[TR] Shuksan- North Face 2/12/2006

[Wild_Bill]

Climb: Shuksan-North Face

 

Date of Climb: 2/12/2006

 

Trip Report:

It seemed like the route should have been pretty straight forward (especially seeing as though I had done once before); however, with snow and weather conditions, things got a little tricky. At least the approach was nice...

 

 

We camped overnight in the basin bellow the White Salmon Glacier figuring we could leave our overnight stuff there, and we'd return to it via the glacier itself, which was the descent route I'd taken a couple years ago. To allow plenty of time, we woke up at 3:00... then again at 3:15, and finally one more time at 3:30, putting us on snowhoes at 4:00.

 

Assuming we'd be on the frozen part of the freeze thaw cycle, we didn't expect the snow to be so soft on the approach. Nor did we expect the snow to remain so soft once we started up the actual north face. Though wind beaten and consildated enough for safety concerns, kicking thousands and thousands of calf-deep steps towards the shoulder wasn't any easier going than the approach.

 

Hidden behind the impending cloud cover, the sun began to rise sometime mid route, which finally gave us enough light to finally see the mouths a few cravasses. We though that perhaps being able to see them would mean nobody else would be falling in as Nick had earler in the route.

 

 

Shortly after traversing to the right side of the hanging galcier, we ascended into the the descending clouds/high winds/snow/whiteout. We reached the shoulder around 10:00 or so, but with the weather as it was, we decided to abandon the Summit Pyramid and try to head towards the descent route. Several navigational meetings were held behind the shelter of a God sent large rock- all of which lead to an attempt towards the White Salmon, all of which lead to route finding failures. We did however find ourselves several times at the tops of very intimidating cliffs/ridgelines. Finally, with the weather further deteriorating and no visual signs of anything recognizable, the decision was made to follow our disappearing steps back to the North Face to descend. With one more "pow wow" behind "shelter rock" we roped up and headed down.

 

Another few thousand kicked steps (and another fall through a crevasse) later, we were almost at the bottom of the North Face in soft snow and vastly improved weather. Infact, conditions seemed so good, that one group member decided to take the quick way down.

[Enter the scariest two minutes of my life]

[Nick starts sliding down towards the cliff- unroped, tumbling, rag-dolling, yard-saling, desperately try but failing to arrest]

"USE YOUR AXE, NICK, USE YOUR AXE!!!" -me

[Nick speeds past, tumbling, and down and over the cliff]

"SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!" -everyone

"NICK!!!!! -I don't remember who

[Running down towards cliff]

[Passing of several hours, decades, horrible horrible thoughts and expectations of what might be at the base of the cliff]

"NICK!!!!" -The universe

[Nick standing at the base of the clff, staring blankly at his 'desecent route']

"NICK!! Are you okay?!!!" -Me

"Yah! I'm. Fine." -Nick

[The biggest sigh of releif the universe has ever witnessed]

 

Apparently it wasn't Nick's time. Somehow in all his tumbling, he managed to hit the few snowy spots, dropping to the side of the cliff, but yet missing all the rocks to the left and right before he came to a stop at the base. Most of his gear had fallen and kept sliding down into Pierce Lake, including his axe, but not including the screw he was borrowing from me, which he somehow caught upon landing. Aside from a crampon to the thigh, Nick was and is absolutely fine.

 

The rest of the trip was exceedingly unintersting in compairison. We arrived at the car around 8:30.

 

In summary, we were able to make it up the orth face route, but we didn't make the summit. Conditions were relatively okay. Everybody lived.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Ice Axe (regular, not tools), Crampons. We brought screws, but wouldn't have been able to use them. Pickets would of gone in, but we didn't really need em.

 

Approach Notes:

We approached from the groomed road that has the pullout just before the lower parking lot of Mt. Baker. Taking the first right unto the ungroomed and slide aldery part to the creek, we headed down the right side and traversed further right sticking to the heavy timber to the White Salmon Creek and crossed it and made run on sentences. The aforementioned went very smooth and easy- much much better than my past expericence with the clear cut. Through the trees to the basin. Snow shoes required.

Edited February 14, 2006 by Wild_Bill

[Alpinfox]

Scary stuff. Several crevasse falls and a speed descent? Ya'll sound accident prone.

 

Conditions - North faces of tall mountains don't get a whole lot of freeze/thaw this time of year.

 

Nice pictures and story. Glad Nick is part cat.

 

... and let me be the first to say, "BOOOTY!"

 

So about that booty - you might consider posting something in the Lost and Found forum about it. Maybe some hiker will come across it in the spring. Did you mean "PRICE" lake?

 

 

[olyclimber]

Fun stuff. It is always a plus when everyone makes it back alive.

[Wild_Bill]

Well you know where it's at. We did do a cost analysis however- and it was decided that the time it would take to retrieve the gear, combinded with the effort involved, factored in with the amount of daylight left, amounted to more than the gear was worth.

Edited February 14, 2006 by Wild_Bill

[Ireneo_Funes]

Glad your friend's OK.

[catbirdseat]

You should make an offering to the mountain goddess for treating you with such benevolence.

[skykilo]

Somebody get Nick some skis; he's ready for action!

 

Seriously, glad everyone's all right.

[dalius]

[Nick speeds past, tumbling, and down and over the cliff]

 

Holy crap! Your buddy is increadibly lucky to be alive. Makes me nauseous just imagining it.

[JoshK]

Any clue why Nick originally started sliding?

[Eerie]

He couldn't decide whether he wanted to ski or snowboard quick enough???

 

Glad to hear this Nick dude walked away. Sure lives up to his name.

[jport]

At what point did you all unrope? Sounds like you started the descent as a rope-team.

Thank the stars and mountain gods that there wasn't a more serious outcome. Yikes!

[Couloir]

...we roped up and headed down...Nick starts sliding down towards the cliff- unroped ...

I was curious about this too.

 

Glad you cats made it back in one piece.