Sahale Peak

Sahale Peak (8,680ft)

Katie crossing the Sahale Glacier

August 26, 2015

Eric and Katie

The air was smoky from all the forest fires in eastern washington, but the area around Cascade Pass was open so Katie and I decide to climb Sahale Peak. We left Seattle early Wednesday morning and were soon hiking up to Cascade Pass. We passed a ranger coming down who asked for our permit, but we told him we were just day-hiking Sahale, which didn’t require a permit.

We made it up to Cascade Pass, then continued hiking up the trail to the base of the Sahale Glacier. The trail ended at the glacier, but a boot track continued across. It looked like Sahale is a very popular peak, though we were the only ones there on a Wednesday. This late in the season all crevasses were clearly visible and easily avoided, so we didn’t bother roping up.

The view from the summit

We cramponed up the short glacier, then scrambled up talus to the base of the south face. There was a crack leading up with some old webbing, and it was sort of exposed at the top. I had read about this section, and brought a 30m rope and a bit of rock pro. I led up then belayed Katie up to the top.

The views were hazy in the smoke but we could still see big peaks around us like Forbidden, Eldorado, and Boston. We soon rappelled back down, then cramponed down the glacier. We were back to the car before long and drove back to Seattle that night.

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