Cascade Pass Sahale Arm

Wow. Cascade
Pass Trail is in fine shape, easy grade and our surveyors carfully counted, there are indeed, as the guidebooks say, 33 switchbacks. Unless you count that little turn on the steps out of the parking lot, and call it 34.. The trail from the pass up Sahale Arm is a little less formalized - and at the same time has some truly impressive stone trailwork in it. On top of the arm there was light fresh snow, and fresh snowfall was in evidence on the surrounding summits. Surrounding Summits! Gracious, what a fantastically pretty place. Climbing up (and up) onto the arm was very worth the additional effort, certainly for this crew of view-inspiration junkies. Two young bucks, ptarmigan, nine climbers across the way climbing past LARGE fresh rockfall to Cache Col and the Ptarmigan Traverse, were all in evidence, along with what looked like a lot of folk camping at the only allowed spot up the arm, the climber's camp at the base of Sahale Glacier.. The corps wants to return to be sure it wasn't all an idyllic dream, and to have more time higher up enjoying the views.