TA-DA! just like that, we were roped up and ready to go on the glacier. We know Sahale Glacier is supposed to be “tame” and “in-all-season,” but safety first! Sunday morning breakfast scrambles were about to commence!

Off we went!

It was HOT, so we changed outfits along the way.

We met a solo climber who took our group shot. If you’re asking yourself, “weren’t there four people in the party?” you are correct. We lost one on the way, but she had told us to “BAG THAT PEAK!” before she took her last breath

^actually, Ryann’s friend, Courtney, was only along for the hiking portions of the day, so after our snack break, she started towards Doubtful Lake. We had plans to meet up later in the day.

After the photo op, we sized up the scramble. If you look closely, you can see two guys in blue jackets. These were a random pair, with little to no gear, that casually decided to climb up. We watched them get off route, re-find the route via some spicy climbing, and bag the peak

^I think Pae said something along of the lines of, “scrappy lil f*ckers!”

The guy who took our photo started off in front of us, but made quick work of everything

Loose rock, EVERYWHERE.

At the summit block! there were some solid selection of hand jams to go along with our breakfast scrambles

Pae leading us up!

So right before we got to the summit, a team of Mountaineers set a hand line to get off the summit. This caused a bit of a traffic jam. I was in somewhat of a weird spot, but the views sure were beautiful!

Some of that Mountaineers team descending… That’s Boston Peak to the left, and the ridge runs towards the right, to Horseshoe Peak, and Buckner Mountain

After the Mountaineers went around me, I was able to scramble up to the summit, where Pae and Ryann were! Here’s the first view from the top! I know… it’s just like the other photo…

^but it’s *just* different enough!

Looking SE from the summit

So the guy who took our photo, and the two casual dudes were up there with us. It was cramped, and eventually they left, and we had the summit to ourselves for a good 15 minutes? I quickly grabbed this pano from the top, with the big horn to the right

Where one of us could now sit!

A pensive Pae…

A happy Pae!

Views looking North!

After a while, *another* team of Mountaineers arrived. They noticed that the benchmark was for Boston Peak, and was all scratched out! oops!

We quickly took a summit selfie and started our descent

So this is where things got a little weird. There’s supposed to be an “obvious” rappel station up here, but between our group and the team of six-ish Mountaineers, we couldn’t find it. We assumed someone cleaned up some worn slings, and didn’t replace the sling, which was annoying, but whatever. We decided to down climb. The team of Mountaineers seemed set on rappelling, so we presumed they’d sling something and do that.

Mid-way through our down climb, we heard the start of a pretty big rock fall, and one of the Mountaineers yell, “OH SHIT! ROCK! ROCK! ROCK!”

The rockfall was LOUD AS FUCK, and was coming from straight above us. Pae and I were on a ledge, maybe 10-15 feet apart, and we both kind of ducked against the wall in front of us. A rock (larger than a cinder block) fell between us, and continued tumbling to who knows where. The idiots above us apologized, and indicated they would stop down climbing; to prevent further rockfall… The reason this was super annoying and dangerous; is because you aren’t supposed to down climb above another party… (due to this specific risk), and they should’ve known better, especially since they’re part of the Seattle Mountaineers group… ugh.

Anywho, our adrenaline levels eventually decreased, and we scrambled off the mountain safely, got back to the glacier, and started our descent.

Pae mentioned she had read a trip report where the author mentioned that everything was in “peak bloom.”

^we agreed.

The sun was high in the sky, and the meadows were glowing!

We made short work of Sahale Arm, found Courtney at our agreed to meeting place. We ate lunch and took naps

We descended to Cascade Pass, got our group photo, and started the descent back to the car!

The descent convo revolved around dinner plans. We ended up at River Time Brewing, and Hometown Bakery Cafe for pizza. Both were ???