KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Trip: Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier Date: 7/26/2009 Trip Report: There's been plenty of TRs for this route, so I'll give a conditions report, some mountain pron, and comment on our experience with the thunderstorm "showers". The route is in great shape right now. Only a few crevasses are opening up and they are easily avoided. This is one of the most mellow and benign glaciers I've been on. We had t-storms in our forecast - 30% chance of "showers" after 11 am on Sat and before 11 pm Sun. We got a fairly early start on Sat and got to camp at around 12:30. We pitched our tent and bivies and enjoyed the sun while it lasted. At around 5 or so clouds were rolling in so I decided to make dinner while I could. The drizzle turned to full-on rain, followed by 35 mph gusts of wind, horizontal, pea-sized hail, and a complete whiteout. My water was only luke-warm, my stove blew out and I was soaked. Fortunately the rain stopped long enough for me to scarf up my luke-warm Mountain House, and the wind acted like a giant cold-air restroom hand-dryer, blowing my shell jacket and pants completely dry. Seeing the next "round" on its way in the sky, I snapped a few photos and went to bed at 6:30. My partners had already long-since sequestered themselves in their shelters, sacrificing a hot-dinner, but peeking out to snap photos here and there. The rain came and went a couple of times that night. And we were socked in at 2 am. Fortunately by 3:30 am it was clear out and we slowly got up and were roped up and ready to go at 5:30. The weather from then on out was PERFECT. One other item of note - there was almost NO summit gully clusterf****! We arrived at 7:30 and the first wave of summitters were leaving. We went up, had the summit almost to ourselves, then left just in time for the next group. We had heard that the previous day (Sat morning) there had been a 24-person back-up at the pyramid, including a 12 person (WTF???) party. Angry skies after the first squall: A different story at dawn: The last snow patches at the pyramid: The Sulphide: Summit Pron: Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, helmet for gully. Approach Notes: Snow free until 5400'. Spotty until 6100'. Bugs horrendous below snow-line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbone Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Nice pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musky333 Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Hey Kaz, what kind of camera are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 Hey Kaz, what kind of camera are you using? It's just a Sony Cyber-shot (8.1 megapixel). Not too expensive and a few years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_rutl Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 We had heard that the previous day (Sat morning) there had been a 24-person back-up at the pyramid, including a 12 person (WTF???) party. brutal... sweet pics man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YocumRidge Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Trip: Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier Date: 7/26/2009 Trip Report: We had heard that the previous day (Sat morning) there had been a 24-person back-up at the pyramid, including a 12 person (WTF???) party. And I assume they were all roped up while crossing the Sulphide too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 And I assume they were all roped up while crossing the Sulphide too? We saw them descending. Yes, 2 teams of 6 per rope. That's not a big deal since you can walk around rope teams. They are only slowing themselves down. A group of 12 in a bottleneck like the S face gully sucks for other parties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YocumRidge Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 And I assume they were all roped up while crossing the Sulphide too? We saw them descending. Yes, 2 teams of 6 per rope. That's not a big deal since you can walk around rope teams. They are only slowing themselves down. A group of 12 in a bottleneck like the S face gully sucks for other parties. Priceless as ever! I bet they were rigged for the crevasse rescue just as well? I did notice one 3 feet wide crevasse on the Sulphide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinomyte Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Is it a total coincidence that on the Mazamas climb schedule there is a 7/24-7/26 climb of Shuksan via the Sulphide? Not to knock Mazamas as I think they do a fine job of doing what they do, but I ALWAYS check their schedule before a climb!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinomyte Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Mazamas 2009 Online Climb Schedule 134 07/24 07/26 Mt. Shuksan Sulphide Glacier C+(E) Josh Lockerby 12 0 Full The "12" signifies the number of folks on the climb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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