Cascade Pass to Rainy Pass

Anyone know what the traditional (if there is one) route is for people attempting this ski traverse? <br><br>How's this sound? Up Sahale Arm, across Horseshoe Basin to the Booker/Buckner col, down one of two couloirs connecting that to the SE remnant of the Buckner Glacier, up and just over Park Creek Pass, then up and over the ridge to the northern edge of the Wyeth Glacier, then either all the way down North Fork Meadows to Grizzly Creek or over Grizzly/Fisher divide (Pt 7910) to a run down the Fisher Creek drainage, up Falls Creek to Last Chance Pass, down into Maple Creek, then up the head of that valley to Heather Pass and the end. <br><br>Issues I see with it :<br>1 no idea if those two couloirs into the Buckner are skiable. In winter photos of Booker they look it, but I have no first hand knowledge.<br>2 No idea how getting up and over from Park Creek Pass to the Wyeth Glacier would be.<br>3. goes pretty low to cross Grizzly Creek, could be tough navigating the forest and creeks down there.<br><br>I know it's been done, anyone care to shed some light on the chosen route?<br><br>

Here is a short description of my 1996 ski trip through this area. We went east-to-west. Also, we started a little NW of Rainy Pass and passed Fisher Peak on the north. If you wanted to connect the route to Rainy Pass you could circle south of Black Peak, between Silent Lakes and Wing Lakes. I know that section has been skied.<br><br>

p. 1029: 1996, June 13-16, Mount Logan High Route (Rainy Pass to Cascade Pass)<br><br>With Carl Skoog. This trip was conceived as a shorter variant of the Thunder High Route, avoiding the low section in Thunder Creek and passing Mt Buckner on the south instead of the north. We started along the same route I took in 1987--from the North Cascades Highway, over the saddle north of Fisher Peak to Silent Lakes. We continued across the south flank of Mt Arriva and camped at the scenic col SW of the peak. On day two we traversed Spectacular Ridge, skied to Fisher Pass and climbed to the Douglas Glacier. We skied up and down "Dream Peak" (peak 7910') in excellent corn snow. We camped at the head of the north fork of Bridge Creek. On the third day we skied up Mt Logan, tagged the summit and descended the Fremont Glacier. At this point we varied from the 1987 route, traversing through Park Creek Pass and climbing the Buckner Glacier cirque to the Buckner-Booker col. We camped in Horseshoe basin. On the fourth day we had hoped to ski Mt Buckner, but crusty snow deterred us. I cramponed up and down instead. We crossed Horseshoe Basin, climbed to the Sahale Glacier moraine and descended Sahale Arm to Cascade Pass and the Cascade River road.

<br><br>There is a write-up in the December 1971 issue of Summit magazine about the first party to traverse this route in summer on foot. The Mountaineers Library in Seattle has a copy.<br><br>

Dec 1971, p. 12: Duff, Karl M., "Cascade Pass to Rainy Pass" <br><br>From August 8-15, 1970, Monty Lennox, Kent Heathershaw, Bob Yekel, Norm Reed, Paul Hartl and the author traversed on foot from Cascade Pass to Rainy Pass, climbing Sahale, Buckner, Booker, Storm King, Logan and Black and attempting Goode. The trip was inspired by the impending opening of the North Cascades highway and the idea of complementing the well-known Ptarmigan Traverse with a similar route to the northeast. The party applied the name "Spectacular Ridge" to the divide between Fisher Pass and Mt Arriva. Near the end of their trip, "We observed with a grimace the ugly scar of the North Cascades Highway, and realized that soon this area will be a hub of civilization."

<br><br>The Booker-Buckner couloirs would certainly be skiable under the right conditions, but obviously you should be prepared to downclimb if you don't find that. They are steep, easily 45 degrees. We climbed up from the east. In poor snow conditions the couloirs would have significant avalanche danger.

Have been looking at doing this trip for several years, most recently with the idea of crossing the Boston Gl from Park Creek Pass and completing via the "Forbidden Tour" to Eldorado. Could also reach Cascade Pass by Boston Peak to Sahale as a more direct option.

if y'all are lookin for partners for this trip, please drop me a PM...I got lots of vacation time that needs to be burned on ski traverses this spring

Have been looking at doing this trip for several years, most recently with the idea of crossing the Boston Gl from Park Creek Pass and completing via the "Forbidden Tour" to Eldorado.  Could also reach Cascade Pass by Boston Peak to Sahale as a more direct option.

<br><br>There's a short description of our 1987 Thunder High Route trip here . This trip traversed from near Rainy Pass to near Park Creek Pass, then climbed to the Boston Glacier and did most of what has become known as the Forbidden Tour to Eldorado Peak, ending at Sibley Creek.<br><br>From Park Creek Pass, we dropped into Thunder Creek quite a bit before climbing to the east margin of Boston Glacier. I think a higher traverse could be risky due to avalanches from the cliffs above. The snow face leading from Thunder Glacier to Boston Glacier sometimes has a big schrund in it. But we were able to skin up it during our May 1987 trip.