[Alden Ryno]

With the opening of NCNP to day trips on 05/29/2020, I set off to the Pyramid Lake Trailhead on Thursday afternoon. Since I prefer to get moving after being awake for 30 minutes or more, I parked my car at the Easy Pass Trailhead for the night to sleep in the car.

A 3:315 AM (0315) alarm woke me and I munched on some food as I drove to the TH. For better or worse, the sky was beginning to lighten at 0400 (odd for someone raised in GA). I set off from the car at 0430. As expected, the trail was great and easy going to Pyramid Lake, which I reached at 0520. I filled my second bottle with an extra liter (unnecessary due to the vast amount of running water all over) before embarking up the shockingly well-defined climber's path. While steep, the path easy to follow, for the most part, to a bench around 4,200-4,300' (0630). This is where snow entirely covered the ground.

The snow was entirely consolidated and I swapped from trail runners to boots and gaiters around 4,400' (0645) so I could kick steps into the steeper sections of snow. From there until the col at 5,600' before the avalanche zone crossing, I made decent progress alternating between dense brush slopes and open snow slopes.

I began to cross the steep slope at 0915 after a change into long pants, some food, and donned crampons. Thankfully Kyle et al. left a skin and boot track across the slope on Wednesday, while nearly gone, it was enough to gain some additional purchase. It took me 15 minutes to reach the Colonial Glacier moraine. Unfortunately, the added layer of pants kicked up the perceived temperature by about 10-15 degrees and I was dragging as I ascended to the Colonial-Neve Col by 1030.

My first view of Snowfield came into view... Why is everything always so far away in the mountains? I filled up on water at the col and threw on my snowshoes for the glacier crossing. I dropped 300 or so vertical feet to about 6,600' and began a gradual ascent up the Neve Glacier eventually hopping off the snow at 7,800'.

The west ridge was easy going and snow-free until the base of the summit pyramid where blocky rocks began.

Like a goon, I went too far south (right) and got cliffed out above the chasm, so I carefully downclimbed and traversed into the gully before making a slightly early exit on some snow-free rocks. This is where it got really interesting. The mixture of rock and snow was worrisome, however, I know that there's practically always a way. I just have to be sure that I can get down whatever I may decide to go up.

Weather on the summit was spectacular; light winds, scattered clouds, and warm temps.

The downclimb took about as long as the climb up, due to precaution. Everything felt good overall, just boots on rocks with snow/ice isn't the most reassuring when moving quickly. I reached my stowed gear at the edge oft he glacier soon after getting off of the rocks. The traverse across the glacier was (thankfully) uneventful yet beautiful!

I quite literally retraced my steps back across the snow until it ended at 4,200'.

Perhaps the worst part of the trip was this forested section on the way down. The ground was wet and there is simply so much loose debris from winter that it was a slip-n-slide. I must've fallen nearly 10 times, causing me to stop and readjust my haphazardly contrived pack. The car came into view and I tagged it at 2010 for the end of a successful and mindblowingly beautiful day.

[Stephen B]

Impresive effort! I did this one years ago as an overnight trip and found that exausting. How long did it take you C2C?

[Alden Ryno]

It was a smidge under 16 hours. I had expected the day to be about 13 hours, however, my far-too-long gear transitions/breaks and my errors on the summit block blew that out quite heavily. This is the perfect time of year for long outings though!

