tlinn

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - North Face Date: 8/2/2014 Trip Report: Pete H. and I climbed the North Face on Sunday, August 3rd. We approached on Saturday, Aug. 3. I would classify the bushwack in as mild-moderate via the logging road below the ski hill. A steep descent to White Salmon Creek was reasonably pleasant, followed by a steep ascent up the opposite side of the valley. Approach time was 3-4 hours to the bivy at 1650 meters. We crossed the creek on a log at 800 meters. The face was in good condition. Mostly snow with some ice patches. The bergschrund has opened but was easily passable on the far left side of the face followed by a long rightward traverse. We used two tools each but all of the gear stayed in the pack. A bergschrund has opened up on the Hanging Glacier which was also passable on the rock at the far left side. We had a blonde moment after traversing through the col above the Hanging Glacier and started climbing up the face directly to the summit. Steep 4th class led to the South Ridge which we took to the summit. This is not the standard route as we realized once we hit the South Ridge. I'm not sure what route this is but judging by the old rap tat this is not the first time this has happened. The descent was very straight forward down the standard route through Hells Highway and the Upper Curtis Glacier/Fisher Chimneys. We very much appreciated stashing a bike at the Lake Anne trailhead as we were both pretty tired and in dire need of a beer. Descending the road on the bike was a great way to complete a grand adventure. Highly recommended! Gear Notes: Carried 1 picket each and six screws. Didn't use any. Approach Notes: Take the logging road at the hairpin turn a few minutes down the highway from Chair 8 at the Mt. Baker ski area. Drive the road until it starts to climb steeply back up hill. Park, and bushwack through second growth to White Salmon Creek and then climb the opposite side to gain the ridge opposite the ski hill. Follow the ridge line to the bivy at 1650 meters.

Any topo updates for Harrison?

Nice work! We spoke to you guys on the moraine/scree just above the bivy and then didn't see the two of you until you were coming down. We decided to down climb and rap the ridge instead of dealing with the pyramid bypass descent. Turned out to be a good decision as everyone that we spoke to was complaining of the summit bypass. I thought the ridge was pretty sustained as well. Maybe I'm just a wimp but personally I wouldn't have wanted to down climb the whole thing without a rope. Good on yah!

It's worth a trip just for the pizza at Miguel's!! Totally amazing after a day of cragging!

Where are the pics of Hazel?

That project with the finger pockets looks sweet! I like the two finger stack! Your partner is pretty bad ass for letting you bolt on lead with his drill too. How much beer did that cost?

Another way that's really fast is Yakima, Kennewick, Boise, Twin Falls, and then due south. You can average 90mph through that part of Nevada without a car in sight.

Ride Needed: Date - November 11, 2009 in late morning/early afternoon Destination - Smith Rock Origination - Seattle (SEA TAC) # - 1 I can help with the driving and share the gas expense. cheers, Tyler

Congrats though on the FFA and thanks for asking me if you could have a go at it first! I felt like 3 years was a very long time to ask people to stay away and not that cool. Someone needed to climb it before the moss reclaims it. Nice work!

Damn...I scrubbed that route 3 years ago before I moved to Onterrible so I was secretly hoping you would fail so I could try it when I move back in the spring! Oh well...guess you snooze, you lose or move and lose.

Great work! Sounds like it will be a really nice addition and a great way to top out a lot of climbs.

what size is it?

Some of the best routes I've done: Bird of Fire, Split Rocks Mental Physics, Wonderland of Rocks Illusion Dweller, Real Hidden Valley Walk on the Wild Side Colorado Crack Loose Lady ...hard to name just five! Touch 'n Go is also really nice!

I've been down twice now. The first time we spent one month in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru in my friend's double wall tent. It's an obscure Australian company, but it's nothing fancy...probably lesser quality then the tents you mention. We camped as high as 5600 meters and I noticed the flaws in the tent at that altitude because we had a lot of spindrift under the vestibule. It was a double wall tent and we still had some condensation. Other then that night, the tent held up just fine. You usually don't camp that high so it's not a problem. 95% of the time you could bivy. The last time I went down I went down I took a Hilleberg Nallo 2 and I absolutely loved it. Very little condensation, very light, and very strong. I found it held up way better then my friend's tent and it's at least 2 pounds lighter. I imagine this tent still wouldn't be as strong as the ones you mention but I think it would be plenty strong for climbing in the Blanca. Having said that I have always had very good luck with the weather. I think we only had one day with precipitation the whole time I was there in 2005. This year we were in southern Peru near Ausangate and we only had one day of bad weather, but the tent held out really well in a strong wind. Maybe you want something a bit stronger just in case? Going with a lighter tent has a lot of advantages as well! Sorry, just saw that you are going down as a group of 3 so my recommendation won't help much! I don't have experience with their 3 person tents but maybe you should check those out. Sometimes you can luck out by going to their factory in Redmond. They've been known to discount some of their display models (which is how I got mine).

