[TR] Shuksan - North Face 7/17/2010

[counterfeitfake]

Trip: Shuksan - North Face

 

Date: 7/17/2010

 

Trip Report:

I climbed the North Face of Shuksan with a group of 5 others. The route is in really good shape right now, consolidated snow, glaciers not very broken up, and no mandatory ice. With two ropes of three the climbing went pretty well.

 

We set up the car shuttle to give ourselves options. Unfortunately the road out to Artist's Point is still closed so the best we could do was the Heather Meadows parking lot.

 

We walked up to the ski area and headed out the cat track toward Chair 8. Once we caught a glimpse of the bright green horror at the base of the White Salmon, we decided we would probably try the Fisher Chimneys descent...

 

To avoid the worst of the approach bushwhack, hang a left just before the spur road that branches off left. You should be able to travel through tall timber the whole way. We went farther, past the "clearcut", and I think this made things more difficult. We found a log to cross the creek around 2900 feet, and proceeded eastward, mostly through tall trees, up to the ridge, then along the ridge to camp at the base of the north face.

 

The route itself was pretty simple, from we first traversed eastward under a big crevasse system, then upward and gradually contouring back right to the ridge. After that it was mostly straight up, the "crux" was about 3/4 the way up on hard steep snow, before it rolled over. From the col we walked around the summit pyramid, which takes a little while.

 

Once we got there we found what I expected- many climbers on the south gulley route, much like Gary's old report. The 6 of us didn't want to spend several hours sorting that out so we just headed down.

 

Hell's Highway is in great shape, as is the Upper Curtis. Once we found and crossed Winnie's Slide we kept dropping elevation, looking to the left for the start of the chimneys, which we found at around 6800'. Having read various warnings about this being a hard route to navigate, I was somewhat apprehensive. I was surprised to find it to be DEAD EASY. There's a TRAIL most of the time. The only complication was that there is still some snow getting in the way. Just keep looking around for the easiest way, and when in doubt work your way skier's right.

 

Below the chimneys there is still a lot of snow, hiding what I'm sure is a pretty nice trail. We contoured our way around to Lake Ann and then it was just a rough slog back to the trailhead, and then down along the currently-closed road to where we'd dropped our car.

 

A few pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

leather work gloves for the devil's club are worth the weight

 

Approach Notes:

SHWACKY

Edited July 20, 2010 by counterfeitfake

[kevbone]

Sweet pictures.

[YocumRidge]

Nice

Did you guys look at the Price glacier?

[jshamster]

 

 

nooksack tower & price glacier from a week ago.

shot from the top of hannegan peak.

 

cheers

jimbo

[counterfeitfake]

A little, I'm not sure you get a very clear view at any point. However all the other glaciers we saw were nicely covered, so I'd imagine it's in pretty good shape too.

[YocumRidge]

Great, thanks guys.

[genepires]

hells hwy photo is very good. great TR.

[counterfeitfake]

I read somewhere that people plunge step down Hell's Highway... is that the case? Seemed steep, and for us the top snow was soft with hardness underneath. Maybe I'm a plunge stepping weenie but we faced in.