Running Glacier Peak - Fastest Known Time

Trail to the Top - Photo Steven Mortinson

I love moving through big-mountain environments on foot. Spending long days moving through remote wild places gives me a visceral sense of connection to the world, myself, and the people I’m with. Distractions fall away, the phone stays tucked in my pack, and I’m present and clear eyed.

Several years ago I skied Glacier Peak with a couple of friends. We hauled big packs over the long approach and spent three days on the route. As I gained familiarity with the Cascade volcanoes through ski-mountaineering, and the trails around them through trail-running, I naturally started thinking about how to combine the skills I was learning to open up some new opportunities.

Glacier Peak stood out as an ideal route to run. It has a long, flat approach, moderate difficulty, and gorgeous remote environment. At 34 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation gain it would be very difficult to do in a day on skis.

This year I decided to give it a go, and take a shot at Alex King’s fastest known time of 6:52.

Cresting the Climb to White Pass - Photo Steven Mortinson

Steven and I showed up Saturday evening to the N Fork Sauk River trailhead to cars strewn every which way. We shook out our legs with an evening run, chatted with a few climbers about conditions, and turned in for the night.

The next morning we woke at 4:30 to eat some breakfast and coffee, and Steven hit the trail by 5. I hung around, limbered up with a shakeout run, and returned to the trailhead for a 6 am start.

My goal was to run easy and quick on the Sauk River, then power the climbs and give nearly everything on the push to the summit. On the way back, I’d rely on different muscles and gravity to get me back to the trailhead.

I used splits from Alex’s FKT to track my progress. I hit the bottom of the switchbacks to White Pass a few minutes ahead. At White Pass I’d gained a few more. After White Pass I hit snow, but the climber’s trail leveled out and I was able to run except for some short climbs. At Glacier Gap I was still ahead of pace. Shortly after Glacier Gap the climbing began again and I hiked as fast as I could, feeling slow and starting to tire.

At this point, the route ventures out onto the Cool Glacier to avoid steep, chossy rock under Disappointment Peak. Crevasse hazard exists on the Cool Glacier. I picked my way carefully, weaving over snow bridges and eyeing the extension lines of crevasses to find safe passage. It felt a little odd to be passing helmeted, jacketed, and headlamped rope teams in my little shorts.

Nuts & Bolts

Gear

When moving fast in the mountains it’s important to weigh the benefits of every piece of gear. You want to carry the right gear to deal with any situation you’re likely to encounter along with a buffer of emergency supplies. The size of your buffer will depend on your own abilities (physical and psychological), experience, risk tolerance, route, and conditions.

The following is an extremely light kit for a glaciated mountain run. I felt comfortable accepting the risks that going this light entails, but I didn’t take the decision lightly.

Factors I considered:

A clear forecast for the weekend
Warm (but not hot) temperatures to soften snow for traction without weakening snow bridges
Condition reports from several climbers at the trailhead
A friend on the route who knew my itinerary
Route beta from a friend (thanks Climber Kyle)
My own experience - I’ve climbed and/or skied all the Cascade volcanoes except Baker, climbed and skied Denali, and have extensive glacier and mountain travel experience.

Note - Salomon sponsors me, so I get their gear for free.

Cap: Alpenflo Cap

Jacket: Salomon S/Lab Motionfit 360
Didn’t end up wearing it, but I love how light, waterproof, and breathable this jacket is. It will hurt your wallet, though

Shirt: Salomon Sense
Very light, minimal sun protection so you better move fast

Shorts: Salomon S/Lab 6”
Good pockets, light materials, no tan lines

Vest: Salomon Sense 5 Set
Form fitting with minimal bounce. Well designed pockets accessible while running

Shoes: Salomon S/Lab Sense 8 Soft Ground
Great traction, extremely light, with a super durable upper. The integrated gaiter that keeps out snow and rocks

Poles: Black Diamond Carbon FL-Z
Light with carbide tips for snow. I’ve broken several, BD has a good warranty

Suunto 9, Iphone with Gaia GPS, Garmin InReach Mini PLB

Watch: Suunto 9 Baro
Used primarily for pace checks, navigation checks, and tracking

Phone: iPhone with Gaia GPS

Locator Beacon/Sat. Messenger: Garmin InReach Mini
Can send text messages to friends & family as well as emergency distress signal

Microspikes and Ax: I primarily considered microspikes for speed on icy snow and an ax as a way to arrest in an emergency. After thinking long and hard about these, I decided to leave them in the car. I considered slope angle, the forecast, and likely emergency scenarios. I knew leaving the spikes and ax might necessetate turning around early if I encountered something unforeseen.

Food and Water

Food: Targeted 200 calories an hour and used:

4 Gu energy gels (100 cal. ea)
5 Spring energy gels (100-250 cal. ea)
2 electrolyte drink mixes

Staying ahead of nutrition and hydration is key. I ate something every half hour even when I wasn’t hungry. I found it helpful to alternate the thick/sweet Gus with thinner/lighter Spring and Maurten product.

Water: In early summer the route has good water access in streams below White Pass and snowmelt in White Chuck Basin. I drank directly from sources and skipped the filter. Three weeks later the gamble seems to have worked.

Note - I don’t get support from Gu, Spring, or Nuun, but my pal Steven freelances for Spring and gave me some gels to use.

Navigation and Planning

Approximate Glacier Peak Route, Plotted on Forest Service Map using Caltopo

Caltopo - Plotted the standard route using both Open Street Map and the gpx from fastestknowntime.com. Glaciers change year-year, so I used the GPX route as a guide but was careful to evaluate conditions on the glacier as I went.

I also analyzed snow levels using live satellite layers. I wanted to hit the route when the snow had melted to around White Pass, but the crevasses on the upper mountain were still well bridged.

Gaia GPS - Loaded GPX from Caltopo to Gaia for route checks. Recorded my run as a watch backup.

Suunto 9 Baro - Loaded the same GPX to my watch for quick route checks.

For the official recording of fastest known times on Glacier Peak: fastestknowntime.com/route/glacier-peak-wa

I hit the summit 11 minutes ahead of the previous record time. I took a few minutes to celebrate and soak in the view before turning around for the downhill leg.

The route down went smooth until a time check at White Pass revealed that I’d lost time. I hit the bottom of the switchbacks still behind and knew I’d have to fight for it. The river trail was an interminable series of short face-punching climbs and I constantly fought the urge to walk. I managed to keep goading myself into running and managed to take 10 minutes off the existing record with a time of 6:41.

I love moving in the mountains. Spending a long day out in a wild alpine environment. Moving under my own power and feeling fluid and at home in big terrain. Running Glacier Peak felt like a natural expression of what I love most about human powered mountain movement. I can’t wait to explore more routes like this.

End Notes

HUGE thanks to Steven Mortinson for getting us to Glacier when my van broke down, capturing the trip, and being a totally rad adventure buddy.

JT LehmanJuly 7, 2021run, climb, navigationComment

Journal