Glacier Peak

I went for this, my last Washington Cascade Volcano, with three neophyte mountaineers. We hiked in to Kennedy Hot Springs Sunday night, on to Boulder Basin Monday morning, then a 3:45 summit attempt. We worked left up the lower Sitkum, and ended up on the ridge between Sitkum and Scimitar--not a good place for inexperienced climbers--nor is the heavily crevassed Scimitar a good place. We traversed below Sitkum Spire in steep soft snow, and by the saddle the extra work had them all wiped out. I continued on to summit, followed by one of my party. I summitted, but the rock pinnacle was very sketchy, with about 2 feet of rime/snow on one side, so I told my friend not to attempt it. We got back down to camp, glissading, in about 2 hours. Long hike out the next day, but I can't imagine going out the same day as summitting. Anyway, the 100 pound pack I carried up to Boulder Basin has me thinking twice about returning to this particular route. All in all, a summit, good weather, but not tremendously enjoyable. Next time I'll go through my companions' packs, so they don't take extraneous stuff, and can carry more of the community gear.