burglar

Thanks for the help. Yeah, Sunday looks like it could start to get rough, but hoping Saturday stays nice. If nothing more, it'll be good to get up on the mountain.

Looks amazing Dan. Way to get it done in one go! I'm headed up there this weekend for a finger ski trip, but not having done it before, is the entrance from the top particularly hard to find? I may just climb up and down the finger so I have a better idea of features, but any tips would be great.

Called the ranger station and road is still snow covered at about the Morrison Creek campground. Am hoping to go up on Sunday but doubt much more will be open by then. Also, we're thinking of skinning up Mazama glacier and skiing down the chutes. I figure 2 days would be plenty of time, but any ideas on good places to camp on the east side? I've never been. Also, are crampons needed yet this time of year on the Mazama? -burglar

Anyone else been up recently? Was thinking of a nice backcountry ski tour next weekend and didn't know if the road was open. Thinking of the southeast route from peggy's pond.

Same here. Thinking we may head up Sat. night and just camp at the saddle. Tackle Leuthold's Sunday morning before the heat wave hits. Searching for conditions as well, so if you come across any please let me know. I'll do the same.

Sorry about that. I was out of town and just got back. Hoping to get up there again soon, but I'm out of town for the next three weekends in a row so we'll see how it is when I return. Otherwise, yes, carpooling up there sounds great.

Glad to hear you had a good day. We did end up trying it on Saturday, but wind was blowing so hard we had to turn around before 6,000ft. Caught a couple good turns, but definitely wet snow. Maybe try again in a few weeks. Thanks for the info!

Anyone been up after the latest dumping? I'm interested in making a run up there on Saturday but not if it's most likely crud the whole way. Any beta would be great. Thanks, Burglar

It's steep, but we just used an axe and crampons to get up it. Don't think a screw would do you much good as the snow is soft, but the picket worked like a charm if you wanted to set some protection.

