Shuksan North Face TR - 6/9/02

[mwills]

FunGuy, The Dude, and I climbed the north face of Shuksan (car-to-car) on Sunday (6/9). we had hoped to climb Saturday, due to the expected warm-up on sat night/sun morning. instead, we spent the time sleeping in the car due to the new snow on fri night/sat morning.

 

this was the first time on Shuksan for all of us, so none of us were sure about the approach. With the free time on Saturday determined our approach. using Colin's advice from a previous report, we decided to take the cat track from the White Salmon Lodge. this track runs parallel to the White Salmon creek and allows easy passage through the timber. eventually this track ends, and then the bushwhacking starts. be careful with recent heavy snowfall as this slope is prone to slide. with the heavy snow pack now, it is easy to stay up high and drop down into the valley late. however, it was dark for us and we dropped down too early and had about 1.5 hrs of unnecessary creek crossings and alder climbing.

 

we made it to the base of the north face at about 5:30 am, making for a 4hr approach (which could have been shortened considerably with better route finding). the sun was out and it was starting to get warm. the freezing level was very high the night before (~7000ft) and rising. the conditions did not look very promising, with fresh snow on top of a hard spring pack and throw in the warm temps. we took a short break and headed up the nf. we had very little trouble skirting around the crevasses below the face. the lower section of the face had been in the sun for a while and was very soft, but allowed for great steps. the fresh snow on the nf was surprisingly stable. the views were spectacular, with only a few clouds in the sky you could see for miles. the alpine setting combined with the exposure gives you a euphoric feeling. we skirted around the bergschrund on the right and found vastly different snow/ice for great front pointing the rest of the way up. the route up the nf is very straightforward, just a couple holes to avoid and be sure to enjoy yourself.

 

from the top of the nf, we trudged clockwise around to the southeast side of the summit pyramid only to find what looked to be an everest base camp. there were two rope teams (3 or 4 people on each rope) heading up to the summit, and one rope team descending. all were in each other’s fall line, and this was taking place on a ~55 degree slope. i will credit them with running belays, but there were just too many people. although it was nice runout below, it looked like the possibility for an ugly accident. it turns out it was the boeing alpine club and they had two groups of twelve people. one woman was injured while glissading down - she lost her axe and went head-over-heels a couple times before stopping (they were talking about a dislocated shoulder).

 

The Dude opted to stay below and even out his tan while FunGuy and i went up to catch a glimpse of the summit. it took us about 2hrs to get to the summit and back down due to the traffic. we started descending about 2:30 and took the white salmon glacier descent. we dropped down to the upper curtis glacier via hells highway. because of the high snow pack, the hourglass would also be possible here to cut some time of the descent and eliminate having to ascend ~800' of the upper curtis glacier. we then dropped down to winnie's slide where FunGuy and The Dude rapped down, while i pulled the anchor and down climbed. then we plunged our way down the white salmon, looking for a short cut and trying to minimize dropping too much elevation. but eventually we ended up on top of rock band with no chance of rapping off, and had to back track and drop down to the bottom of the white salmon.

 

from the bottom of the white salmon, we followed a trail left by some nice climbers (thanks you guys) through the trees and back to the lodge. we were back at the car around 8, making for about a 20hr round trip.

 

without the route finding errors and the delays on top, i would say with good conditions this route could be done in under 15hrs at a moderate pace. i know there are some superstars out there who could do it in a fraction of that, but for us weekend warriors this would be a great time.

 

so, all in all; a great route, in spectacular setting, with outstanding weather and throw in some bushwhacking on the approach and you get a true alpine experience.

 

matt

 

[ 06-13-2002, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: mwills ]

[Happy-Go-Lucky]

There weren't any old boot tracks on those places except the tracks made by us and a group of four who were below us on the face and eventually descended by traversing to the west of the summit pyramid.

 

Hell's highway is moderate in steepness and safer to come come down but takes longer (~1/2hr?) and requires 400-500ft gain compared with dropping down via Hourglass. We intended coming down on the Hourglass but what we came down turned out to be the Highway...for better or worse.

 

It's a really fun climb and hope to do it again later this year with the alpine ice setting.

[mtmikey]

nice job and congrats!

 

questions:

1. evidence of much traffic on the upper curtis? how was the highway?

2. much evidence of traffic going up white salmon?

 

just kinda curious.

 

we were in there two weeks ago being dumb, thinking fisher chimneys. didn't work out. too much snow. thinking of coming back sometime soon.

 

thanks for the report!

 

best,

mkg

[Alpine_Tom]

I’d be really careful about descending the hourglass if you didn’t ascend from that side, since it separates (it isn’t technically a bergschrund, I guess, but it looks like it) and it’s steep enough that you might not be able to tell it’s not contiguous until it’s too late.

(Unless, of course, you’re comfortable downclimbing or rappelling down the rock.)

When I did Fisher Chimneys a few years ago in mid-June, it already had a ten-foot gap in it.

 

I’d suggest the extra half hour of going down hell’s highway might be worth it, at least for me.