[TR] Mt Shuksan - Hanging Glacier - 1939 8/7/2009

[ckouba]

Trip: Mt Shuksan - Hanging Glacier - 1939

 

Date: 8/7/2009

 

Trip Report:

Last week marked my true return to the NW. I moved back in Jan but life things kept me from the mountains for ~8 mo. I connected with my always trusty partner Kurt and we planned for a multi-route weekend on Shuksan. We had planned day one for approach, days two and three for different routes on the mountain, and day four to get back down leisurely.

 

Weather played nice for the first two days: ~6000' cloud deck + ~7000' bivy = sweet photo ops!

 

 

We took a swing at the Hanging Glacier route, the 1939 line from Beckey (click for full pic).

 

 

It was awesome!

 

The 1939 route has just about something for everyone and is extremely enjoyable: mildly technical rock scrambles, satisfyingly steep ice pitches, phenominal position, fantastic views, fun summit pitches. Currently there is a gaper on the upper Hanging Gla which we dropped into and out the side of, crossing toward but not quite onto, the NW Couloir Route. Overall it's extremely aesthetic and a fantastic moderate alpine adventure. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Campers back at the bivy:

 

 

 

Day three dawned thick as thieves with a whopping ~50' vis:

 

After thinking about the NW Arete or the NW Arayete the evening before, we called it good in the morning, sleeping in and hiking out the Chimneys after what was an "everything" route the previous day. GREAT trip.

 

More pics HERE.

 

Gear Notes:

handful of screws and used them

small rack and used it

1 small unused picket

 

Approach Notes:

Fisher Chimneys, straightforward

[mountainsloth]

great pics! looks like a fun route.

Welcome back to the Cascades!

[t_rutl]

sweet route and killer pics

[dberdinka]

that is bad-ass. What a beautiful line. Quite the off-the-couch climb. Congratulations!

[Lowell_Skoog]

Congratulations on a great climb!

 

I think the 1939 Hennig-Trott route on Mt Shuksan was the most advanced all-around alpine climb done in the Cascades before World War II. (Note that their climb also made the first ascent of the north face of the summit pyramid.) I haven't been able to think of another pre-war climb that combined technical ice climbing, a bivouac, and multi-pitch belayed rock climbing the way their climb did. Ptarmigan Ridge on Mt Rainier is a contender, bit it lacks the rock climbing component.

 

I wonder if anybody can think of a more impressive all-around alpine climb done before the war in the Cascades. This is just an arm-chair interest of mine.

 

-------------

 

Edited to add: Here is the text of a Seattle Times article about the climb published on September 10, 1939, page 19:

 

Up Forbidding Walls, Two Young Climbers Go to Top of Shuksan

Shuksan Climbed the "Hard Way"

 

This piece is about the latest and without doubt the most frightening ascent of Mount Shuksan, but it needs to deal with two young European climbers who think that climbing a vertical rock face is much more pleasant than living in war-torn Europe.

 

Andy Hennig of Vienna and Dr. Otto Trott, formerly of Berlin but now on the staff of Harborview County Hospital, climbed Shuksan the hard way last Sunday and Monday.

 

(Shuksan is the 9,038-foot peak which so many folk mistake for Mount Baker when they visit Mount Baker Lodge. It is a precipitous ice-and-rock peak, and the simplest route to the top is one not easy for the average climber.)

 

Hennig and Trott chose the northwest wall, which is the face of Shuksan most immediate to Mount Baker Lodge. No one ever climbed it before - presumably because no one would want to.

 

"It was a very nice climb," said Hennig, disclaiming this premise, "Except for the fog and the snow."

 

(He could have added, EXCEPT for the 60-degree ice fall over which they had to climb; and EXCEPT for the 1,000-foot, nearly vertical ascent of a solid rock wall which closed their journey to the summit.)

 

The ice fall greeted them at a bad time. They had started from Lake Anne on a fairly steep traverse at 7 o'clock Sunday morning. Late Sunday afternoon found them perched precariously, half-way up a 600-foot fall of ice. It was very hard ice, and crampons (needled nonskid supplements to climbing boots) didn't bite very well.

 

"So we employed a new technique," said Hennig. "We do not have the time to cut steps. It was getting too late. So...very carefully...we insert the leading spikes of our crampons into the so steep ice. We lift the weight on them. They brace into the ice, you understand? We walk straight up."

 

(A fly does the same, climbing the wall.)

 

So at 7:30 o'clock Sunday evening, with the shadows falling, they came to a thin plateau on the side of a rock wall, at about 7,500-feet elevation. This was a good place to spend the night. They did.

 

At 8 o'clock Monday morning having left their blankets and packs, they started on.

 

"Then it began to rain," said Hennig, "And snow. The climbing is bad. But finally, we are at the top. It is a very nice climb. Much better than living in Europe, and being shot at."

 

I like Hennig's attempt to patiently explain front-point cramponing technique to the reporter. The article includes a rather poor photo that suggests that they may really have climbed some 60-degree ice to surmount the ice fall.

 

Note that the Hanging Glacier climb took place just three days after Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II.

 

[climbaround]

Cool.

[dberdinka]

"The climbing is bad. But finally, we are at the top. It is a very nice climb. Much better than living in Europe, and being shot at."

 

That is a great article! Love the dry humor.

 

I don't know the details but I believe Otto was heavily involved in the early history of the Mount Baker Ski Area and died at a pretty old age (in his 90's?).

 

I wonder how often the direct North Face of the summit pyramid gets climbed these days?

[Jens]

Nice pics!

 

I've always wanted to do that route. It will become a future classic.

[Lowell_Skoog]

I don't know the details but I believe Otto was heavily involved in the early history of the Mount Baker Ski Area and died at a pretty old age (in his 90's?).

 

Yes, Dr. Otto Trott was an early member of the Mt Baker ski patrol. The "Otto Bahn" run is named for him. In 1941, Otto Trott and Hank Reasoner made the first ski ascent of Mt Shuksan via the White Salmon Glacier. It was one of the finest ski mountaineering achievements in the Northwest before World War II. On the Hanging Glacier climb, Otto led all the ice pitches, according to his memoirs. In 1948, he was one of the founders of the Mountain Rescue Council (with Wolf Bauer and Ome Daiber).

 

I wonder how often the direct North Face of the summit pyramid gets climbed these days?

 

I climbed the north face of the summit pyramid with my wife, brother Carl, and another friend in 1986. We thought it was an okay climb, but I recall that one of our ropes was chopped by rockfall. I have not done the lower, Hanging Glacier part of the Trott-Hennig route.

 

[ckouba]

Gents,

 

Thanks for the compliments... Glad you liked the pics.

 

The route is truly an excellent line and we were aware of its historic significance. Kurt and I were astonished this line doesn't see much traffic (although the line might appear to have a rather high objective risk of rock/icefall). It's easily approachable, great terrain, super straightforward routefinding and truly interesting climbing. As good as the Select Guides are there are some real gems out there for people to discover.

 

Chris

[Lowell_Skoog]

Hey all...does anyone know how to contact ckouba, the originator of this thread? I sent him a PM, but no reply yet. I'm pasting up the 2009 NWMJ and I'd like his permission to use the following photo:

 

 

Reply to me by PM or email to lowell.skoog SPLAT alpenglow.org

Thanks for any help!

 

[Lowell_Skoog]

Reply to me by PM or email to lowell.skoog SPLAT alpenglow.org

Thanks for any help!

 

Email sent. Thanks Donn.

 

[ckouba]

Hi Lowell,

 

Just got back on the grid, returned your email...

 

Chris