Mount Shuksan, White Salmon Glacier (II, AI1)

April 10-11, 2004

Elain and I had been wanting to climb Mount Shuksan since our June 2003 attempt 11 months ago. On our previous weekend's trip, we had scouted the approach to the White Salmon Glacier before reaching a high point of 5300'. This weekend's forecast was for sunny weather and a freezing level of 11000', which we deemed inauspicious for attempting a technical ice route. So a moderate glacier route seemed like a perfect icea. We left Seattle at 4:30 AM, and after a brief stop at the ranger station in Glacier to self-register, we reached the White Salmon Lodge at the Mount Baker Ski Area at 8:00. The trip started out on a humorous note, as I discovered at the parking lot that I had forgotten my lightweight fleece pants. Certainly they would not be needed for climbing, but I was counting on them to keep warm overnight. Elain gave me hers, resolving the dilemma. By 8:30 we were walking up the cat track. Snow conditions were very good, especially in the forest, and most of the creeks were crossable on snow bridges with minimal detouring. By 10:30 we reached a plateau at 4100', where we left our snowshoes and roped up for glacier travel. The entire basin below the north side of Shuksan is filled with avalanche debris, a sobering reminder to move quickly and not linger. The initial 600' involved a fair amount of post-holing, but eventually we reached a shaded avalanche gully that made for excellent cramponing. We made good progress up the White Salmon Glacier, reaching the base of Winnie's Slide by 2:30, where we stopped for lunch. We climbed up Winnie's Slide and scrambled up onto the ridge of Shuksan Arm, and ascended snow slopes along the ridge until we reached a flat spot next to a crevasse (still mostly snow covered) at 7200'. Since it was 3:30, and we were tired, we decided to set up camp there. Our camp site had views of the Shuksan summit pyramid (still covered with rime at the top) and Mount Baker, as well as Hell's Highway. By 7:00 we were asleep. During the night, it was a bit windy, but we were tired enough that we hardly noticed it.

We awoke at 3:30 AM, and were walking by 4:30 AM. The traverse across the Curtis Glacier was straightforward, with good firm snow. The short, broad snow slope in Hell's Highway was chalky, wind-blown snow, but still suitable for step-kicking. We ascended the Sulphide Glacier under moonlight and a moderate wind. The sun came up just as we reached the base of the summit pyramid, at 6:30 AM. There, we switched to a full 50m rope interval and started simul-climbing up towards the south-facing gully. The lower slopes of the summit pyramid were step-kicking through a breakable crust, and the traverse across to the gully was on firm bootpack. Once in the gully, we stayed on the right-hand side, close to the rock where we could place intermediate pro. The gully was quite icy, and we were front-pointing for about 100 meters. About 150' below the summit, we traversed left and climbed 30' of steep snow to gain the southwest ridge. Once on the ridge, it was a scramble on icy slopes. We reached the summit at 7:45 AM, and had the summit to ourselves. The summit block was covered with an impressive coating of rime ice. The entire Cascades panorama was visible, including Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, and Glacier Peak. It was windy, and we were conscious of the rapidly warming conditions and the likelihood of icefall on the descent. We started down after just a few minutes, just as a climber appeared on the summit, having topped out via the southeast ridge. Two climbers were nearing the top of the gully just as we started descending the Southwest Ridge, with another party of three maybe 30 minutes behind them. Given the icy condition of the gully, the potential for climber-inflicted or spontaneous icefall, and the hazard of another climber potentially falling above us in the gully, the decision to rappel on the descent was an easy one. We did two 50m double-rope rappels, with the first rappel off a rock horn and the second off a fixed pin 40m below the summit. From there, we decided it was faster to downclimb. Having two tools was useful for this part, as the gully was still fairly icy. The sun was warming the summit block at this point, so ice chunks were starting to come down the gully. We simul-downclimbed the rest of the way, reaching the Sulphide Glacier at 10:00. The descent from there via Hell's Highway and the Curtis Glacier was straightforward, and we reached our camp at noon.

At our camp, we bumped into Paul Belitz and his friend, who were enjoying the sun and waiting for the White Salmon to soften up for some spring skiing. We quickly packed up our gear and started down at 12:30. Winnie's Slide was still firm enough for cramponing, as it was not yet in direct sunlight. We removed our crampons for descending the upper White Salmon, and made good time until about 5500'. From there, we were plunging into the snow up to our knees with every other step. The descent to our snowshoes at 4100' was slow and quite tedious, with a lot of plunge-stepping and (toward the end) wallowing in deep, mushy snow. We reached our snowshoes at 2:30 PM, very tired and not looking forward to the hike out. The warm temperatures had turned the snowpack into mashed potatoes. The hike out was tedious but straightforward, with lots of sidehilling on mushy slopes. After seven stream crossings and a fair bit of cursing at the warm temperatures, we reached the car at 5:00. We just made it out of the parking lot before the gate was locked at 5:30 PM. Our good luck continued when we got to Bellingham. We reached Jack in the Box just before they closed the "dining room" for the night.

Elain and I both agreed that the view of the northwest side of Mount Shuksan is one of the most beautiful alpine vistas in the state of Washington.

Gear we used: snowshoes, 3 pickets, #6 bugaboo, Ural-alp piton, #1 angle, #1 tri-cam, ice axe, ice tool, crampons, 8.5mm x 50m rope, 6mm x 50m cord, 10' of 9/16" webbing. We carried avy beacons, shovels, and minimal bivy gear with us on summit day.

Things we learned:

We left our snowshoes too low (4200'), failing to take into account the effect of the very warm afternoon temperatures on the snowpack.
We should have brought less rock pro. Just a few pins and a few tri-cams would suffice, to simul-climb the summit pyramid. The extra cord is more of a judgement call, but we were glad that we had it.
Don't park in the ski area parking lot, or you run the risk of getting your vehicle locked in when the gate is locked at the end of the day. Park in a pull-out just outside the gate instead.

Mount Shuksan, as seen from the Mount Baker Ski Area (photo taken April 3)