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Sahale Peak,Boston Basin Loop

This is the story of Ken and Dan’s annual trip to the Pacific Northwest for some mountaineering in the Cascade Range. We wanted to spend the first night in Boston Basin, climb Forbidden Peak the next day, then move camp upwards to the Sahale-Boston Col, climb Sharkfin Tower and Sahale the next day and head out via Sahale Arm back to the car. I picked up Ken on the earlier flight; Dan hadn’t been able to go standby on that flight but threw his gear on that plane. I had the privilege of hauling his one super heavy duffel bag; I buckled as I picked it up and tried to haul it off. Dan showed up a later on a delayed flight and we didn’t get to bed until 1am or so, unfortunately. The next day we woke up early and drove out under grey clouds to the Marblemount ranger station. We thought that because it was early on Friday, we’d not have a problem getting a pass. Well, there were no passes for Boston Basin. And, to top that, the Cascade Pass Road was closed at the Eldorado parking lot thanks to the heavy fall rains last year. So, we instead got permits for Sahale Arm then Boston Basin. That would work; we’d just do the trip in reverse. At the parking lot, we encountered some rangers, one of them seemed an interesting mix of German and American Indian and we later joked about asking to look at our permit with a very dry “Papers please.”

We started up the road, an extra 3+ miles, around 11am, a little despondent that we had this extra burden. Three and a half miles on an easy road sounds pretty straightforward, and it was. It was really hot though and I think this extra mileage and elevation really tipped the scales of exhaustion when we pulled into camp the first night. Two miles up the road we still wondered why the road was closed. Soon enough though, we saw the numerous holes in the road, sections that were collapsed, and the big machinery that fixes all of it. In some ways though, it was pretty cool hiking up the road because we were able to pay attention to new scenery that we’re accustom to zipping past on the way in or out.

http://www.vimeo.com/6790416

After a short break at the picnic area at the Cascade Pass parking lot, we put our packs back on and started the climb (again) to Cascade Pass. The trail to the pass is pleasant and loaded with numerous switchbacks. I went ahead in front of Ken and Dan intent on getting some video footage as they approached the pass. By the time I got to the pass, the weather had changed a bit. It was a lot colder at the pass and a lot of new clouds had moved in. After a second break, we headed up the last third of the first day – the hike up Sahale Arm to Sahale Arm camp. The hike up Sahale Arm was awesome – lots of heather and flowers, we saw marmots and ptarmigans, and great views down to Doubtful Lake and up to Johannesburg Peak. The upper reaches of Sahale, however, were completely engulfed in clouds.

As we climbed into the clouds, the mist started slowly dampening our packs and clothes. We intently watched our altimeters and we went up the easy talus. At this point, visibility had literally dropped to 30 feet (I measured). We got to an obvious ridge at 7600 feet and we knew the camps were nearby. I scouted to the left and found the public toilet. Then I scouted to the right and found the first camp, which was occupied. I yelled, “Hi guys!” to the occupants who answered (turned out to be Rob and Ben who we would share the summit with the next day) and gave me vague directions to where other camps were. The three of us then headed up to search for a place to sleep. We spread out and dropped our packs and roamed around. It was easy to get out of view of each other. We explored a large rocky area that only revealed a semi level section of snow. In the mist, I thought I could see another section of rock and I let Ken and Dan know I’d go explore there and I’d either yell that I found something or I’d meet them at the snow platform at the top of the last rocky section. This new rocky outcropping looked far away but I took a mere 10-15 steps and was suddenly there; distances were completely out of proportion in the mist! After a couple of minutes, I found a spot and hollered to Ken and Dan who followed my voice down. We set up camp, ate, and then crashed for ten hours! It was an exhausting day.

