Here are some pictures (all by Mike) of the trip I took over the Memorial Day weekend (1999) to Quien Sabe Glacier with Mike... This trip was great, with the weather starting out awesome, going to whiteout up on the glacier, and then puffy backlit clouds for sunset... That night, the wind kicked up around midnight and gusted into the forties for most of the night. Then around 6 the next morning, all is calm, sunny and warm again! We had planned on spending 3 days up on the glacier, but the weather was beginning to change again on Sunday afternoon, so we came down a day early. Still, the views were spectacular, as were the frequent slides. One avalanche off of Johannesburg was so strong it stopped only a couple hundred yards from the car at the second gate on the Cascade River Road.
On Sunday morning, we set out to climb Sahale. The glacier was hard and fast on crampons. We made the saddle between Boston and Sahale in about 90 minutes. Once up in the saddle, the nice warm sun along with the constant wind the previous night conspired to make me sleepy, so I hooked in to a picket and took a nap. Mike went a head and went to the summit of Sahale which was severely corniced. Another team was on Boston, so once the sight-seeing was over, we went back down to the camp. Since it looked like more weather was moving in, we went ahead and bailed for pizza and beer later in the afternoon.
Click here for a map and profile of the hike. A 3D drawing of the terrain can be viewed here... Click on the thumbnails to view the pictures full size...
The weather is beautiful as we head up the avalanche field towards Quien Sabe Glacier. The majestic Johhanesburg is in the background... |
Mt. Forbibben visually lives up to it's name as weather starts to move in on us Saturday afternoon. Within an hour, it went from sunny and warm to a white-out... |
The shadow of clouds moves toward Mt. Torment, causing the peak to be set strangely aglow. |
After most of the snow had fallen, only around an inch or so, we set up the kitchen for a warm meal. |
This is as close as Mike would get to the summit of Sahale without a belay...since I was snoozing on the saddle.
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The view of Glacier Peak was great, with Sahale in the foreground... |
After the snowstorm, the clouds seemed to settle into the valley, with others hanging around at the summits. The views were spectacular during sunset!
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This view of the east ridge towards Cascade Pass was lit up during sunset. Note the numerous avalanche chutes, many of which slid during the day while we watched. |
