June 21 - 22, 2011, Sahale NCNP

Dave Coleman, Andres Torres and I made a very last minute decision late Monday eve to head into Cascade Pass for some skiing. Andres had plans to ski the Park on Baker. Dave had been thinking Cascade Pass, and since Andres, having lived here a year and not spent any time in the NCNP except for Eldorado wanted to explore the area.

We set off early Tuesday morning, picked up our permit and parked at the MP 21 gate.
Fortunately as we were nearly packed up and ready for the 2 mile walk to the TH a truck pulled up to unlock the gate. I asked if they would be so gracious to give us a lift and they were so we jumped in the back of the pick up elated.

There is plowing being done to remove nearly ten feet of avalanche debris at the hair pin before the parking lot. From there we began skinning through the debris and up the cirque to where we would have to boot up the 50 degree slope above a moat for roughly 500 feet. As we put our skis on our packs we heard an avalanche rip off some rocks to our left and tear down the slope spitting boulders into the air.

The climb up the slope went slow in the hot sun and I was quite rattled and somewhat nervous with having to drive my whippet and knees into the steep slope to keep my pack from pulling me backwards with it's heavy weight.
I tried not to think of the moat that lay in wait beneath us and the results a fall might have. I wished I were not in shorts and a tee shirt should I fall. My hands were becoming numb from driving them repeatedly into the slope. 

Once we reached a safe place to skin we began traversing toward Cascade Pass. We set up camp near mix up arm. Dave was  intent on heading over Cache Col. That night, Dave and Andres decided to set off up Sahale arm to get a view of our intended route and ski options.

We talked about our options for the following day and I voiced my concern of traversing the steep slopes of Mix up arm over massive cliff bands, we concluded there were other options to gain the col.
We enjoyed a splendid windless evening watching the alpenglow paint the surrounding peaks in color.

When morning came Dave's ankle was bothering him and a big day was not an option. I was relieved as this was my first overnight of the season and having only done small day trips after being in school full time I was not in the shape I would like to have been.
We decided to ski Sahale as neither Andres nor I had and I had not been up Sahale since 1998 and was looking forward to skiing it.

It was a delightful but hot day as the sun baked us and only slight breezes would relieve us on seldom occasion. We booted up knee deep slush the final few hundred feet to the summit block before preparing ourselves for the descent.

We took turns skiing should any slides occur and indeed they did. Andres was fortunate to rip big GS turns with no issue. Dave however set off a small slide that knocked him off his feet but was able to pull out of it instead of riding it out. He yelled over to me to ski to my right where the slope was less steep and possibly serving up less chance of a slide. I traversed a little then began making some turns until the slope let loose again knocking me down and building up speed beneath me. I fought it as it began to bury my downhill ski under the heavy snow and successfully lifted myself forward and off to the side.
The lower slopes were of less concern but we knew they too would let loose where they were steepest so we carefully chose our route and enjoyed carving turns to our camp.

We broke down camp rather quickly as the weather was signaling rain to come. I was nervous about skiing the 50 degree slope we had climbed with my overnight pack and the yawning moat that lay beneath. I decided to wear my climbing helmet just in case. The ski went well followed by the bumpy avalanche debris descent to the road.
We put on our shoes, packed our skis and boots onto the packs and set off down the 2 mile road making it to the car in 40 minutes. Dinner and a celebratory drink in Mt. Vernon concluded this wonderful trip with great friends!