[TR] Mt Buckner - North Face 7/12/2008

[DPS]

Trip: Mt Buckner - North Face

 

Date: 7/12/2008

 

Trip Report:

Before I got sick I would have done this route car to car, but my new reality is that I am slow and have to take it easy, so we planned on a leisurely two day tour.

 

We took our time getting to Boston Basin and had a nice chat with a friendly ranger. Learned a bunch about the history of the park, the work he does, etc. Saw 15 people coming and going on the Quien Sabe glacier. Dropped over to the Boston and saw no one until we got back to Cascade Pass.

 

We camped on a level spot in the middle of the glacier. The next morning we walked to the face and climbed climber's left to avoid a series of cracks. About 2/3 height, we stopped a belayed a funky down climb into a strange deep, steep walled trough in the snow that went all the way to the rock. We climbed out the other side and made a belay. Another 1 1/2 pitch through a constriction in rock band was the crux: hard, dirty black ice. We simuled to the summit, screws and pickets were both useful.

 

The descent was down through horseshoe basin and up to Sahalee Arm, with a lunch break below the final climb. The arm was freakin gorgeous! We admired all kinds of alpine flowers and lush greenery.

 

The descent from Cascade Pass was enjoyable. In the parking lot a family from out of town struck up a conversation and asked me to name all the peaks in the view shed. I happily obliged and took photos of them in front of JBerg with their camera. Then they asked to take photos of me with their family!

 

All in all one of the best trips in recent memory.

 

Gear Notes:

50 meter rope, two tools, 4 pitons, 4 ice screws, 4 pickets. Everything was used. Could have used 6 med-large nuts.

 

Approach Notes:

Up through Boston Basin, over the gunsight notch climber's right of Sharkfin Col, cross Boston Glacier, descend Horseshoe Basin and Sahalee Arm. Chat up girl to get ride back to our car.

[Chad_A]

Right on, Dan

[Kyle_Flick]

Nice climb indeed and a wonderful tour of the area! Remarkable scenery.

Oddly amongst all that seemingly farflung and remote terrain, the minors' tools are a surprise find as you are exiting Horseshoe Basin onto steep rock beginning the hike up to Sahale Arm.

[DPS]

Oddly amongst all that seemingly farflung and remote terrain, the minors' tools are a surprise find as you are exiting Horseshoe Basin onto steep rock beginning the hike up to Sahale Arm.

 

I missed that, must have been buried by snow still.

[rob]

Hey, way to go, Dan! Great to see you getting out. I still remember our aborted trip out there (last year?) -- at least it wasn't raining this time, eh? Sounds like you guys had a great trip.

[letsroll]

SO sahale arm is all melted out up to the glacier? Headed to sahale next weekend. Wondering if I can just take the tennies and get just a bit wet VS. wearing the lethers the whole time.

[DPS]

Except for several small snow patches, Sahale arm is melted out to the glacier. There is still a lot of snow on the glacier though, I would personally opt for boots, but that's just me.

 

The arm is incredibly beautiful right now. Enjoy!

[Alex]

Good job, thats a nice trip

[letsroll]

thanks for the info Dan. Boots it is then. Looking forward to heading in there. Plower....power

[Tom_Sjolseth]

That is a great area.. nice trip! Any photos?

[DPS]

That is a great area.. nice trip! Any photos?

My partner had the camera, when he sends photos I will ask permisison to post them.

[moraineboy]

Nice work! I was wondering how the rest of your trip went! We saw your tracks down amongst the mega crevasses on the Boston Glacier from Sharkfin Tower.

 

Your Friendly Neighborhood Ranger.

[DirtyHarry]

We saw you guys descending the S Face on Saturday from our camp at Boston - Sahale Col. We climbed the N Face on Sunday, intending to ski it, but due to its funky nature decided to ski the S Face instead - which was awesome. We followed your route back up to the Arm, but had to go over the summit of Sahale to retrieve our shit from camp and then skiied down the arm.

 

Gear Notes:

Jim Beam Black

[olyclimber]

Tell me more about this Jim Bean Black! also, if you are a representative of Jim Bean, please identify yourself as such. i would like to talk to you about having your company sponsor cc.com.

 

Oh, and nice job to all. Someone should post some pics to spruce up these TRs.

[lunger]

Jim Beam Black is all that is right with America.

 

I'll try to get some pics posted next couple days, got a few good ones.

[DirtyHarry]

I'll post an official Buckner TR soon (a trip on which we sampled a delicious beverage called Jim Beam Black). I also owe a TR from the Cali trip - a trip on which we also enjoyed Jim Beam Black.

[letsroll]

Have another quesion. would there be running water at the high camp at the base of the glacier? Want to save weight on fuel. Have never been up there before.

[DPS]

Have another quesion. would there be running water at the high camp at the base of the glacier? Want to save weight on fuel. Have never been up there before.

 

We did the approach via Boston Basin. After rapelling onto the Boston Glacier we saw no running water until descending into Horseshoe Basin.

[letsroll]

That is what I figured. Thanks again for the info.

[DirtyHarry]

We found running water on the north face route - in multiple places.