Mount Buckner, North Face (II, AI1)

Sahale Mountain, Sahale Arm / West Ridge (I, class 4)

July 11-12, 2003

Elain and I climbed Mount Buckner (9080') via the North Face route over July 11-12. Our route traversed Sahale Mountain (8680') along the way.

Elain had been talking about wanting to climb the North Face of Mount Buckner for several months. The forecast for Friday/Saturday looked decent, and we had been hearing favorable trip reports for the route. So we decided to give it a try. Concerned about the scarcity of camping permits, we showed up at 6:30 AM at the ranger station in Marblemount to obtain our permit. After the ranger station opened at 7:00 AM, we got our permit and drove up to the trailhead. By 8:30 or so, we were walking.

The hike in was pleasant. It took us about 5.5 hours to hike up to the Sahale moraine, where we selected a campsite in a depression in the snow at about 7600'. The elevation gain on the approach is about 4000', and the distance is just under 6 miles. The trail is mostly snow-free, and the few snow patches had a well-trodden bootpack. At the Sahale moraine, we caught a fat marmot in the act of raiding food from a climber's backpack (presumably left at the moraine to save weight for an ascent of Sahale Mountain). It was sunny and warm, and we roasted in our single-wall four-season tent. We were resting by 5:45 PM.

We woke up at 1:45 AM, happy to find clear sky and no wind. Temperatures were quite warm. We were climbing by 2:30 AM. The moon was almost full, which made the headlamps unnecessary for the climb up the Sahale Glacier. At the top of the Sahale Glacier, the nearly-full moon started to dip below the horizon, turning an eerie pale orange color. At the base of the west ridge of the summit pinncale of Sahale Mountain, we took off our crampons, broke out the rope, and started climbing. The climb of Sahale Peak was technically straightforward, but it felt "sporty" due to the darkness, the plastic boots, and the bulky pack. Rope drag was really bad at the end of the first pitch; I should have set up a belay earlier, in order to mitigate rope drag. After simul-climbing a short second "pitch", we traversed over the Sahale summit without stopping. We then downclimbed onto the ridge separating Sahale from Boston, and carefully made our way across to the Boston-Sahale col. The traverse to the col was mostly on snow, with huge cornices on the east side of the ridge. From the col, we were confused about the route, and made two tentative forays down onto the east side of the ridge. Both times we ended up on steep, frightening choss. Both times we retreated back up to the ridge. Our confusion partly stemmed from our uncertainty about our exact elevation; I had neglected to recalibrate the altimeter at the summit of Sahale, and it had not been calibrated since Cascade Pass. Eventually we figured out that we were trying to traverse down and off the ridge much too early. So instead, we scrambled up the ridge crest until just 200' below the summit of Boston Peak. The rock was better quality on the ridge crest, but it was still occasionally friable. Somewhere during the climb of Sahale Mountain, the valve had been accidentally ripped off the hose of Elain's camelback hydration system, and all the water had spilled out, without our knowledge. This meant we had lost over half our water. But we still had 1.5 liters for the remainder of the climb. I had also strained my right quadricept muscle during the scrambling of the Sahale-Boston traverse, and it was hurting a bit. We discussed our options and decided to continue. At 8:00 AM, we reached a steep snow slope that descended down to the Boston Glacier.

The snow slope had a few steep steps and several crevasses, so we descended very carefully. Once down onto the Boston Glacier proper, we removed our crampons and commenced the long traverse over to the base of Buckner's north face. The glacier was in fine shape, with soft snow that was good for step-kicking (but not too soft). Elain led part of the way across the glacier. We traversed and threaded our way around the crevasses for about 90 minutes, eventually reaching the base of the north face of Buckner. Along the way, we put snow in one of our water bottles, and put the bottle in an insulated bottle-holder along with a chemical heat pack, hoping to melt the snow for drinking water. At this point we put on our crampons, switched to a full 50m rope interval, and got out our pickets and ice tools. It was warm and the top of the face was already starting to get sun, so our strategy was to climb the face as efficiently as possible (while still being roped), stopping only to exchange pickets.

As luck would have it, we had the entire north face route to ourselves. We climbed the face by simul-climbing, using our pickets for a running belay. We were also able to sling a rock horn for one point of protection. It took us about three hours to climb the face. We passed the bergschrund on the left side, which involved walking a thin snow-fin between two crevasses, but nothing technically difficult. The face was in soft condition, and got softer as we ascended. There was a bit of harder snow in the very last pitch, but for the most part it was step-kicking rather than front-pointing. About halfway up the face, I noticed some scary-looking clouds swirling over Forbidden Peak, and what appeared to be a weather front moving in from the west. Elain and I quickened our pace. I reached the summit ridge at 1:15 PM, and belayed Elain up to me. Once on the summit, we bumped into a Mazamas party of six who had just climbed the south route. They gave us quite a bit of information regarding the descent route. We were quite thirsty, but also confident we would find plentiful water on the descent. After a quick summit photo, we were on our way back down at 2:00 PM. Buckner was still under blue sky at this point, but we could see the dark charcoal clouds of a storm system marching toward us from the west.

