tazz Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 (edited) Trip: Shuksan - Suphide/SE Rib Variation The things I like about alpine rock. Its not snow! The slower pace and pure enjoyment. The communication between partners. The exposure! The smell of the rope when repelling. (Yeah I know I am weird) listening to gear clang around as your working your way up. The concentration and focus it takes. I could go on but won’t torture you all. BirdDog and I got together for a very fun climb of Shuksan. A few weeks ago he mentions Shuksan in an e-mail and I jumped all over it. I have never wanted to do the steep gully snow slog. Its enough of a snow slog on the Sulphide that I wanted to try out the SE rib route. Most of the route is exposed class 4 and can be simu climbed, but I wanted to work on my rope and multi pitch skills ( I am hoping to tag more alpine rock summits this year.) Plus the thought of pitching off without a belay just didn’t thrill me. We left camp along with the only other 2 parties on the peak. The other 2 parties took the gully. One of the parties of 3 we camped with. They are good folks so I took some shots of them and figured we would send it via e-mail. I love meeting other climbers out there! Climbers rock! We mounted the rib just above the first large notch. That was the hardest move of the entire climb. Low class 5. The rock is really good, I was surprised how good it was. Several pitches later and tons of fun we are on the summit. I have no words to describe how happy I was feeling. It has been a dream and a lot of hard work getting into Alpine rock and now I am HOOKED!!!! Pickets here I come!! A few repels and we were off. There are at least 3-4 rap stations through the gully The third rap station cannot be reached so one must scramble down to it on exposed class 3. All Have solid, good webbing. We wrapped up a perfect trip with the long slog across The sulphide. Bridges are thin and I was able to easily tap them and it just collapsed. All can be skirted around VERY easy but figured I would let ya all know its that time of year Its great when all falls into place a trip works so well. I want to thank BirdDog for being a great partner and leading the rib. Thanks for a great trip!!! [img:center]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3682825364_00200d9ac0.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3682012535_33c69e2f85.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3682013023_5228f7b516.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/3682013477_7ca55701de.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3682014427_ca6724a3f3.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/3682014741_ed35518d14.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3545/3682830356_42837e9369.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/3682016933_1ce8cf2c6d.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2630/3682830948_6a86c98b97.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2578/3682018861_0dfe410f6b.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2654/3682019079_6accd8be0d.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2570/3682019971_7d9d96b8c7.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3682019761_c3d08c9ca1.jpg[/img] Gear Notes: small set of nuts webbing for slinging horns we used twin 30m alpine rope. crampons and ice axe Approach Notes: Crevasses are easily skirted, but the bridges are THIN! Snow starts just below Shannon ridge proper. Traverse is melting out. There is a great melted out camp with running water around 6200' or so. Edited July 2, 2009 by tazz Quote
dinomyte Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 Tazz: Thanks for the TR. I want to get up there in the next few weeks. If you have any shots taken while on the Rib, that would be sweet. I'd love to get a feel for that before heading up to see if it's a decent option for us. Quote
tazz Posted July 2, 2009 Author Posted July 2, 2009 there ya go...more pics. it is a nice route and very easy climbing! Much better than the fugly gully. Quote
telemarker Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 Nice write-up and photos Tazz! Way to get after it. I'll have to make my way up there one of these days. Quote
BirdDog Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 Fun climb Tazz! SE Rib is a fun variation. Easy climbing with enchanting exposure on the north side. Tazz and I canceled a planned Shuksan trip a month ago due to weather. We hit it Tuesday under a perfect forecast and weather. NWS forecast an 11,000' freezing level, although it was damned close to cold @ our 6000' bivy castle. Visability was awesome from the summit - Rainier to the BC coast range and out to the Straits - wow, oh yea the pickets too. Here's a few of my pics. We probably would got off the mountain sooner if we hadn't had stopped every 6 feet to take another pic. wakey, wakey, sun's coming upTopping out! Tazz; Smelling the repel rope? Holy God girl, you're strange. Your mountain savy, great sense of humor, and appreciation of the alpine, made the trip - thanks. FUN Quote
tazz Posted July 3, 2009 Author Posted July 3, 2009 Well ya know I love my new rope... 8D Ok I am weird but not that weird! I didn't word that properly. I don't actually sniff the rope! yes good times! Thanks for adding your input and pics!! Quote
t_rutl Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 great TR and that is an awesome variantion well done Quote
BirdDog Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 I don't actually sniff the rope! Yes you do - caught on film. Tazz sniffing the repel line - mmmmmm good! Quote
cartman Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 Great trip and pics! Interesting route. The fugly gully is a great late spring route, booting up nearly its entire length on 40-45 degree snow. Quote
chimbo Posted July 5, 2009 Posted July 5, 2009 That's one of those climbs that you never want to end once you get on the rock. Good work. Quote
dinomyte Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Thanks for the pics. Think we'll aim for that rock when we head up there! Quote
5.12Dreamer Posted July 8, 2009 Posted July 8, 2009 Nice shots and good climb; especially like the B&W, which is often underused. Hey, how suitable are those seracs on the far RHS of the Sulphide for ice climbing practice? Accessible? Safe? As in did you see things coming down? Large enough? Hard to tell the scale, they could be huge, or only body height... Thanks! Quote
tazz Posted July 8, 2009 Author Posted July 8, 2009 I am not the best person to ask about seracs and climbing them. the seracs are large but I am unsure how large you want them to be...? I do know that the Crystal glacier was very active when i was there. I saw no activity from the sulphide. maybe someone who knows the glacier and its activity can help ya out better than i can. thanks folks Quote
tazz Posted July 11, 2009 Author Posted July 11, 2009 the gully is out. It was melted out half way down. The rest is a free fer all! Crevasses are opening with very thin bridges. No snow after the pass except for a small section just below it that was almost melted out when there. I bet it is now as it is south facing. from the pass there was three sections of rock, scrub and boulder melted out before solid snow started. Deep runnels and sun cups in the lower area. Quote
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