[weidaidavid]

Hi everyone, I'm a new hiker/climber looking to take on Mount Olympus, and am looking for a mentor to join in this endeavor. I'm aiming to do it in August. I'm currently learning all that i can about mountaineering, taking on long trails with incline, bouldering, reading Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, but realize to take on a summit safely, it is much better to have someone with you that knows what they're doing. To offer some incentives to letting a newbie tag along, i'm happy to provide transportation and cover the gas as long as you're in the greater Seattle area, buy you a good meal and a couple beers, or cover some of your food costs for the summit. Also would appreciate recommendations on resources to look out for when planning an expedition like this. A bit about myself. I'm from the Kansas City area, went to school in the Bay Area, and recently moved to Seattle for work. I'm a pretty outgoing guy. My interests are: golf, weightlifting, music, and now of course mountaineering. I'm decently in shape, planning to get more in shape in the next couple of months ramping up to the summit. Have some climbing experience, but have lots to learn (i'll start hitting climbing gyms pretty regularly). Have some outdoors knowledge, but am def a novice. Anywho, please hit me up if you are interested, looking forward to this adventure.

[OwenT]

Being from the east side of WA, I never knew anyone who was really into mountaineering and there are just fewer people to connect with so that was the reason I never got into it until I made it happen. The most important thing we lack is a network. Some people will undoubtedly suggest joining the Mountaineers. You are in Seattle so maybe it's an option. A good way to get your feet wet and possibly meet potential partners is to go on a guided trip that's more instruction-based than just a 2 or 3-day summit attempt. Finally, I recommend Facebook. People seem more open to connect and look for partners there. I've had two good experiences going on trips with people I connected with on Facebook. I would recommend the PNW Peak Baggers group, Washington's Alpine Climbing and Ski Mountaineering Group, and especially PNW Climbers and Clunkers. Peter is a guy that made the last group and he is nice enough to invite total strangers to his house to practice skills and then organize a group climb. He usually does a couple of workshops like that each year. Getting experienced people to take you out is difficult in my experience but it's just all networking as far as I can tell. It is who you know. Good luck.

[Anne Elk]

It seems somewhat bad form to be a novice expecting an unknown experienced person to accompany you on a climb. I did that once, but the person I climbed with was advertising at my gym as a leader/guide for very small groups on a specific set of ascents/traverses. He assumed a certain responsibility for a fee, and I was confident he knew what he was doing. IMO a rank amateur is a danger to themself and others in more informal arrangements. As Owen suggested, the Mountaineers is a good place to start for learning the ropes, going on trips and meeting people as you build your skills. There's so much more involved besides being "in shape". People coming out here from the "flatlands" often have no idea about how much there's to know about safety and survival at altitude, especially with the kind of unpredictable weather and situations that arise.

[Randito]

FWIW: Summiting Mt Olympus is a significant undertaking. The approach hike to high camp is long (16 miles) and the ascent includes glacier travel and a short section of technical rock climbing. The common safe method glacier travel uses a rope team of three people, equipped ice axes, crampons and other technical crevasse rescue gear. Once the glacier travel has been completed, technical rock climbing is needed to reach the summit. In addition, the area has fairly unreliable weather -- the approach is in the Hoh Rain Forest after all -- which recieves about 140 inches of precipatation annually. For most folks reaching the summit of Mt Olympus is more of cumulation of years of experience in climbing -- rather than their 1st foray into mountaineering. https://www.summitpost.org/mount-olympus/150427

[Olympic Hiker]

FWIW you could go with a guided ascent of Olympus. Your guides provide all the necessary gear and have the knowledge for glacier travel. Just for fun, I looked on Alpine Ascents website and they offer guided climbs of Olympus. It’s spendy, but it would probably be worth it.

[moonspots]

[Hutch]

I know you're not asking for 2 cents or tips, but just flagging that this isn't necessarily the kind of glacier climb you want to do late in the year, IMO. My one (failed) attempt at Olympus was late in a low-snow year with lots of open crevasses (and a couple close calls with punch throughs), that meant extra time and miles to get around them, which put us well beyond our turnaround time by the time we got to the summit block (which is fairly technical). It does seem like a good snowpack year so it's possible it might still be good in August, but the thing I took away from my attempt is that if I ever tried again it'd be in June/July. It's your life, but if you're looking for a first mountaineering experience I'd recommend one of the Cascades volcanos (Helens, Adams, Hood). Or even Glacier Peak, which has a lot of the same kind of adventurousness as Olympus (multi-day approach, glacier travel, etc.) without quite so many hazards.

[forest gnome]

Baker..mucho. better for newbies!

[moonspots]

[Redwic]

The very first statement... "I'm a new hiker/climber looking to take on Mount Olympus..." is a MAJOR red flag. I admire your determination, but you demonstrate inexperience in that statement not just with the "new" part but also the "take on" part. Several other statements you made are also concerning. If you are a new hiker/climber, you should not be trying to climb Mount Olympus at this juncture with non-professionals. By doing so, you potentially jeopardize not only yourself but your team. Register with a professional climbing party or guide service (such as Alpine Ascents), or Mountaineers. Pay the money and learn from the experts. Take this from someone who knows all too well, from both sides of this. I have been on a backcountry climbing trip where someone, similar to you, was an amateur hiker/climber, from a non-mountainous State, and looking for a partner on a major climb... and he was over his head, did not know correct things to do, and his feet almost got amputated afterwards. If I had not known certain key things to do, it would have been disastrous for him and me. On the flip side, on my first major climb, I joined up with two people who thought of themselves as being properly prepared (as did I)... and that was not the case. As a result of things that happened on that trip, I ended up with a permanent pin in my elbow and several ligament damages, and had PTSD for quite a while. We should have paid for a guide service. This is not to dissuade you from finding people in our region to go hiking and climbing with. That would be a wise thing to do, and you get to make connections with people. You also build up experience over time. Hopefully, you learn from your mistakes and you pickup little pieces of information that might save your life later. I hope you will take this advice to heart and I wish you well in your future endeavors.