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimneys Date: 8/8/2008 Trip Report: Round two. After last years incredibly unsuccessful attempt at this route, this time we planned for 3 days, and did it in August instead of April. Drove from PDX Wed. night up to Lake Anne TH and descended for an hour to the valley floor, stopping to camp in a grassy patch around 3:00am. Woke up at 8:30am to a few mosquitoes and a pair of hikers, but very sunny skies. Got going around 9 for the hike up to Lake Ann with amazing views of Baker and Shuksan. Since we "thought" we wanted to stay high on the west slopes, (confusing them for the slopes to the base of the chimneys) we opted to not descend to Lake Ann (team motto: don't lose elevation) and instead tried to cross a few gullies to get to the side of the mountain. This took us a good 2 hours of bushwhacking and then walking on a few scree slopes instead of simply losing 300ft to the lake and then following a the established trail. Tactic duly noted. Eventually we got back on the trail and along the way we encountered such awesome sites as nature's A/C via the cool breezes blowing out from under a carved out snow field. Amazing, and just what we needed. Finally made our way to the chimneys and took a break to hack off some snow to crush on our baking skulls and then headed up. The chimneys were solid, no snow, and very sturdy hand and foot holds. Once at the top, it was a quick walk up Winnie's Slide to our bivy site at the bottom of Upper Curtis. Great, just need to get my crampons and ice axe. My crampons and...ohmygod...where's my iceaxe? Answer: Uh, where you left it you fool - at the base of the chimneys. Just perfect. Luckily, a carabiner, some webbing, and soon my snow picket was my new best friend. Maybe someone will bring it up with them tomorrow? Who knows. Anyway, once up the slide, the views from the bivy site are really hard to beat, and we were in bed just as the sun went down. Windy and somewhat restless night, but crisp skies, heat lightening and sounds of ice and rock falling in the distance made it all the...better? Woke up around 8 and were moving around 8:30. As you can see, the route up the first slope of the Upper Curtis was pretty heinous with mixed ice and snow. For some reason we chose to climb it and just hoped our crampons would stick, and after the initial ice section it wasn't so bad. A much better idea (and what we did on the descent) is to just climb the rock ridge to the left in the photo which drops you out right above the ice section. Way better, and no more difficult than the chimneys. Crevasses on the UC are easily avoided, and the descent down to and then up Hell's Highway was easy going. The Sulphide glacier was amazing to look at as you crested the ridgeline. Alas, soon we met the masses coming up from the Sulphide route. Two rope teams of 5 each headed to the pyramid, followed by two more parties of 4 each. We passed them and were encouraged to try the ridge route to the summit as the group was going for the center gully. This way seems a bit tricky as you hit a few gullies that don't easily connect to the path to the summit. We eventually hit the uppermost rock on the ridgeline near the summit and ate some lunch trying out best to fight the wind. With other parties waiting and setting fixed lines, we waited a few minutes and then headed down, all the while trying our best not to rain rocks down on them. As it was 1:00 and there were 9 people waiting, I'm not sure how many made it up. Slog back down was nothing of note, except that it actually took a lot shorter than we imagined. We though about glissading Hell's Highway (much steeper on the descent) but instead just carefully stepped down and started the uphill climb back to camp. Once back at the bivy site around 3pm we packed up and did a quick rappel/glissade down Winnie's Slide to the chimneys to try and get to Lake Ann. Lo and behold, look who was waiting for me at the base of the chimneys: Reunited with axe, we chose to bivy at the beginning of the lake Ann trail rather than to keep going to the bottom. This is a perfect spot (with no wind) and makes for a really reasonable hike the next day. The hike out the following morning was slightly adventurous only because it was a rain soaked white-out and we lost the trail to Lake Ann once we hit the snow fields. After an hour of searching, we ascended the ridge line where we stopped the day before and regained our bearings. Hiking out for another 2 hours was a somewhat somber experience as it was pouring the entire time. Definitely felt like we picked the right weather window though as we passed a bunch of hikers and climbers on their way in. Big thanks to those that helped answer a few key questions before we left. Definitely glad I left the plastics at home. -Burglar Gear Notes: Ice axe, picket (aka pseudo ice-axe), crampons, 60m rope. Approach Notes: Snow on the upper part of the trail to Lake Ann. Snow melting at entrance to chimney's makes it hard to hop on/off without feeling like you may freefall off the edge of the snowfield. No snow in the chimneys. Take rock ridge to the left ofthe Upper Curtis to avoid the icy slopes.

Cool, thanks for the tip on the leathers. That'll save some weight for sure. I assume crampons would still be needed though. Also, having never been up the chimneys, is there room for a 2-person tent? Or bivy space only?

Sweet trip, Mark. Think I'm heading up there next weekend to do this route. Any suggestions for the approach to the lake? When I attempted this last year in early June snowshoes helped, but we were still sinking in up to our calves. Sounds like by this time the trail should be mostly snow-free. Hoping to avoid walking in plastic boots as much as possible, but also don't want my leathers completely soaked for the chimneys section. Any info would be great! Thanks, -gc

pdk - Photo of my trip up last weekend. Definitely some ice in the saddle area and I'm sure on the North side as well.

Cool, good to know. I think the snow depth coupled with the debris showers already coming down made us wary of starting up, but maybe next time we'll push a little farther to see if it improves. Thanks for the heads up though. Also, is it typical to hug Yokum ridge to avoid some of that debris before the hourglass? Or stay to the right side instead? Don't think either way would escape it totally, but hopefully it would at least cut down on some exposure to it.

