Another notch in the belt. Really, it’s an actual Notch.

Original Date: 7/25/2023

Most people who know me understand I’ve been walking around Glacier Park for decades. But one geographic feature always makes me smile: Iceberg Notch. You only have to hike the incredibly popular and famous Iceberg Lake trail just down the road from the Many Glacier Hotel to get to it.

I must admit, it looks a little more daunting in the early spring, so I waited until mid-July. On an average snow year, it would be climbable in mid-August.

Several times, I’ve climbed the couple of thousand feet up to this low spot on the Garden Wall (aka the continental divide). The last was before I was married, so it has been awhile. The rock is a little rotten, but the route straightforward. I took Patrick along on this hike, to keep my recollections honest. And he had a few hours to kill before hiking with his visiting family.

I hope the route from J Gordon Edward’s Climbers Guide is still relevant. It’s been about half a century, but the mountains don’t change. Right? As I was to find out, the answer to that question is no. And yes.

We started at sunrise and made speedy work of the five trail miles out to the lake. The plan was to get up the cliffs in the early morning light before the day heated up. And it looked like we were lucky: blue skies and light wind (at least down at lake level).

Working up through the first layers of cliffs was enjoyable. Little hiker and game paths everywhere. What you would expect for an off-trail objective that is pretty widely known. Even more so since the advent of the internet, social media, and geotagging.

One of the benefits of this climb is the beautiful and unique views you get of Iceberg Lake. Seeing this wonderful cirque from the sidewalls with a little elevation gain is much more satisfying than just standing down on the rocky shoreline with tourists crowding elbow to elbow.

Instead of banking off to the far right and the edge of a scary coulier that you must stay out of, we go directly up the cliffs just right of center and immediately start angling toward the Notch. Why? Well, because I know that 30 years ago, the scree ramp we were now on was not there. Some nasty cliffs got buried in rockslides and erosion. Just because we can’t see the mountains chip away year after year doesn’t mean they don’t.

Although we could always see the Notch, it was a long way up there. This is where I folded up my trekking poles and lashed them to my pack. This effort required two free hands, and the day turned into some of the most enjoyable scrambling I had done in many years. I know I haven’t folded up my poles in Glacier for at least twenty years.

The angle of ascent was deceiving. I found the best way to gauge our gain and progress was to mark the bands of sediment of the Garden Wall mentally. I was keeping my eye on the diorite sill in particular.

Patrick is a trail runner and about 35 years younger than me. Although I know he won’t have any knee cartilage left when he gets to be half my age, he makes for a good lead. And I’m sure, at times, he wished for a little more body fat while waiting for me on some of those windy cliffs.

While Patrick hunkers down, with the clouds hinting towards blowing something nasty our way, I take the opportunity to pan around. It really is a great little class 3 climb. You get terrific views every step of the way. Of course, they are at your back, so you best keep your balance when turning around.

A crux feature of this route is finding what J Gordon Edwards called ‘the backward E.’ To the right of this is one of the few ‘safe’ breaks in the cliffs to get you to the last 1000 feet of the climb. Years ago, this E feature was prominent. But I now realized it wasn’t a coloration in the rock but more of a living growing lichen patch. I’m not sure I would have known this splotch was that E of the 1950s.

But the break in the cliff has not changed—a wonderful little gully from an ancient fossilized coral reef of millions of years ago.

It was nice to have solid hand and foot holds. That is few and far between up here, given the sedimentary nature of Glacier’s rock formations.

Off to the far left is that hanging bench on the side of Mt Wilber (Heavy Shield), where you can see Lake Shangri La sparkle. I didn’t make it up there this season. It has always been one of my favorite off-trail lakes.

Above the E, we are on the backstretch. I recall this part was always marked with a lot of cairns. But we didn’t see hardly a one, which is understandable. These cliffs have a lot of rockfalls, and you must choose your handholds carefully.

Patrick goes straight for what I call the Pillars of Hercules. The is just to the right of the notch, which we can’t see but know exactly where it is.

Finally, after a couple of hours of excellent exposure on a primarily nice day, we reached the famous Iceberg Notch. Maps have had the elevation wrong for many years, but it is right at 8000 feet.

On the back side, we see the rugged and wild Belly River region of the Park—more obscure peaks like Ahern, Ipasha, and even Mt Merritt.

I look carefully and can pick out the Ahern Pass trail in the small saddle below. This unmaintained trail will make for an easy cut through that subalpine forest and bring us out on the Highline Trail superhighway (the most popular hiking trail in the entire Park).

Ipasha Glacier is flowing freely and looks as wild and remote as ever. Again, you will never see most of the best glaciers in the Park from the road, no matter how much you wish you could.

