Basic Alpine Climb - Sahale Peak/South Slope

We began our ascent at 5:20 a.m. with a group of six climbers. The approach followed the well-maintained trail that started with 38 forest switchbacks. After those switchbacks, as we neared Cascade Pass, we encountered numerous mountain goats all the way up to Sahale Arm. Whenever a goat came too close, we attempted to scare it away by waving trekking poles; if that failed, we gently tossed rocks in its direction to maintain a safe distance.

We stopped to filter water at 48.482683, -121.050325 (approx. 7,000 ft). While the weather forecast had called for clear skies, we observed increasing cloud cover and light winds. Fortunately, the clouds cleared later in the day.

Roughly an hour later, we arrived at the camp at the base of the glacier, where we took a long break to rope up, put on crampons and helmets, and stashed our trekking poles. The glacier was in good condition, with only small crevasses beginning to open. We followed the boot path, which kept us well away (at least 100 ft) from any visible hazard. The glacier crossing took about 40 minutes.

At the end of the glacier, we unroped and prepared for the scramble to the summit. We stashed our ice axes and crampons at the base of the rock and ensured everyone had their personal anchors ready for the summit anchor. The scramble route was mostly well-defined with a boot path. It involved a few short exposed Class 3 sections and a couple of Class 4 moves. Near the summit block, we set a handline (see attached photos) to assist with the final section.

At the summit, we inspected the rappel anchor - five slings wrapped around a large boulder with two rappel rings. It appeared solid and well-maintained. We performed a two-rope rappel using our two 40m ropes tied together with a flat overhand and 12 in of tail. The rappel did not reach all the way down to our stashed gear, so we downclimbed an additional few hundred feet of elevation to retrieve our crampons and axes.

Some team members took a few minutes to tag the unnamed peak at 48.489247, -121.037719, located on the opposite side of the ridge. There are a couple USGS survey markers on this peak.

For the glacier descent, we opted to go without ropes and crampons as conditions were very soft by then. After safely passing the crevassed section, some of us glissaded the lower part of the glacier. Back at Sahale glacier camp, we took a long break, removed harnesses and helmets, and prepared for the descent.

We stopped again to filter water at the same spot used during the ascent. The trail was quite busy on the way down, as expected on a clear weekend, but we made steady progress and eventually returned to the trailhead.

Total trip time: 12 hours and 20 minutes.