Bronco Posted July 12, 2010 Posted July 12, 2010 Trip: Mt. Buckner - North Face Date: 7/10/2010 Trip Report: Mr. Goodtime aka Juan Sharp and I met in downtown Everett at 4:15 am on Saturday and drove to the Boston Basin TH while slurping coffee and Gatorade. This would be my first return to the Cascades since returning from several years in Montana. I was a bit nervous that I would slow the pace but we seemed to be pretty evenly matched middle aged beer gut deskjockey dads. We were on the trail by 6:50am and made good time to the notch near Shark Fin Col. Conditions were good, not as soft as we had anticipated on the Boston Glacier and we continued a good pace to the foot of the face. We intended to checkout the N. Couloir but realized we were already part way up the N. Face route and decided unrope, get out the crampons and second tool and continue. Soft snow provided secure steps and plunging on the route, sticking to the left side of the face we quickly ascended to the rock band about half way up. Some easy rock moves put us on the upper snow field and access to the summit at about 4:00 pm. One of the most stunning days of weather I’ve ever seen. We were glad to find a small waterfall a short ways down from the summit to rehydrate our dried up bodies. I know I consumed 8 liters of fluids and was still a full 5lbs lighter the morning after. It was definitely hot up there on Saturday. We tried to move quickly and completely missed the trail to Cascade Pass at the bottom of Sahale Arm. We ended up linking brush belays through a cliff band to gain the bottom of the valley and hike back up to Cascade Pass on the trail from Stehekin. We made the pass just as the sun set and discussed taking a direct “path” to the parking lot but decided that we should stick to the demoralizing trail in the darkness. We arrived at the car at 11:00pm. What a fun day in the mountains! Not sure how many miles we covered but it sure seemed like a lot. I'll add some more photos once the que is processed. Gear Notes: Glacier gear, gu, sun screen,second axe and crampons. Approach Notes: We used the notch about 100m closer to Sharkfin than the notch described in Nelson's book to access the Boston Glacier. This allowed us to use a 50m rope. Quote
JasonG Posted July 12, 2010 Posted July 12, 2010 Awesome to see Mr. Sharp back on the sharp end. Rumors of his (climbing) demise were greatly exaggerated I guess . . .Wicked Sick! Quote
Juan Sharp Posted July 12, 2010 Posted July 12, 2010 Hah! It's all part of the sandbagging routine noted by Kyle Flick elsewhere. No, seriously, the back issues are resolved for now so I'm trying to get out here and there as time (and a very generous wife) allows. Bronco and I had a fine time and would recommend the route to anyone who likes a good snow climb. The notch we took to get onto the Boston Glacier beats Sharkfin Col -- I've used it twice and it is easy. Quote
Layback Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Nice job! Would love to see some more pics if you have them. Quote
Juan Sharp Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Bronco and I are working on posting additional pictures . . . . Quote
Bronco Posted July 14, 2010 Author Posted July 14, 2010 Here's John just below the summit - I'm having trouble with loading the jpgs from the queue into my gallery.... Quote
Bronco Posted July 14, 2010 Author Posted July 14, 2010 (edited) I guess some of the pics just needed to be resized... Edited July 14, 2010 by Bronco Quote
Bronco Posted July 14, 2010 Author Posted July 14, 2010 One more - lower on the face after traversing left. I traced the route on Google earth and it ascends approximatly 9000' and 20 miles car to car. Do we get speed slogging soft man awards? Quote
rob Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 not bad for a couple of "middle aged beer gut deskjockeys" Quote
Juan Sharp Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Hey Bronco: Ever since you posted the picture of me below the summit I have fallen out of my desk chair, to the left, six times. I don't know what is going on but I need a beer and some Advil! John Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Nice work! I really need to get up this route... Quote
mountainsloth Posted July 15, 2010 Posted July 15, 2010 looks like a beautiful line, thanks for the views Quote
Alex Posted August 14, 2010 Posted August 14, 2010 Nice job, that's a lot of work but nice country. Quote
goatboy Posted August 14, 2010 Posted August 14, 2010 (edited) Hah! It's all part of the sandbagging routine noted by Kyle Flick elsewhere. No, seriously, the back issues are resolved for now so I'm trying to get out here and there as time (and a very generous wife) allows. Bronco and I had a fine time and would recommend the route to anyone who likes a good snow climb. The notch we took to get onto the Boston Glacier beats Sharkfin Col -- I've used it twice and it is easy. Hi Juan, I imagine it's snow-level dependent? Thanks for the beta, goatboy Edited August 14, 2010 by goatboy Quote
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