The next day, we tentively opened the fly to see what the day would reveal. It was clear! Well, for the most part. There was lots of blue sky but there were also a whole lot of clouds. The north Cascade valley was engulfed in a large cloud, Johannesburg moved in and out of clouds, and beyond Sahale Arm, near Forbidden, seemed to be covered in clouds. But, it was clear above and behind us and we could see the summit of Sahale Peak. We took our time getting ready and then packed up and headed up with heavy packs. We wanted to get over Sahale Peak this day and down to Boston Basin. If we had the time, energy, and weather, we’d also try to climb Sharkfin Tower. We followed easy snow to the base of the summit tower. We decided that since we were wearing full packs, we’d rope up for the one pitch to the top. In normal weather with a light pack or nothing, this would be a thrilling scramble to the top. I thought maybe I’d go straight up the face and then link up with the lefthand ridge. This turned out to not be the best choice (there were no good places to protect) and I had to make some delicate moves to get over to the ridge. Once we got going though, the ridge went quickly and easily. On the top, we met up with Ben and Rob and we posed for lots of pictures.

By the time we were ready to rappel down the north side of Sahale, the clouds moved in and engulfed the summit. Sadly, they didn’t leave for the rest of the trip. On the other side of the summit, the scene wasn’t very cheery – cloudy and misty with unseen exposure over the right side and steep snow on the left. We roped up and carefully made our way down. The going wasn’t too bad fortunately. There was a section where we had to downclimb on polished slabs with our crampons on. At the base of the slabs, we were able to make a short scramble down to the edge of the glacier. A short jump put us on our way. The way through the glacier was straightforward, albeit foggy.

We made quick progress down. Suddenly, views of Boston Basin started opening up. We exited the base of the cloud cover and were able to clearly see down into the basin. This was a relief; we wouldn’t have to search the entire area for the campsites. The cloud covered went all the way over to Forbidden Peak and hid the summit from us. Johannesburg, however, was clear.

We made a stop for some food then another to get some glacial water. Ken then caught a glimpse of someone in the distance walking – that had to be the upper Boston Basin camps. Cool – we weren’t that far away. We had to negotiate a couple of steep grassy sections. Dan’s heavy boots served him well at this point. Ken and I were a little more unsure in our light leather boots. We pulled into camp in the afternoon. Most of the established campsites were still under snow we were told. We were able to find a nice flat spot though and set our camp up there. We spent the rest of the day gazing up towards Forbidden that at most revealed the base of the couloir that gave access to the West Ridge. It looked pretty steep and narrow from our vista. Most of the time, though, we couldn’t see very far up the slopes of Forbidden. 180 degrees behind us, though, the real view was always available to behold. Johannesburg looked absolutely gargantuan and terrifying. We had a leisurely dinner and plenty of time for picture taking. We set our watches for 4:30 and turned in.

When 4:30 came around, I really didn’t want to stir. Ken was pretty anxious and got up to look. “Socked in”, he said. No! Well, at least we can sleep a little longer; let’s try again in about two and a half hours. At 7am we got up again. I looked out and it was completely socked in. What luck. The night before, the rangers had come by checking permits. We asked for the latest forecast and the confirmed our thoughts – that July 4th would be the best climbing day. Not so. It looked like we were out of luck. Dejected, we lugubriously packed our things up and headed down. There’s not to much to report on the hike out. It was pleasant enough and the mist lasted for a lot of elevation. These clouds certainly weren’t going anywhere today. We had a couple of fun stream crossings. We moved quickly; we were suddenly at the avalanche debris that Ken and I had experienced a couple of years before. This time though, the passage was much more straightforward. We also figured out where we’d gone wrong in the past. We dreaded the long road hike out but it turned out to be pretty easy. Though we didn’t get to climb Forbidden, the trip was still a lot of fun. We had great views (the ones that chose to reveal themselves) and the experience of going up and over Sahale was really alpine. I also greatly enjoyed the downtime where we took in the views from our lunch perch on the Quien Sabe glacier and the locale of Sahale Arm and Boston Basin. We’ll have to return some day for Forbidden.