Basic Glacier Climb - Sahale Peak/Quien Sabe Glacier

The road up to the TH is in fine condition. Parking available on the side of the road. The climbers trail was overgrown with several blowdowns. The Rangers had closed the trail temporarily two months earlier due to an aggressive bear, who seemed to have since moved on (although please keep an eye out). The trail is steep but primarily forested so sun exposure is not too bad. There are several creek crossings with fast moving water. We were able to get across on rocks, but those of us with shorter legs had the luck of our Leader's hand or pole to help us cross safely (thank you!). Boston Basin camp includes several sites and a very nice composting toilet. The views are incredible with stunning sunsets. 

We departed at 4:00 am the following day for Sahale, which included another water crossing right next to camp and then a long approach across an extensive boulder field with many loose rocks. On the way down we had a "near miss" with rockfall almost hitting one of the student's legs. Careful climbing is critical while watching out for climbers below. We traversed far to the left to get onto the glacier. Once on the glacier, it was clear there were quite a number of open crevasses. We roped up (3 teams) and travelled across above the open crevasses up to the snow ramp that led to the beginning of the rock summit area.  The rock is sticky and nice to scramble. After the false summit there is a small snowfield to cross (ice axes out but crampons were not needed) and then a ~150 feet exposed scramble (a few T5 moves on exposed slab) up to the summit (3 of us opted not to climb the final summit block). On the descent, leaders set up a rope to prusik down for additional protection. Once safely down and back on the glacier we roped up and opted to navigate straight down, for a faster decent. The Leaders coordinated on navigation route which took the teams down a steeper section and then across the glacier between the crevasses and finally over an icy section to get back onto the rock, across the long boulder field, back to camp to pack up and then down the climbers trail to get safely back to the cars.