[neek]

[Bootpathguy]

[raising3hikers]

such a great area! nice day trip

[Alden Ryno]

[dixon]

Fantastic report, what an epic day! I was wondering what your strategies were for solo glacier travel as I am interested in doing the same. From my research there seems to be a few schools of thought such as: - Travel early in season when "most" crevasses are covered - Travel late in the season when 'most' crevasses are exposed (although this can make route finding difficult and some routes may be inaccessible) - Stick to compressions and avoid convex terrain I also wondered what your contingency plan is should you have fallen into a crevasse. I see a few ideas on this also such as: 1. If you are not injured, and by sheer luck the crevasse isn't too deep you could attempt to climb out albeit this would likely require advanced level vertical ice climbing skills especially if the crevasse has an overhang or lip at the top 2. Call for rescue using a Spot Device/inReach (if there is a clear visual to the satellite) and be prepared to endure any subsequent embarrassment and scolding from rescue volunteers/public etc. 3. Have made peace with death before the climb and accept that the last place is the happy place. I know a guy like this and he is seriously "Viking like", climbing amazing stuff on his way to Valhalla. Cheers, -Dix

[Alden Ryno]

Hi, Dix! Thank your for the questions! While I know that there is inherent risk in glacier crossings, particularly when solo, I do attempt to mitigate the risk as much as is feasible.Honestly, it's a general trend with all aspects of my outings, though I certainly have lapses. Out of the options you gave for my school of thoughts, the first is most applicable to me. I do try to schedule the outings that put me on glaciers, alone, earlier in the year. Seeing the glaciers exposed (while good for me) might just scare the jeebers out of me. I also attempt to remain on more mellow terrain that has either fewer undulations and/or less of a gradient. For instance, the only other tracks out there were from a few days prior from a skier and splitboarder that came down the glacier. Their paths were on steeper terrain and while more direct, I chose the most mellow path up and down so that there is less probability of a fracture in the ice. Thankfully, this option also aligns with "stick to compressions" and reduced the convex terrain that I covered. As a back-up/precaution, I tend to compile several tracks from 1) different years and 2) different months in order to be able to note which paths may or may not be crevasse prone (the glacier is ever-changing, but it's better than a blind shot across). Now for facing mortality... You posed GREAT ideas. All three of which are part of my overall thought process. 1) My first line of defense is the above... studying the terrain attempting to predict or avoid crevasses all togther. Should I fall into one that is more than a foot punch or couple foot depression, I do bring crampons (that I wasn't wearing) and ice tools. I rarely have an ice axe and opt for a tool, in part because of the ability to actually climb. I simply feel better equipped with a tool over an axe. I also ALWAYS have an extra layer of winter clothes while crossing. It was hot as heck on that glacier. However, I still had a puffy and shell pants in my pack. Along with extra food. 2) I have an inReach, but that's really my last line of defense. I should never have to use it, but s#!t does happen. 3) That brings me to the third point... I have come to terms (I think) with death. Obviously I don't want to die (despite what some of my friends say about my excursions ). I do feel as though I am at peace with death. It is going to happen at some point in my life, that's part of life. I like to think that I would prefer that I die doing something that I love opposed to sitting on the couch thinking about what I could do. There are certainly flaws in that arguement, but I really, really don't want to look back and think "What if I had..." If I were to fall in or be catastrophically hurt, then there are two outcomes... I survive and (attempt) to make a recovery and look back on it thinking "I made it through!" or "Holy sh##! What did I do?" or I die... in which case, does it matter (to me)? I don't mean that in a nihilistic manner, I'm just dead. While I don't quite think on the level as your friend, I certainly understand where he stands. I appreciate your questions! They cause me to pause, think, and explicitly express my manner of things. The biggest part being stating them explicitly. I've noted before (and will much in the future, I'm sure) that my way of going about and doing things is different than most people. I understand that. As a result, I am prone to note that I should not be used as a guide or reference points. Not because I'm better (I'm still SO new to this world). I'm merely crazy. For better or worse, I feel that this quote sums up a great extent about me: "You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'" I probably ask "Why?" more than any other question... I like to inquire and understand a little better. Just as you have here. My apologies for going off the rails and getting a bit philosophical at the end..

[Alden Ryno]

[MangyMarmot]

Awesome trip. That's a burly day in the mountains. The Snowfield area is one of the coolest places in the Cascades!

[Cyclopath]

The third photo down is spectacular!