[Yana]

[dacker]

Well, I went rock climbing yesterday at Mt. Erie with Yana, so she pretty much filled me in on the rest of the story...BUT... I'm still waiting (impatiently) to read chapter 2 of the TR!!

[Jamin Smitchger]

This trip report should not be on some climbing site. Good job.

[Quark]

Matt I'm so glad you showed up on this site. What a great trip report & pics. Damn, Yana gets out a lot.

[Matt]

Part 2 of 3 The ridge ended up requiring a running belay for several rope lengths, a full-length belayed pitch up the tower before the west summit, another full-rope belayed pitch to the top of the west (false) summit, and a short pitch down and up to the east (true) summit. Running belay from col to base of first tower: Greg led the first rope with Eric, and I followed on the second rope with Yana. For the first couple hundred feet along the ridge, we could just kick steps in the snow. As the ridge steepened, the snow thinned, and footwear changed. First we shed the crampons, then the ice axes. As the rock steepened, Eric & Yana changed to rock shoes, but Greg and I stayed with boots.

Yana at the col waiting to start up the snowy traverse

Eric reaching the end of the snow, with the first tower ahead

Yana on steepening terrain nearing first anchor.

Belayed pitches up tower and false summit: The running belay ended at a steep tower before the false (west) summit. Two long roped pitches took us up the tower and then up the false summit. We traveled on the crest or on the left side. The climbing became much more airy, sometimes clinging to the edge of the crest, sometimes going over the top of obstacles, sometimes climbing the side wall of the towers. Occasional thin snow patches provided extra drama. It was a challenge to my out-of-practice climbing skills, but the placements and holds were all there if you looked for them. Okay, I cheated by two inches on the crux when I couldn’t quite reach the hold I wanted and threw a sling up over it for aid. Falling on lead just didn’t seem like an appealing alternative. (The only really bad feature was that some a**hole (literally) had taken a dump into a crack right at the second belay station, so it stunk.)

Airy terrain on the ridge

The famous fixed pin, located at bottom of previous photo

Eric nearing false summit

Yana arriving at false summit

False summit to summit: The false summit provided a bunker-like belay nestled between big rocks. The real summit ahead was only five feet higher, but there’s a twenty foot drop in between, beginning with a slightly overhung drop over the edge. Fortunately there’s a large step about five feet down, but it requires flopping over the edge and dropping yourself down to reach it. Greg belayed Eric to the summit. I belayed Yana, and then we tied off the rope to form a fixed line, which provided easier protection for going up and down in either direction.

Greg belaying Eric to the summit.

Yana’s hand going over the edge.

Summit: We arrived at 2pm. 5 hours from col to summit. The summit was barely wide enough for the four of us, but sure had wide views. It was so steep that we couldn’t even see down the other ridges.

Greg, Yana, & Eric on the summit.

Fone, foto & food on forbidden

Matt at the summit

Summit Views.

Logan

Buckner, Ripsaw Ridge, & Boston Glacier

Boston, Sahale, & Bonanza

Cascade Pass, Ptarmigan Traverse, & Glacier Peak

Morraine Lake

We descended by reversing our route up the west ridge. With unknown conditions below us, no one wanted to risk trying to descend by different route. Greg & Eric depart the summit: I like these pics because they show the ridiculously steep configuration of the summit area.

Greg on the false summit

Eric at the step to the false summit

Matt & Yana depart the summit

Yana waiting to depart

Somehow the diagrams in “Freedom” never look this messy

Toe 8800, slab below toe 7800, camp near top of pic 5700.

Now we still have to get down. Sorry to drag out the report, but this is all I had time for tonight. I'll try to get the rest done tomorrow. The descent is actually longer than the ascent, with pretty sunset pictures while still high in the gully.

[Don]

Wow! What a great trip report and photo essay Matt! That was an incredible trip - thanks for sharing! I just wasted about an hour of my morning following this from beginning to end, and think I'll go back and read again... Good stuff!

[Yana]

Well, Matt's got all the good photos, but here are some more:

Matt leading

Matt

Roping up

Up the Couloir

Matt on West Summit

Finally done with the ridge...

Greg perched on West Ridge

Edited to add: clearly I need a red jacket in order to show up in photographs better.

[dacker]

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! (sorry, Will!) You guys had a fantastic weather window and a SWEEEET climb! Nice report and pics...chapter 2 definitely worth waiting for. We're heading for that route at the end of July. Let's hope we have it as nice as you did!

