Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:40 pm sahale/boston + johannesburg incident 7-25-08
sahale/boston + johannesburg incident 7-25-08
this was my third time up sahale peak. some do this as an overnight, but it always makes a nice day trip.
the plan was for iron and i to act as sherpas, carry the gear and then nap on sahale while modern & jb tag boston
after which we hoped to make it back in time to hit "good food" in marblemount.
because of the unknowns involved with boston, we car camped the night before for an early ~5:00am start.
the trip went like clockwork. iron carried almost everything - the rack and pickets - all the way. i carried the rope
to cascade pass and then iron carried it and the rest of the gear to the top of sahale(it helps to be young & strong).
nice hike up the 4 million switchbacks to cascade pass and in a blink we were at sahale camp at the foot of the sahale glacier. we filled up water here.
this was iron's first (semi)technical rock climb. the way he conducted himself and moved made you forget he was a rookie. but even
the best rookies need a little help. when we put on crampons, iron's did not work right. both jb and i realized we should have made sure
the night before. but after a bit of futzing, we got going. then iron's 'pons came off again. i sent art and jb ahead as i knew iron was
so strong he could easily catch them. the terrain barely needed 'pons, but we got them on him and we caught up with the others on the sahale glacier.
easy glacier travel led us to the base of the sahale summit block where jb led up the easy 4/5.0 pitch placing two pieces. modern and i followed
using a prusik on the rope jb fixed. then we belayed iron up as he easily and elegantly gained the summit. nice work.
modern & jb gathered up all the gear and descended towards boston. except once down below the sahale summit, modern realized he forgot the pickets
so he re-climbed sahale to get them. this proved to be a waste of time as they never needed the pickets. iron and i enjoyed a great summit break -
watched modern & jb progress over to and up boston,
enjoyed the views,
and took well deserved naps.
it looked like they were doing well on boston. making
good time. then directly below the summit they must of took a wrong turn as they ascended the first part of the rap route. this was a good place to get
off route - built in rap station. soon they were back on route and summited in great form.
after they enjoyed a pleasant summit stay they returned to sahale.
hopefully, modern will add his t/r here to fill in the details.
while they were away, johannesburg the noisiest mt, let loose with a huge avalanche/landslide.
it lasted over 15 minutes and covered half the mt!
iron thought the road was buried. i could not believe that could happen, but i definitely had my doubts.
anyway the road was not buried, the return was pleasant, we easily made "good food" and returned home at a decent hour.
this was modern's first trip with iron and he agreed with the rest of us - that kid can come along anytime.
:>)
Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 915 | TRs | Pics Location: Tacoma Washington
Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:52 pm
Oh Damn, I hope no one was in CJ couloir. Yikes. I've been up that sucker a few times and it was intimidating with the sill glacier. It looks like this came from above the sill. Yikes.
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. I remember the crashes off Johannesburg when we were in Boston Basin, also some rock and ice came off Forbidden a couple of times.
