We were now finished most of our snow and ice training, and the next objective was to move to a high camp right on the glacier. We'd then climb from there to the summit of Sahale peak. Our good weather, unfortunately, did end up deserting us. By the time we got to our high camp, we were socked in. We spend a while digging out nice flat tent sites in a crevasse free region (designated by the guides). We took the dug out snow and used it to create wind walls around our tent.
It was about this time that we learned a valuable lesson about spending lots of time in bright sunlight on white snowfields. Sunscreen! We'd only half-heartedly followed the continual recommendations from the guides, and we were starting to suffer from some sun and windburn on our faces and lips.
Our summit day turned out to be a complete whiteout. It was still a fun climb, putting together all of the skills we'd learned from the last few days. The ridgeclimb up to the summit of Sahale was great. The little rock summit of Sahale is nice and airy, and just about the right level of difficulty for us.
The plan was to climb down from the summit, gather up our camp gear, and hike all the way out, down to the car. On the way down, while crossing some minor streams in the upper Boston Basin, one of our climbing companions (Greg, the guy from Eugene, OR), slipped and smashed his knee on a flat rock. At first, we didn't think too much of his minor slip, but it soon became obvious that he was not going to be able to walk on that leg any farther. In what we learned much later, Greg had necrotized bone in his knee that completely shattered when he banged it hard against the rock. What had been a simple trudge back down to the car had suddenly turned into a wilderness first aid scenario.
The two guides went into well-oiled action right away, setting up an immediate tentsite right near the rough spot where Greg had slipped. Soon they had him bundled up against the misty, cloudy rainy conditions. He was given hot drinks and kept warm. The rest of us set up camp nearby for the night, as there was no way we'd be able to get a person unable to walk down the steep trail before night arrived. On of our guides went down and out to contact the national park service (the area we are in is part of North Cascades National Park). We later learned, when the guide got back, that if the weather got better, they'd consider calling in a helicopter to get Greg out.
The next morning, the bad weather was still with us (and no air rescue was possible). It was decided that it made more sense to try and slowly make our way down than to wait for the weather to break. The park service had agreed to send some personnel up the trail to help us out. We all were mobilized to be helpers in a co-ordinated rescue effort. Greg's pack was modified into a large diaper-like carrying rig, which Greg sat in while Tom carried him on his back over the rougher, higher terrain. Lower down, we did three-man carries and roped descents down steeper sections. Those of us not directly helping Greg acted as 'pack ferries', taking fully loaded packs a few hundred feet down the trail, dropping them, then coming back up and doing the same for more packs. This way, everyone's gear got down, but those helping Greg were not burdened with carrying heavy packs. This was all a very slow process. It took us the entire day to descend maybe 3 or 4 kilometres of trail - something that would normally have taken an hour or two at most.
In the end, we got Greg safely back to the car. It was a long and hard activity, but it made us appreciate the importance of proper wilderness first aid training. Greg, needless to say, had to end his attendence of the course, and we stayed in touch. It took him well over a year of rehabilitiation before he could use his knee again.
Meanwhile, for the rest of us (sans Brian, who had finished his portion of the course and headed back to Ottawa), it was time for the second half of the course. The second half would focus on alpine rock skills, and, at the end, another mountaineering climb.
We did most of our rock training in a drainage of Silver Star Mountain, a craggy peak more to the east in a drier portion of the North Cascades. We learned quite a bit about efficient movement over moderate alpine terrain, as well as standard roped climbing. Although we were introduced to the ideas of rock protection and leading, this training stopped short of having us lead. We did have some good practice on some steep lower pinnacles of Silver Star Mountain (although again always in a 'follow' capacity behind Tom, our guide).
Sub-spires of Silver Star
Liberty Bell and Glacier Peak
