Tod Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 What a beautiful day Sunday was! My buddy JB and I decided to make a marathon day out of yesterday and climb Sahale, Boston, Buckner and Horsehoe all in one day. It's really a great loop that hits all the peaks without having to go out of your way for any of them. Here's how the day went: -Left car 2:30am -Summited Sahale 6:30am? -Summited Boston 8:30am - In a twisted way, I enjoyed this climb. The rock is really sh*tty, everything, everything is falling apart. However, there is a nice traverse from the lower right east face up to the middle of the south ridge that will then get you up some 4th class climbing on the south ridge where the rock seems to be a bit more stable. My buddy ended up doing the east face, while I did the south ridge. The summit register is this cool book in one of the old aluminum Mazama register boxes. The book was placed in 1966 and is in great shape. It was fun reading through and seeing registers from the likes of John Roper, Gary Mellom, and some registers from the Skoogs in the mid 70's. According to the register, approx 6 groups a year climb Boston, we were the first this year. The descent is much easier, 3 raps. -45 minutes across to the NF of Buckner -Summit Buckner at 11:30 via the NF. As described by others, the routes in good shape. Firm neve snow, easy to get around the bergschrund, straightforward and only an ice axe is required. The NF Couliour bergschrund looks impassible right now though. From the top of the NF, we traversed over to the east peak and had lunch, summited the west peak and descended the SW face and traversed over to Horsehoe Peak. -Summited Horshoe at 1:30? Another seldom climbed peak. 3rd class climbing left from the top of the snow on the SE face and around a corner to a sandy gulley. From there it's a 4th class traverse left up to a notch in the summit ridge that has a single ~5.4 move that is semi exposed but because of bomber hands makes for a fun last move to summit when climbing solo. According to the register the summit sees very few climbers. The register has seen summits from only 6 groups since 1995 in the following order: 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003 (us). One rap down to the sandy gulley and a Class 3 around the corner to the snow. -1 hour 45min back to the Sahale moraine. -Back at car at 6:30 (16 hours car to car) -Good Food milkshake and fries by 7:30... Overall we weren't pushing ourselves and we had plenty of time to relax and spend about 30+mins on each summit and enjoy ourselves. A great day and a great way to get a bunch of climbing in without having to lug around overnight gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncascademtns Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 You are a machine. Did you forget to mention about the helicopter? Great Job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGallia Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 What approach did you take? Were you really # 6 ? I mean it looks like a classic that a lot of people would do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figger_Eight Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Good effort Tod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tod Posted July 8, 2003 Author Share Posted July 8, 2003 CGallia said: What approach did you take? Were you really # 6 ? I mean it looks like a classic that a lot of people would do. We started at the Cascade Pass trailhead (Cascade River Road). I don't think we are #6 to climb Horseshoe. The register on the peak was in poor shape (wet and faded) and from what I could read there were only six summits registered on it including ours. I would guess that Horseshoe has been climbed a lot more than 6 times, but because the peak blends in with Ripsaw Ridge it's also a peak that is not looked at very often. Buckner (a few hundred yards away and 600' higher) has probably seen more climbs this year than Horseshoe has in the last 5 years. I'm actually surprised that it's even a named peak.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 A number of people did Horseshoe before 1995. It is on the original Top 100 list (Bulger list), although it really shouldn't be because it does not have 400' of prominence separating it from Buckner. Tod: It's a good thing you did Horseshoe on your way down from Buckner because it sure is not worth a trip in there just for Horseshoe (which I did). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tod Posted July 29, 2003 Author Share Posted July 29, 2003 It's pretty ridiculous that it's part of the "Top 100" list. It's even a little odd that it's a named peak on the USGS maps since the peak seems to be more part of Ripsaw Ridge than a peak. My feeling though is that it was actually a pretty fun side trip after Buckner that doesn't take to much time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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