Home > Trip Reports > June 11, 2012, Sahale Mountain West Face

June 11, 2012, Sahale Mountain West Face

6/11/12
WA Cascades East Slopes North
3684
6
Posted by tsuyoshi on 6/12/12 7:49am
with one day of great weather, four of us decided the quien sabe glacier would be a great place to find some corn. cascade river road is gated just after mile 21 and one patch of snow is all we found between our cars and the trailhead (which was plowed for our hike out). the trail is easily booted until the first blowdown where consistent snow allows the removal of skis and boots from the pack!

the glacier is in perfect condition for skiing right now as almost all the cracks are still covered. on the way up the glacier we noticed the west face and put it in the back of our minds... it looked imposing from strait on, but things always look steeper than they are.

after a few hours of relaxing just below the summit, two of our team skied powder to corn down the quien sabe. i downclimbed onto the west face to feel the snow and found it frozen solid so jeff and i sat and waited some more for the face to soften. at 2:45 we felt the face was soft enough to ski so we dropped in finding perfect corn for the entire face. the bergshrund near the bottom of the face was easily jumped  and a long over-ripened corn ski led to the end of the glacier. i'd highly recommend the west face as am alternative to the quien sabe.

the approach to boston basin is fairly simple at the moment as the slide alder hasn't perked up yet. we found having skis on our backs was a minor annoyance for the brushy approach... especially compared to what it will be like in a month or so!

the full story here
Score! Looks like it's time to head that direction.

Get some t money and crew! 

Jeff's skiing them long these days eh?

Wow, what a difference a day makes. We were up there Sunday and couldnt see 10' ahead and the snow was super manky. Made it to 6000' and never saw Sahale. Nice work.
Here is our pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/101233243950396194715/albums/5753020110476468209?authkey=CPWDnvm6m6Xo0wE

Great pics, TR, and line!

Nice, skied it last month. Sounds like the bergshund wasn't as bad as it looks from above.


Reply to this TR

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june-11-2012-sahale-mountain-west-face
tsuyoshi
2012-06-12 14:49:25