[TR] Mt Shuksan - White Salmon Glacier 1/28/2007

[skibum1087]

Trip: Mt Shuksan - White Salmon Glacier

 

Date: 1/28/2007

 

Trip Report:

My freind Todd and myself saw the forecast for sunny weather and decided we needed to go for a climb. We were hoping to do a bit of skiing as well, so we decided on the White Salmon Glacier. The skiing did not work out for the most part, but it was a great climb. We left the lower lodge at 2:00 on friday and camped in the valley where we got some great views of the peak

 

 

The moon was bright when we left the tent at around 1 am, we easily climbed without headlamps until around 3 am when the moon set. At that point, natrually I dropped my headlamp and watched it speed off down to the valley floor.

 

We went up the right side of the white salmon, around 2 am we saw a huge icefall come off the hanging glacier making us feel happy we climbing a good ways away from it.After kicking steps for almost 5,000 feet we finally hit sunrise on the sulphide.

After that it was a slog up to the pyramid

 

And finally the more exciting climbing begun

 

The views were amazing to say the least.

 

We ended up stopping about 200 feet shy of the summit up near the top of the pyramid. We wer climbing on a steep icy groove that every once in a while would turn to sugary snow that would not support ste[s, followed by more ice. Going up it was not to bad, but neither of us felt very comftrable about the prospect of having to downclimb any more of it than we had already commited to, and having brought only a 30 meter rope our rapping options were limited. I ended up leaving a picket and making a short rappel down to where Todd was stopped, and we proceeded to downclimb the rest and go home. It was a hard to turn around so close to the top, but overall it was a great trip on what I thought was a really fun route with great views.

-Spencer

 

Gear Notes:

30 meter rope, 3 pickets, once screw and skis/snowboard.

 

Approach Notes:

Skied down the clearcut from the cat track near chair 8, across the stream and up the valley.

Edited January 29, 2007 by skibum1087

[kevbone]

Badass dudes!

[DirtyHarry]

That second picture is fucking sweet.

[Tweezer]

Dude, Spence, you forgot part where we were sprinting in the dark from the noise of the not so obvious location of the ice fall/avalanche. (1 of 3 rips on the hanger while we were there... Scary stuff!)

 

Nice post bud. I was just about to write one up, and you beat me to it.

 

I would like to dedicate this climb to my buds Dougy and Beny- who pussed out b/c the skiing would not be good enough.

You boys missed out on an epic adventure. It was better that you didn't go! I got Spence all to myself

Edited January 31, 2007 by Tweezer

[dberdinka]

Nice Work! Beautiful pics!

 

I've experienced a similar mix of snow and ice on that summit pyramid in winter as well.

 

Can you comment on how the snowpack was set up on various aspects. Was north face consolidated at all? Boot packable? Base on pics south looks pretty firm.

 

Thanks.

 

D

[G-spotter]

The summit is looking pretty Pataguccian

[Weekend_Climberz]

Excellent photos :tup:

 

Any pics of the gully between Winny's Slide and the Hanging Glacier??

[skibum1087]

The snow was pretty variable throughout the climb. The south face on the pyramid was set up pretty well but I think that was mostly from wind and perhaps that the snow all sluffed off during the storm. The sulphide was very bootpackable, but it was soft enough that kicking steps took a lot of energy. The same goes for the conditions in hells highway and on the upper curtis. Soft but not a wallowfest. The upper white salmon and winnies slide were a combination of supportable and breakable crusts, while the lower white salmon and the valley was mostly icey and or avy debris.

 

I might have some pictures of that gully between the hanging glacier and winnys slide, I will check for you.

[sparverius]

Sweet TR and photos. Did you have to do any shwacking on the approach or was it all snow covered? I'd like to get to that side of the mountain while the approach is still skiable. I had a miserable time in that jungle two years ago and would imagine that an adequate base would make for an easier ski approach.

[skibum1087]

Sparverius- The approach is in great shape, we skied all the way to the bottom of the valley, crossed the stream and skinned up towards the glacier. There is no brush to be had.

[letsroll]

Question about the summit pyramid. Thinking about taking the g-friend up there. I think she will be ok if I can set up belays and we can rap out of there. How easy is it to set up belay stations, what kind of pro to take? Also can you rap the whole thing? What would you be using for rap, ice formations, or the summer rap station?

[AllYouCanEat]

Question about the summit pyramid. Thinking about taking the g-friend up there. I think she will be ok if I can set up belays and we can rap out of there. How easy is it to set up belay stations, what kind of pro to take? Also can you rap the whole thing? What would you be using for rap, ice formations, or the summer rap station?

 

I haven't been up there this year, but would guess that it is more of a snowslope than anything else. At worst there is a steeper section just before you reach the ridge on the right, maybe 10-15 ft. You'll probably need pickets if you want to set protection. From about now until spring its usually skiable terrain of maybe max 50 degrees.

 

You're other option is summer. Its a fun glacier hike and scramble up to the summit via the sulfide glacier.

[letsroll]

THanks AllYouCanEat. If this wet storm cycle stays for our climb window it might not be a problem and we will tackle it later when the pinical is melted out for sure.