We plunge-stepped down the southwest slopes of Buckner, eventually angling rightward down into Horseshoe Basin. Once in the basin, we followed tracks on the long traverse across Horseshoe Basin, stopping at a waterfall. There we guzzled water with abandon, and refilled our water bottles for the long climb of 1000' elevation gain to return to camp. At this point Buckner and Ripsaw Ridge had clouded over, and the weather was starting to deteriorate in Horseshoe Basin. We continued our traverse back over towards the gully on the south spur ridge of Sahale. It started to rain, and wind gusts buffeted us. Visibility was still good, however. We reached the gully and were happy to see that the party of six Mazamas had kicked a nice staircase of steps. Our eyes widened when we saw the telltale slide tracks of a fall someone had taken in the steep gully. Hopefully they were not hurt. We carefully climbed up the gully, and reached a small notch in the ridge. The wind-driven rain intensified at the notch. At this point we were unsure how to proceed. The notch was cut into a steep ridge composed of choss and unprotectable, friable rock. After re-reading the route description, we came to the grim realization that we would need to scramble up onto the ridge crest from the notch. But the start to the scramble was not obvious. We made several initial attempts to scramble up, each time kicking down a small avalanche of rock, only to be forced to downclimb after getting stuck. Because of the steady rainfall, the rock was quite wet. Finally, Elain suggested a possible line up the west side of the ridge, and said it looked climbable without the rope. I looked at it skeptically, and demanded a belay. We broke out the rope, and I reluctantly started up. The climbing was frightening, like some kind of "extreme scrambling" nightmare. I scraped and clawed my way up the wet slope, unleashing a barrage of rock missiles. Halfway up the pitch, I found myself standing with one foot on a dead tree branch, right foot on air, and clinging to a clump of vegetation on a bush, hoping it would not rip off the ridge. There I placed my first piece of pro in a dubious-looking crack. A couple of times I lost footing with both feet and resorted to flailing my feet like a cartoon character, looking for some friction. Eventually I knee-stepped onto a broad ledge, panting and relieved. There I set up a belay. As I expected, the rope drag was terrible. I pulled as hard as I could and the rope barely budged. The wind made it impossible to communicate, so I just pulled and pulled, each time moving the rope just a few inches. I briefly considerd constructing a Z-pully, but eventually managed to pull up the slack. I gave a few good yanks on the rope, and just kept pulling until the rope started to move, at which point I figured Elain was probably climbing up. Just belaying the pitch was exhausting. The rope drag was so bad that when Elain slipped and weighted the rope, I didn't even realize it. Finally Elain joined me at the belay, and we set out exploring. Crossing over to the east side of the ridge, we were delighted to find a steep third-class "trail". [We later learned there is a reasonable class 3-4 route to gain the ridge crest from the notch, although tellingly, Beckey's guidebook still describes the route as "dangerous".] We scampered up the scramble path, and eventually came to a shoulder in the ridge where we could traverse left and onto a snow slope below the Sahale Glacier. We debated roping up, but the map and terrain seemed to indicate that we were not really on the glacier, although (curiously) we saw some cracks in the snow that looked like crevasses. So we climbed unroped up the snow slope for another 500', eventually reaching the moraine of the Sahale Glacier.

At the Sahale moraine the rain/wind continued, and clouds reduced visibility to 100m or so. The terrain is expansive and all looks the same, so we broke out the GPS and used it to navigate the 500m or so back to our tent. It felt like a long traverse across the wide moraine. We saw many tents of climbing parties presumably planning to climb Sahale or Buckner the next day. Finally we reached the tent at 8:00 PM. The weather showed no signs of improving, and we broke camp in wind and rain. At 8:30 PM, we started hiking down. Because of the fog, we used the GPS for navigation across the occasional talus field, but for the most part were able to follow the trail. The trail was muddy and slick in certain places, and we each slipped a few times. By 9:30 PM it was getting dark, and we broke out the headlamps. The lower we descended on the Sahale Arm, the more foggy it got. At about 11:30 PM, we reached the forest. By 12:00 AM, Elain was feeling nauseous and very tired, and I was feeling tired as well. So, we pitched the tent on a flat spot where the trail widened at a switchback, and slept for a couple of hours. At 3:00 AM, we were up and packing. By 5:30 AM, we reached the car. We stopped for breakfast at Denny's in Mount Vernon, and arrived home at 9:30 AM.

Gear we used: 4 pickets, ice tools, ice axes, crampons, 50m x 8.5mm rope, GPS, light alpine rock rack to 3" (small tricams, hexes, and stoppers). The ice tools were mainly used in piolet cane position, and for pounding in pickets. We also carried two bugaboos and three ice screws that we did not use. Small tricams were particularly useful on the Sahale West Ridge.

Things we learned:

always research the descent route in advance (will we ever learn?)
try to recalibrate the altimeter whenever possible
climbing over a Friday/Saturday is nice; we saw not a single person on the Sahale/Boston/Buckner route, until we reached the summit
beware any section of class 3-4 scrambling that Beckey characterizes as "dangerous"

the North Face of Mount Buckner (climbing route shown in red)