[TR] Mount Buckner - North Face 7/5/2014

[jefetronic]

Trip: Mount Buckner - North Face

 

Date: 7/5/2014

 

Trip Report:

During a climb of the Torment-Forbidden Traverse last summer, I remember looking down onto the Boston Glacier and over to Mount Buckner, thinking how expansive and remote the area looked. Buckner's North Face seemed like a good objective for the July timeframe, so Kelsey and I geared up once again.

 

We left late from Seattle on the 4th, departing the car from the Boston Basin lot at about 1:45pm. Our plan was to camp on the Boston Glacier, partly just for the experience of being back there for a night, knowing that it would mean a carry over. It took just over an hour to get to the snow line at the edge of Boston Basin. We headed up the Quien Sabe route in our shorts and t-shirts, enjoying the beautiful day. We decided to forego the loose scramble around Boston in favor of a (hopefully) easier drop from Sharkfin Col or the nearby ridge.

 

To keep things light, we'd only brought a 30m glacier line and it sounded like the Sharkfin drop would require a longer rap, so we traversed past it to the ridge just to the east. The down climb on the far side looked steep but possible, so we headed down there. The first half wasn't too bad—just steep, but secure snow. Then it got a little spicy, with a little low-grade, mixed down climbing in a no-fall zone on crumbly rock. It took a while to pull this off, since neither one of us wanted to end up with a broken leg on the North side of the divide.

 

After the spicy down climb, the weather started rolling in and began lightly raining on us as we traversed near large crevasses to a flat point on the glacier about three quarters of a mile from where we'd dropped in. The approach to Buckner was obvious from here and we were starting to get a bit wet, so we pitched camp and dove into the tent for some fuel and sleep, which were both made better by the highly American P-51 Imperial Porter we'd carried in to celebrate the 4th.

 

Our back of the napkin math suggested that we could be back at the car in about 10 hours, so we set an alarm for 4:30am. The sunrise was quite Mordor-esque and, after enjoying it and some coffee, we were moving by 5:45am. It only took an hour to reach the route, traversing high above most of the crevasses and finding a boot pack up there.

 

I'd been hoping for something a little technical on the route, be it ice or rock, but the route was in fine early-season shape, with an existing boot pack that was somewhere between faint and well-formed throughout. We went from our traverse point at 7,800 feet to the summit at 9,114 feet in 1 hour, stepping over the final ridge into the sun at about 7:45am. The most difficult part had been steep snow just right of a rock outcrop about halfway up. We didn't feel the need for (and didn't place any) protection on the climb.

 

The reality hit us at this point that we'd already done what we'd gone there for and that the rest of our day would be a bit tedious, albeit pretty. Thankfully, the descent to Horseshoe Basin was fast. In a little over 2 hours, we were down to 6,500 feet and almost to the snow finger leading to the ramp up to the Sahale Arm. Another 3 hours later (including some naps in the sun on opportune rocks), we were on the summit of Sahale, enjoying the view and the rest of our lunch before descending the Quien Sabe, which was thankfully possible as a straight shot to the Boston Basin camp, rather than arcing around to the North. We were back to the car at about 4pm and, more importantly, at the BBQ caboose in Marblemount shortly thereafter.

 

I'd call it more of an alpine tour than a climb. Don't get me wrong—it was gorgeous, but the climb itself didn't quite satisfy the technical appetite. Our down climb from near Sharkfin was the spiciest part of the weekend. Perhaps a bit later in the season would be more challenging. It sure was nice to do most of our descent on snow, though!

 

Boston Basin approach in shorts on the 4th

 

Loose, steep down climbing

 

Kelsey and our objective while on the way to camp

 

Sunrise and Buckner from camp

 

Traversing rock on the route

 

Pretty nice ambiance for a climb

 

The steepest part

 

Summit

 

Descent through Horseshoe Basin with awesome clouds

 

Nearing the top of Sahale

 

Key parts of our route

 

Gear Notes:

Used: 1 nut and 1 cam on our down climb to the Boston Glacier, 30m glacier line

Didn't Use: 2 screws, 2 pickets, 4 nuts, 1 cam

 

Approach Notes:

Snow-line is right at the point where you exit trees into Boston Basin. Looked like the traverse around Boston would be pretty short right now, given how high the snow is on the North side.

[dave schultz]

Nice write up. I agree that Buckner lacked any real technical challenge except for the choke point on the descent.

 

I think I may have passed you on your way up the trail on the 4th. I was probably the only person descending the trail with skis on my pack.

 

Ryan and I climbed, and I skied the NF on the 2nd and that was no doubt our bootpack en route to the summit. I'm glad it was reused by someone!

 

In the current conditions on the Sharkfin Col I think a 30m rope would have worked to rap down onto the north side. We reached the Boston Glacier by traversing below Boston from Sahale, but downclimbed snow for quite a ways before making the traverse, we probably did it wrong but found nothing harder than 4th class on the traverse.

[knoon]

Thanks for the boot pack Dave! We saw your track coming down from Boston and it was handy to pick up as the snow got slushy. Looked like you dropped straight down from Horseshoe though, or did we miss your tracks coming back up Sahale?

 

Jefetronic gets generous climbing partner points for putting up with the number of times I felt a need to undergo full on layer changes and unnecessary transitions. Fortunately the views of surrounding peaks were worthwhile, but props nonetheless!

[dave schultz]

We rappeled off Sahale and traversed well below Boston and straight-lined to Buckner. We then skinned/booted over to Sharkfin Col and moved over to Mount Torment for the TFT.

 

It's interested you needed lots of layer changes and transitions. Did you find the temps wildly variable? I seem to remember starting with my layering and it was good for the whole day (but you where there several days after us). Not sure what transitions you were doing, seemed straightforward enough that just boots, crampons, and a tool were all that was required. I had vertical mono-points in preparation for the TFT, but horizantal front points would have been better.

[knoon]

Key word being *unnecessary* transitions I wanted to wear shorts, then soft shell pants, then shorts, then pants, then...

 

All of which required de-cramponing then re-accessorizing. Totally unnecessary except to sun tan, so I was lucky to be climbing with a patient partner.