[Matt]

If you look closely at Yana's last photo "Greg perched West Ridge", you can see our tracks topping out the gully in the lower left corner. Yikes, steep looking from that angle. And, yes, photo visibility is exactly the reason I bought the red jacket. I got tired of blending into the background.

[Sabahsboy]

Just plain magnificent, the climb and the treasures of panos. Thanks for sharing! I'll be looking at these photos many times in the future! Never attempted anything like this climb; my "hikes" up Sahale were most satisfying. I concluded that the view southward has to be one of the very best in WA, perhaps in Lower 48; the waves of rugged, ragged peaks face north and are draped in every fashion with mantels of snow and ice. Your photos certainly portray the vision in ultimate terms.

[Mesahchie Mark]

Damn.

[Matt]

Part 3 of 3 Our descent down the ridge was tediously slow. We’re redeemed only by the fact that this route has seen some epic prolonged trips, along with some remarkably fast ones. For us, the pace was a combination of factors. The party had different levels of experience and comfort levels for steep terrain. There was an objective hazard from thin patches of snow, which would occasionally break away underfoot. And the configuration of the descent is just plain awkward, angling along the side of the crest, too vertical for comfortable downclimbing and too horizontal for straightforward rappels. So we chose to protect pretty much the entire descent, even though it was very time-consuming. From the false summit, we did five rappels back down the route. We did single-rope rappels, in order to shorten the risk of a climber pendulum or a rope hangup on the sideways slanting route. They were awkward rappels, braking with one hand, holding the edge of the rock with the other hand, and finding a balance between leaning sideways and outward enough to keep your footing. We finally arrived back at the col six hours after leaving the summit, eleven hours after we had departed the same spot in the morning.

Yana rappelling, top of gully in distance (one of the few times the rappel was straight on the crest)

Yana rappelling on one rope while Grey & Eric set up next rappel on other rope.

Arriving back on easier terrain

The gully we did faster. We walked down about 100 feet to an obvious rappel anchor, rapped off that, and then walked the rest of the way down. Later in the year, the gully often is more of a challenge to descend, but today we had perfect snow to kick steps downward.

Zoom photo of our steps at the top of the gully

Schrundy stuff at the bottom of the gully

Exiting the gully

Heading for camp.

While we were still high in the gully, the light turned golden. I was tempted to wait for the full sunset, but the light faded as the sun dropped into western haze. As we continued descending another 2000 feet across the snowfields to camp, the sky deepened to full black, spangled with stars and a quarter moon. Even without much light, the clear sky and bright snow let us walk all the way with only brief flashes of headlamps.

Boston Basin View

7 labels

Cascade Pass

Booker

Boston & Sahale

Sahale Quien Sabe Glacier

I arrived back in camp at 10:30pm, very tired and hungry, torn between staying up to melt snow and eat food, or just climbing into bed. I stayed conscious long enough to enjoy half a package of beef stew that Greg shared, and make some weak tea from my used Earl Grey tea bag. Total summit trip times: camp to col 4 hrs, col to summit 5 hrs, summit to col 6 hrs, col to camp 2.5 hrs. I slept so soundly that I woke up to find the tent empty. Yana had gotten up, packed all of her gear, and climbed over me to the door, without me even noticing. The clouds had moved in overnight, and we departed camp in broken fog that covered all of the summits.

Departing camp in mist

On the trail down, occasional breaks provided glimpses of the Cascade River valley, glowing bright green where the sun broke through under the misty ceiling. Nearing the road, I enjoyed the views of Johannesburg and its glaciers half-hidden in veils of fog. It reminded me of my first visit ever to Cascade Pass. In similar conditions, I never saw any summits, but received a lasting impression of deep green forests, tumbling streams, patchworks of snow, and steep dark rock walls rising up to mysterious summits hidden in the clouds, their colors all accented by the misty light.

Cascade River Valley viewed from Boston Basin Trail

Johannesburg hanging glaciers glowing blue in misty light

Johannesburg veiled in clouds

Hiking down the road, the party also saw three bears, on nearby and two on the opposite side of the river. The exit took about 1.5 hours for the trail, and another 1.25 hours to walk the road.

Bear 1

Bear 2

[yukon222]

Thank you so much for posting a TR with such a detailed description and amazing set of photos! While I'm not a climber and have only read stories about how extremely difficult terrain is conquered, your group's experience and willingness to share it has been very enjoyable to read. Thanks for posting what has to be one of the greatest TR's and photo sets in the history of NWhikers. BTW, is there such a thread?

[touron]

Nice shot of Morraine. I've always wanted a gander of that lake.

[summitseeker]

AWESOME!!!