikes underfoot.
Ingraham Flats to the top of the Disappointment Cleaver
Here on volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest, we often refer to mountain ridges as “Cleavers.” The Disappointment Cleaver being the namesake ridge feature of this route. As mentioned in the “Watchout Zones” section, the portion of the route from Ingraham Flats to the “Nose” of the Disappointment Cleaver has the greatest overhead hazard of the route. However, once clear of the Bowling Alley, one now becomes a potential contributor to the rockfall hazard! The route up the ridge is well-wanded and simple walking all the way to the top, as long as you remain on the route. Stick to the wanded route and be careful of knocking rocks off onto climbers below! If the terrain doesn’t feel right, take a look around and reassess.
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| Wanded route on the Cleaver Ridge. Little Tahoma in the Background. |
Disappointment Cleaver to the Summit
The glacier above the Cleaver is still in phenomenal shape for climbing. The local mountain guide services who lead climbs up the mountain have done a fantastic job maintaining the route. The DC would not be nearly as approachable for the average climber without their work. So thank a guide if you meet one! The route currently sports a clear boot pack and generous wanding. However, the wands can be blown away, fall over, or get covered with the next storm’s snow. Make sure to track your route so that backtracking is easier if you get turned around. There is currently one significant crevasse problem found at 12,900 feet. This is being solved with an anchored 12ft. aluminum ladder. There is fixed snow picket protection both above and below the ladder. Use these as appropriate to protect a fall.
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| Ladder at 12,900 feet |
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| Current Route up the Disappointment Cleaver |
