Home > Trip Reports > 8-23-08, Sahale Peak, Quien Sabe Glacier

8-23-08, Sahale Peak, Quien Sabe Glacier

8/23/08
WA Cascades East Slopes North
7338
7
Posted by danhelmstadter on 8/24/08 8:36am
I was amazed to find the Cascade River Road open all the way to its end - a chink in the otherwise impenetrable burliness of North Cascade armour.
I awoke to the sounds of waterfalls, pines swaying in the wind, and ice fall exploding on rocks from the hanging glaciers of J-berg. Got started on the trail around 9am and found the extent of the switchbacks up to Cascade Pass kind of annoying - it seemed more like a trail built for mountain bikers who seek a gentle ride, rather than for climbers trying to get things done, although I can't complain about the maintenance and up keep of the trail itself...
I made excellent time - passing hordes of hikers - all the way up to the Sahale Glacier. There was about a foot of fresh snow blanketing the glacier - which was at times icy under the fresh mash potatoes. I kicked steps up and around to the climbers left side of the summit rock pinnacle, straying from the established boot pack which went to the right and behind/around to easier scrambling gain the summit. I scrambled up perhaps ~70 feet of steep, exposed - but good rock, with the crux being at the top, always feeling just on the safe side of dangerous.
I found a crowd of about 8 people on the tiny/exposed summit, I believe they said they were the Everett mountaineers. I could not get by them to the north side because they blocked the way, so I waited half an hour for each of them to rappel before I could get up and over, waiting on such a summit in fine weather was not a very grueling hardship.
From the very scenic summit, I was disappointed with the appearance of my ski objective. The Quien Sabe looked like a beautiful ski - from Eldorado last weekend, but from close up - it appeared heavily crevassed, and perhaps a touch lower angle than I had hoped for. I decided to ski it regardless; as it did appear to at least yield several thousand feet of fresh snow.
I had to walk my skis down a little ways to reach the top of the Quien Sabe Glacier. Clicking into my skis on deep fresh snow felt great - even if it was a little wet. The turns also felt great, so nice to be skiing on fresh snow once again. I was able to weave around the crevasse field I had scoped from the summit, and found a moderatly pichted descent fall line to the base of the glacier. One little carry and I was able to ski on old corn well below the end of the glacier. A total of about 2000 feet of skiing.
I was a little worried about not being able to find the trail in Boston Basin, but I spotted it from afar without too much anxious gazing. The upper half of the trail was in great condition - wide - no branches or deadfall - but the lower half was overgrown in areas with alder and bushes, minor deadfall, nothing too difficult, but it was a little burdensome with my skis often sticking on the low overhead branches. Once back on the road it was a short walk to my camper. My skis were a magnet for weird , quizzical looks from the hordes of hikers and parking lot loiterers.
I may thorw in a couple more pics if I can get the thumbnail posting deal worked out -- this pic is kinda lame cause it does'nt show how steep  the rock was.

Dan-  climbed Shark Fin and saw this from our camp at 7900 feet ... must have been a tough walk down the trail with skis!  Nice one.

And thankyou for another great tr!!!

That photo scares me, especially near those holes at mid photo!!
Good job Dan!

Dan, that first shot is very impressive. Are you gonna go back into Canada and ski some of those lines. I went to Norway and you can ride a t-bar for some  'intermediate terrain', over there. Keep on rackin' 'em up, Rob

Whoa, solo on the Quien Sabe in August?  Yeah baby

Nice work Dan!  Holy crappola, way to nab some gnarly tracks in August!  Major kudos!

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8-23-08-sahale-peak-quien-sabe-glacier
danhelmstadter
2008-08-24 15:36:14