Of course, this is what Ipasha Glacier looked like in 1985. It’s funny. Everyone loses their mind when discussing how Grinnell and Jackson Glaciers have withered away to nothing over the last fifty years. Ipasha seems to be doing just fine.

I was posing in the wind tunnel of Iceberg Notch. Yeah, it was really howling, which is what I expected, given the shape of this feature and the weather swirling all around.

As you can plainly see, there was much less wind in the Notch when I was there in August of 1987. And I must have really liked to hike in all cotton all the time.

But my first time up there in 1986 was probably the best. We got a little off the planned route and crossed over into the main coulier too early—stuff happens. I never knew I owned (let alone hiked in) a pair of cutoff jeans.

This is where Patrick and I parted ways. He would trail run the Highline back to the car and meet up with his family for a quick afternoon hike. I would hike back at my own pace, about four to five hours behind him. Looking back, I should have just gone back down the Notch. The last twelve trail miles were going to make for a long afternoon.

First, I had to get through this rough and unconsolidated scree slope without twisting anything important. I made sure my Zoleo was fully charged. You never know when you might have to send out an SOS signal.

Looking back after the first 1000 feet of drop, you would never have known the Iceberg Notch was on that wall if you had not just descended from it.

Down in the saddle at Ahern Pass, I look around and enjoy the view. Great vistas. The blue of Lake Helen and Lake Elizabeth are stark and vibrant.

The unmaintained trail coming off of Ahern Pass was in perfect shape. The last time a trail crew was up here was before the Park Saddle Company folded in the 1930s, and horse touring stopped. It shows how very fragile these high alpine environments can be.

Most people don’t climb Iceberg Notch for the sake of the Notch. They will use it as a shortcut to climb other peaks, like Mt Ahern.

I must grind out some miles once I’m back on the Highline Trail. The section of this trail between Logan Pass and Granite Park Chalet will easily see 1500 individual hikers (mostly ill-prepared) on any given day in the summertime. The section I am on sees only a handful a day.

This four-mile section of the Highline runs north of Granite Park Chalet towards 50 Mountain, ending in about 15 miles in Canada. Soooo….. you get the raw and beautiful views of the Livingston Range……..

…. without all of the people. There are generally only backpackers along this section of the trail because it’s pretty deep for day hikers. I only met a party of two and a party of four backpacking the opposite way. And they seemed spooked to see me. So, I guess you can find some solitude in Glacier, which is just off the beaten trail. You have to know which trail.

I always give tours in the Red Bus, and everyone is always asking, ‘Where are all the glaciers.’ I tell them to go to Banff. These glaciers are not for them.

My feet were getting tired, but I started seeing some old Many Glacier Valley friends. Mt Gould is as dominant as ever with that clinging snowfield (that isn’t a glacier).

Granite Park Chalet lies to my right across the open boulder field. That place gets a LOT of foot traffic. Plus, a mule team of supplies comes up once a week – not fun to get stuck behind on the trail.

On a clear day, you can see Logan Pass—all those beautiful little mountains. I fondly remember climbing up there in the last season or two.

I decided to skip taking a break at the Chalet and keep my steady pace. But the views are as spectacular as ever. Homeward bound.

That 500 feet up to Swiftcurrent Pass always sucks. Especially when you start getting tired; the last time I was here would have been early May when all of this was covered with snow. And it will be again in just a few short months.

I always feel like I’m coming home when I drop into this valley. Crowfeet, Henkel, and Altyn are fun peaks, always adorned with a sprinkling of that colorful red and green argillite,

If you could only visit one iconic chain of glacial lakes in the Park, you should keep the Swiftcurrent Valley in mind. On one of these winters, I would love to cross-country ski back here and see what it is like during the peaceful slumber of winter.

North Swiftcurrent Glacier gives me a little smile and a wink. The roar of the waterfalls fills the air of the valley.

After several miles of bone-crushing descent, I finally got to the valley bottom and was pleasantly surprised to find the NPS had installed a new footbridge. It’s pretty simple but very, very functional.

The last few miles out of the valley were long, hot, and dry, and my water was running low. I got to the truck and decided, since it was almost 5 pm, to drop by the employee dining hall at Many Glacier. Just grab a box of food, return to Beargrass, shower, eat, and end the day with hammock time.

I forgot the day was July 25 – the annual Xmas in July for employees and GNP. The one time a year, management actually does a big old prime rib for the employees. I’ll be honest: that fat stirred up with a bit of gravy and stuffed bell pepper with a jalapeno sweet potato side hit the spot.

If you have the time, the Strava flyover on this one is fun to watch. If only the 19 miles and 5900′ of gain would have taken under two minutes.