Got up there Friday night and camped out in a snow cave near Illumination rock with intent of doing Leutholds come morning. Woke up at 5:20 to clear skies and surprisingly little wind. Unfortunately, after strapping on crampons for the initial descent onto Reid, it became immediately clear that we were not going to be able to get up the couloir. Waist deep sugar with very little consolidation across the whole glacier. View across Reid from the saddle. View of castle crags from the saddle. Traversed across to the other side of the cleaver (large rock outcropping on right in photo... I see how this could easily be conceived as part of Yokum in low visibility) Took a look up at the route (small notch to the far left). It looks like an amazing route, but we knew trudging up that thing in that snow would put us right in the couloir when the sun was starting to rain crap down. So instead just enjoyed the saddle views, ate lunch in the blazing sun, (saw two unfortunate souls trudging up the southside at 10am on what looked like the west crater rim route...godspeed fellas, it was damn hot by that point) Skied down windblown snow on Palmer and enojoyed a pitcher 30 minutes later. Hope to do Leutholds sometime this year, but will probably wait for some more consolidation first. Our quick compression test showed a moderate failure at 12"-16" below the surface. Skinning the whole time saved our legs for sure as even trying to walk up from Palmer to the saddle was ridiculous without some kind of flotation. Can't wait for the spring season though. Snow will be here for a-while. -Burglar

Yeah, looking like I may hold off on Jefferson this weekend after all. Approach is long, avy danger seems high, and would rather enjoy the time out there than try to bust it to make it back to town by Monday. May just opt for skinning up to Illumination Saddle and checking out Reid instead. Haven't done Leutholds this season, but am thinking it may be a little sketchy with all this new snow we've been getting consistently this past week. We'll see...

Yeah, I called the ranger station and looks like FS 2243 is only plowed a whopping 40feet from 22, so it'll be a long approach for sure. Ski's should hopefully make it a bit easier. Topo map looks like it would be a reasonable approach on skis, but I haven't been that way before. I was curious if anyone knows how the ridge and notch are up at the top. I wasn't planning on bringing two tools and seems like that section fluctuates between ice and deep snow, so just wanted to check. Thanks for the heads up though. We'll see what avy conditions are like these next few days as that may ultimately ground this attempt.

Ahhh, but only if its a cheese-beta.

Anyone been up there lately? Was thinking of heading up there with a friend this weekend, maybe get a few turns in as well, but reading some reports from years past, I don't see many from this time of year. Is the summit just covered in rim ice and so not really a good idea to try it, especially if crossing under it on the traverse? I was thinking of skinning up as much as I could, so any suggestions on a good route would be much appreciated. Seems like the Jefferson Parks route would be ok as the Bergschrund is probably filled in, and the west rib route seems like fun since there is so much snow, but I don't yet have a good idea of the approach. Any info would be great! ~burglar

Didn't end up going as avy danger was CONSIDERABLE according to NWAC. If you went, let me know how it looks. Am still hoping to get up there soon. Maybe after the snowpack has a good chance to settle.

Good to know about the snowmobilers. Yeah, weather may prevent this trip unless we get some kind of break. Looks like Thursday should be another system moving in and hopefully cut loose a lot of it by Saturday. We'll see what NWAC says after Thursday's system moves out. Hopefully a small break will allow some skiing. That is of course, as long as the road stays open to the snow park. Will send some info on Sat. night if we end up going. Thanks! ~burglar

Hey all - Anyone have thoughts on conditions for either of these routes? I was planning on skiing WF this weekend, but given the amount of snowmobilers I hear are usually present, I was thinking maybe CR would be a little better. If I did this coming from Portland though, does this mean I have to drive SR-503 to Cougar to grab a pass, then loop back to I-5 to take SR-504 in to reach Sheep Canyon road? I havent skied or climbed this mountain before so I'm not so familiar with the roads leading in and out. Any info on current conditions or advice would be great. Thanks, ~burglar

Ahhh yes, you're right. Remembered the the wrong name. Thanks. We will hopefully try it again towards the early summer months. Seems like a great route and I'm eager to try out the Lake Ann trail sans snow. Beautiful valley to be hiking in regardless.

