[TR] Boston Basin - Torment, Sahale - S Ridge on Torment; Quien Sabe - Sahale Traverse 8/11/2012

[chris]

Trip: Boston Basin - Torment, Sahale - S Ridge on Torment; Quien Sabe - Sahale Traverse

 

Date: 8/11/2012

 

Trip Report:

Photos to come later, but I wanted to post a conditions report. Just got home last night from a three day trip into Boston Basin. We camped at high camp on Wednesday night, but only found one small spot melted out, and a second wall just starting to show.

 

In the morning we climbed the S. Ridge on Torment. Getting across the Taboo was straight-forward, and the bergschrund bridge is 150-200' wide right now. While we didn't see any rockfall or ice fall on Thursday, a descending team did witness a BIG event on Tuesday, and we saw the debris littering the fan underneath the 'schrund. Don't hang out here. The South Ridge notch is a straight forward step across. A rappel station at the top of the 25' first step (described in the Select) gets you back to the snow. 60m rope mandatory for the rappels on the ridge.

 

On Friday we carried up and over Sahale via the Quien Sabe Glacier/Sahale Glacier routes. The hike out was surprisingly long - we thought smoother trail would make up for the longer distance. In the end, we agreed that the alpine scenery made it worthwhile, but you need a good pair of legs and light packs to feel good about it. We saw some folks hiking up to climb the Sahale Glacier route with 65+ liter packs - what's up with that?

 

Gear Notes:

Cams - 1 set to #3

Stoppers - I set #4-10, even sizes only

4 shoulder slings

2 double-shoulder slings

1 cordellette

biner bits and bobs

crampons and ice axe

 

Approach Notes:

The trail is completely melted out - hike high to find a crossing at the last creek before low camp (high that low camp's elevation), and drop back down to camp.

[dougd]

Thanks for the timely report. I'll be heading up Sahale/Boston peak for a bit of reconning next week.

 

I'll be traveling light, as always...

 

d