NF Shuksan

[letsroll]

Has anybody been up there lately? How do you think the approach is? I was thinking about doing it one day. How would navagation through the brush be in the dark? Then decend via white salmon glacier. Is this going to be a real bitch and should be done in two days?

[fenderfour]

I did it last summer, so I don't know current conditions.

 

Navigating (down) the White Salmon should be pretty easy. We went left low on the glacier and had to deal with a bunch of bullshit cliffs, just big enough to be dangerous. If you stay right you should be golden.

 

Good luck navigating the brush in the dark. We did a rising traverse back to the clearcut and it was wretched. The hillside has a number of streams down it that make for interesting climbing. Some of them have very steep rock sides.

[Farrgo]

The approach does suck, but I don't feel like the NF should be considered a hard 2-day climb as the Nelson guide calls it. When I did it we bivied below the face for a few hours and still did it under 24 hours. Word to the wise, no matter how appealing it is just to straight-line-it to the ski area, follow the way you came in.

[AlpinistAndrew]

I agree with nate. the approach really does suck. and definitly go back the way you came, the clear cuts look appealing, but as nate will attest, they are hell.

[skykilo]

Two days, what scandalous inflationary tactics?!

Navigation through the brush isn't all that bad, dark or not. Drop into the valley, head directly up to the ridge the easiest way possible, and follow the ridge to the base of the face. It's not too bad. Right now I'd worry a lot more about postholing hell than the approach, but that's just me.

 

I'd recommend doing it in a day. And take your skis.

[savaiusini]

Here's a link to a fairly recent attempt

 

Sky and Cyril's TR from last July

 

My TR from 1999 sans schwackage...

With recent conditions, I would definitely take skis. Then if you decide the north face is too burly, you can just ski the White Salmon and be out of there fast!...