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimneys Date: 4/28/2007 Trip Report: I'd like to start my first TR on this board with a question. How many signs does it normally take people to call off a trip before they actually go ahead and cancel? Does it just depend on the severity of it? A superstitous event? Forgotten gear? Well, here's a few signs we should have followed but didn't (some more superstitous than others). 1. Weather supposed to be spotty according to all sources throughout week leading up to trip. Drive is 6 hours from Portland meaning we should be sure there's a good chance of climbing before heading out on a precious free weekend. 2. Post in various forums about conditions on Shuksan in April and question as to why people don't do it this early in the year yields little to no information. Knew sulphide route was gone, but why is everyone doing this route in July? Hmmm. 3. Windshield wiper motor craps out on SR-542 at 12:30am 10 miles from ski lot in rain/sleet storm. Dumb and Dumber move of head out the window brings us to safety, 45 minutes later and a whole lot wetter. 4. I forgot the whiskey. (luckily remedied by local store on the way up...but still) Ok, so the plan was to drive up Friday night, sleep in car, up on Saturday for trip to Lake Ann and up the chimneys for a comfy night sleep and beautiful views of Baker. Then up in the morning on Sunday, summit, back to camp before afternoon. Nice hike out on Monday and back in PDX monday night. Seems doable, if not a little hurried. The problem? It's raining/snowing on Friday and we're not even to Seattle, my wipers stopped working shortly thereafter, and I'm realizing that although I've gone about as light as I can get, my pack still will weigh close to 50lbs. Lo and behold, saturday morning we wake up in an iced over car to beautiful blue skies. A few mountaineer club members pull up and tell us the latest report says no chance of precip until Tuesday. Hey, this is shaping up huh? Why believe a weeks worth of weather watching when a total stranger in the parking lot tells you something you want to hear? One pop tart later we're on the trail. Start out on snowshoes up the summer road to Austin Pass. Blew past the trailhead location (there are no signs this time of year) and descended down a gully near Panorama point instead. A little slippery, and pretty wet and heavy snow. No worries, Lake Ann is like 3 miles as the crow flies so it'll go quick. We'll be to the chimneys just in time for lunch. Long story short, snow in the valley was calve deep slush, and very few snow bridges remain over Swift Creek. It took us 8 hours of hiking (1 hour for lunch) to get to the overlook near lake ann. That's right, not even to the base of the chimneys yet. By that time reality pretty much set in and we knew there was no way of getting to the chimneys, ascending with 50lb packs and summiting the next day to get back to Portland by Monday night. Solution: drop all gear and snowshoe for a little while and take photos. While Saturday was beautiful, we woke up on Sunday morning to overcast skies and a few snow flakes. By the time we broke camp and headed out, it was snowing so bad our tracks from the day before were filling up. But that's ok, becuase it was breakable crust the whole...freakin...way...sigh. In the end, we got back out around noon (only 3.5 hours misery-shoe out) and headed back to town under mostly clear skies. All in all, a good physical conditioning trip, but I'd rather not sluff miles in heavy snow carrying all that weight for just a night of snow camping. Doing so basically steered us towards using the same 4-letter word response to any and all the following questions/statements. 1. I forgot the whiskey. 2. I don't think that snow bridge is safe to cross either. 3. We haven't even reached the lake yet, it's still another mile to the base of the chimneys from there. 4. There's no way we're getting up the chimneys, across the glacier, up the tower and back down again tomorrow in one piece. 5. We still have to hike back out of here. 6. Turning the car off for 2 days hasn't fixed the wipers. All in all, I guess if you're going in April, be prepared for that nice wet cascade snow. Maybe it was because we were at 3500ft only for the majority of the day, (4700ft snow was better, but still calve deep) but even skinning up seems like it would be miserable. Oh, thought you might like a parting shot of our wiper fix. Gear Notes: Ice Axe, helmet, crampons, rope, prusiks, snowshoes... In reality, only snowshoes and prusiks were used...and the prusiks were to "fix" the wipers so we could manually utilize them on the way home. Think puppeteers.