[TR] Sahale - Quien Sabe to Sahale Arm 07/04/2023

[Grant789]

Trip: Sahale - Quien Sabe to Sahale Arm

Trip Date: 07/04/2023

Trip Report:

 

After a winter full of beer and ice cream, our expectations of maintained climbing strength and plans to climb Cathedral over the long weekend got brutally smacked down by a humbling attempt of Outer Space a few weeks back. We then settled on an easier one day pursuit of going up the Quien Sabe on Sahale and down cascade pass on the 4th of July to get us into the alpine and hopefully motivate us to get our butts back into alpine shape.

 

Slept at the El Dorado trailhead. Our friends left Seattle at 1am and picked us up at 4am to begin the day. We left the Boston basin trailhead around 4:20 and got a fresh cup of alder to the face to wake us up. We got to the lower camp at 6:20 (thank goodness for that toilet) and the base of the glacier shortly before 8. Started moving on the Quien Sabe around 8:20 in a team of 3 and a team of 2. The glacier was well filled in and snow was perfect (not too firm and not too soft) making navigation and travel a breeze. I personally don't like steeper snow so threw in a picket on the steepest part of the glacier above some larger crevasses as mental pro, but everyone else was super comfortable. Got to the ridge around 10:20 for some lunch, quick scrambling, a small snow patch, then scramble to the summit at 11:30. While we saw no one on the boston basin side, but from the summit we could see bunch of folks coming up and along Sahale arm.

A quick rappel down and some loose rock down-climbing to get to the sahale glacier where we boot skied down with joy. Took a leisurely pace down to cascade pass and back to the boston basin parking lot by 4.

Had beers, pickles and fresh salmon berries in the creek by eldo trailhead with a lovely visit from a bear foraging berries as well.

Overall great leisurely day in a beautiful location to get us back into the alpine kick.

Photos:

Crossing streams up to boston basin:

Roped up on the glacier:

Summit ridge (don't need a rope, but we couldn't tell from the other side):

Summit scramble (we threw in a hand line because a fall would have been catastrophic)

Summit selfie:

Sahale glacier snowball fight:

Sahale arm goatfest:

Eldo bear:

Gear Notes:
Crampons, Ice Axe, Picket, 40 and 60 m half ropes

Approach Notes:
Up boston basin and down cascade pass

Edited July 6, 2023 by Grant789

[tanstaafl]

Dang, a snowball fight AND goats AND a bear is pretty stellar.  Looks like a great training outing.

Beautiful area.  Last time I was up on Sahale we did it in the opposite direction and once we dropped into Boston Basin we couldn't see a thing.  We did have some freaking adorable baby goats at camp though.

[olyclimber]

Did you pet that dog in the last pic?