Plantar Fasciitis has a pattern of being worse in the morning and is usually on the inside of the bottom of the heel (medial side), more towards the front where the tissue/muscles attach to the heel. Considering you said it's worse in the afternoon, and on the lateral side, I'd probably rule this out, even though it's very common. It sounds more like you have a problem with the fat pad on the bottom of your heel. In which case you would be best off to try and find a good insole with a heel cup to try and cushion the bottom of your foot. ICE it after each day of climbing (10 min. on, 10 off, 10 on, 10 off). Did you fall or twist anything on your run? Then you're thinking something different...Any other symptoms you can think of? Eye infection?

Good on ya for sticking out the tough weather...we went down on the 12th, had two OK days of climbing at Red Rocks and then moved to Jtree when the weather crapped out on the 15th. When we got into Morongo Valley it was totally dumping snow....and I mean dumping! There must have been at least 8 inches on the ground in Morongo Valley! Anyway, we checked the forecast and got so discouraged we changed our flights and flew home out of Vegas on the 16th. We drove around the loop road at Red Rocks on the morning of the 16th and there was a good foot of snow at the highpoint of the loop road! I've been down to Jtree and Red Rocks three times in December now and two of the three times has had atrocious weather! The other time it was t-shirts, shorts and high temps in the high 80's. When the weather is good there is nowhere better! I love the photos! Looks like the women of climbing calendar!

there's a vasque super alpinista on sale at sierra trading post for $197. Only a size 6 left. I'm looking for my gf as well and she is also a size 6 so if you find something good Marc...post it!

How was woman of mtn dreams? Will be there in December and looks like a nice route.

Damn it!!! I paid $54 CDN for my issue number 25! I just signed up a month ago and issue 25 just came to me in the mail on Friday. Very sad to hear! What a great magazine. A good read from cover to cover with hardly any junk advertising.... And awesome photos! If the 33% subscription sale was a way to recover for some of the loss by reaching into the pockets of new subscribers that is not super cool! Makes me wonder seen as how they must have known they were going to tank!

Go up to Wedgemount Lake. Start very early in the morning and climb the couloir directly above the lake outlet (I think it's on Rethel). From the summit of Rethel head along the top of the ridge towards Wedge and then drop down into the "Y Couloir" on Parkhurst (I think it's Parkhurst...not so good with names these days). Then from the top of that head down to Wedge and climb the north, northwest, or west couloir of Wedge (the west couloir has less crevasses if you're solo) and then head up to the summit of Wedge. Downclimb the north arete of Wedge. Head down to the Wedge-Weart col and go climb Weart (3rd and 4th class rock). From the summit of Weart you can continue over all of the summits and then come down closer to Mt. Cook which is all glacier free. Just an idea...the "Y couloir" on Parkhurst might be a little dried out by now. This is a great link up you could do solo to avoid most of the glaciers and get a tonne of alpine ice in. It would be possible to do all of this in a very long day. Janez did most of this in a day a few years ago but he skipped the summit of Weart and returned to the hut from the Wedge-Weart col. I think he found some convoluted route down that avoided most of the glacier.

Looks like a nice route, especially the headwall cracks! Hopefully the weather on the coast holds out and you guys can enjoy some more climbing before the winter monsoons. cheers

Kemosabe is a great route but it needs a re-scrub. The lower cliff is very shady and needs a lot of traffic. How was climbing Life on a Chain? After re-scrubbing it last week I had to go back to Ontario on Wednesday so I wasn't able to claim the FA. The bottom is HARD. After looking at it this time and then trying the moves on TR we decided to add a few more bolts. The clips are tough and you wouldn't want to miss a clip and deck out.

What's the condition of the trail these days? Did you have any trouble finding the bottom of the routes? Did you climb anything else? There's one other route to the left of Land Down Under called The Exaggerator. On the far left side of the bluff up another trail there is a single pitch climb called Kemosabe and left of it there's a 4 pitch route called Highway 12. Kemosabe is probably very scruffy right now but I`ll try and clean it up a bit when I'm back home in 10 days. Oh, almost forgot! Mike W put up a short little 5.11 sport route further up the hill from highway 12. I'm not sure what he graded or called it in the end.

Thanks guys, I was thinking of the vestibule more in terms of cooking during a storm but maybe there are some secrets to cooking inside of the tent I am unaware of? Anyone have experiences with the Nallo 2? Seems to be along the same lines of strong and light, with a reasonable amount of room for two people. I missed out on using my REI discount to pick up the Eldo and now I'm kicking myself.

Where are your pics?