Little Tahoma - 11138' - Fryingpan Glacier Route Class 3
June 2016
Heading back to WA to take a break from my long Alaska trip, I caught up with my friend Fletcher who had a few days off, and we both expressed interest in climbing Little Tahoma. I had a couple friends try it just a week prior, but since the road to the White River Campground had just opened we could get to the Fryingpan Creek TH without a road walk. So Fletcher came down from Lynnwood and picked me up in Renton and we drove to the trailhead under a warm, clear night sky. We got to the trailhead at midnight and decided to take a quick nap before starting, as I didn't think we needed to start so early. However since we were planning to do the climb as a day hike, we needed to get to treeline before sunrise.
Just before 1am we started hiking. The trail was mostly snow-free for a few miles but was all snow by the time we were just below Summerland. We reached the Summerland Shelter 2 hours after leaving the car at 2:45AM. It was too dark to proceed so we all laid down on the shelter floor until 4:15 when we began climbing toward the Fryingpan Glacier. We made an ascending traverse all the way to the Whitman crest and didn't feel it necessary to rope up on the Fryingpan Glacier. The sunrise over Little Tahoma was breathtaking. Crossing over to the Whitman was very easy, we roped up at the rocky crest between the two glaciers and began climbing the Whitman. Now we had our first views of Adams, Hood and the Goat Rocks. We traversed a little ways below some cliffs before continuing to gain elevation toward our goal. We took the snow up as far as it went to within about 400ft below the summit. The scramble definitely has some loose rock but there is some solid rock intermixed making the final ascent much easier than I was led to believe. We found some of the descriptions of the looseness and sketchiness of this peak to be a bit overblown. There is no real exposure until you are very near the summit.
The traverse from the false summit to the true was also easy. Some may argue that there are some class 4 moves to attain the summit, but the rock is actually fairly solid here. We did not feel the need to belay the traverse. We summited at 9:15, about 7,000 feet above our starting point and hung out for nearly an hour. I think it was 10:08, when we began our descent. The snow descending from the Fryingpan Glacier was in prime condition for glissading and boot skiing. I glissaded thousands of feet of perfect snow, while Dustin and Fletcher did more boot skiing. We were back to dry trail just over two hours after leaving the summit, then just a few more miles back to the car. Another fantastic climb in the books!
Mileage: I see some TRs quote 18 miles RT, it didn't really feel like quite that much, maybe 15ish but the snow allowed us to take more direct lines.
Gain: around 7,300 feet
About 13 hours C2C with an hour and a half nap break at the Summerland Shelter and nearly an hour summit stay.
Just before 1am we started hiking. The trail was mostly snow-free for a few miles but was all snow by the time we were just below Summerland. We reached the Summerland Shelter 2 hours after leaving the car at 2:45AM. It was too dark to proceed so we all laid down on the shelter floor until 4:15 when we began climbing toward the Fryingpan Glacier. We made an ascending traverse all the way to the Whitman crest and didn't feel it necessary to rope up on the Fryingpan Glacier. The sunrise over Little Tahoma was breathtaking. Crossing over to the Whitman was very easy, we roped up at the rocky crest between the two glaciers and began climbing the Whitman. Now we had our first views of Adams, Hood and the Goat Rocks. We traversed a little ways below some cliffs before continuing to gain elevation toward our goal. We took the snow up as far as it went to within about 400ft below the summit. The scramble definitely has some loose rock but there is some solid rock intermixed making the final ascent much easier than I was led to believe. We found some of the descriptions of the looseness and sketchiness of this peak to be a bit overblown. There is no real exposure until you are very near the summit.
The traverse from the false summit to the true was also easy. Some may argue that there are some class 4 moves to attain the summit, but the rock is actually fairly solid here. We did not feel the need to belay the traverse. We summited at 9:15, about 7,000 feet above our starting point and hung out for nearly an hour. I think it was 10:08, when we began our descent. The snow descending from the Fryingpan Glacier was in prime condition for glissading and boot skiing. I glissaded thousands of feet of perfect snow, while Dustin and Fletcher did more boot skiing. We were back to dry trail just over two hours after leaving the summit, then just a few more miles back to the car. Another fantastic climb in the books!
Mileage: I see some TRs quote 18 miles RT, it didn't really feel like quite that much, maybe 15ish but the snow allowed us to take more direct lines.
Gain: around 7,300 feet
About 13 hours C2C with an hour and a half nap break at the Summerland Shelter and nearly an hour summit stay.
Little Tahoma Route Map