[TR] Shuksan - Price Glacier, attempt 8/23/2010

[tahah]

Trip: Shuksan - Price Glacier, attempt

 

Date: 8/23/2010

 

Trip Report:

M invited me to join her on the Price Glacier, a route I'd been eying for some time, so I jumped at the opportunity. As Jiri's recent excellent TR indicated, the turnoff for the climber's trail from the main trail was easy to locate just past the start of the Wilderness Area. After the log crossing, the trail goes up and right before disappearing into the brush. We continued right to Price Creek, crossing on a log jam (flagging). No sign of the trail on the other side, but after going up and left for a ways we picked it up. Generally open forest the whole way up the steep hillside, making for easy travel. The few times we lost the trail, we quickly found it by going straight up. There was a short section of thick slide alder on the flats below Price Lake, then easy travel up the crest of the moraine on the left side of the lake.

 

Do to our very slow pace, we had not made it to our intended camp by the edge of the eastern lobe of the glacier after more than 7 hours, and we were forced to bivy by a snowpatch on the hillside below the ridge. This was the first water source we encountered on the approach other than the silt-laden Price Creek.

 

We awoke at 3:30 to ready ourselves for the climb, but M informed me she was too tried to go on. Desperately not wanting to retrace our approach, I contemplated going on solo if M would be comfortable going back alone, but, understandably, she was not, so very reluctantly we headed back down.

 

On the way down we were able to follow the trail down the steep hillside the whole way until it ended about 400 feet above the crossing of Price Creek. At the log crossing over the Nooksack River we met a couple on their way in. I wished them good luck on the climb, but they informed me they were just going in to camp at Price Lake and come back out the next day. After the initial shock of hearing of such a destination, I felt a little better about the absurdity of our own adventure.

Edited August 25, 2010 by tahah

[OlegV]

 

Looks like American alpinism is all about "YOU", isn't it? How about some appreciation for a WOMAN who loves the mountains just like YOU do? Read classic literature, dude. It is never late to expand YOUR horizons.

[Alex]

It's your first time out with this partner, you should probably have set your expectations a bit lower and should have resisited the urge to slag said partner in public. It's just climbing. Sometimes it doesnt work out, but it's very bad style to fault your partner for being human.

[ivan]

agreed - dick move to harsh on your partner - sounds like the pair of you fucked up the approach if it took 7 hrs - isn't it pretty late season to be doing the price anyway?

[Cobra_Commander]

in summary, you are an ass, and you suck.

[JoshK]

Wow, the shock that the other two people would want to see a beautiful spot without actually climbing! Almost as lame as bagging on one's partner on the innarwebs. YEars ago my partner and I bailed half way up this route when one of my poons popped off and fell in to oblivion in the bottom of a crevasse. If only he had publicly ripped on me, I could have quit climbing then and saved myself years of trouble.

 

 

Translation: you, sir, are a douche.

[tomtom]

Drama Queens of cc.com

[counterfeitfake]

All he said was that she was too tired to go on. But I'm sure she's glad you guys are around to defend her honor.

[sprocket]

Actually they've edited the original post. Removed parts about wasted time off, effort etc.

 

Drama queens or not, bad form. Anybody can have a bad day.

[Cobra_Commander]

you probably also smell bad too

[tahah]

I appreciate all the feedback, constructive and otherwise. I've climbed with many people who were slow or had a bad day and never felt any urge to complain publicly. In this case, M so misrepresented her experience and conditioning to me, and judging by her attitude about it, seemed likely to do so again to others, that I felt compelled to post about it. I have now learned that I should not have mentioned her by name, and I apologize to her and others for doing so.

[ivan]

how did she misrepresent? she's done a # of tr's on here lately...

[YocumRidge]

how did she misrepresent?

 

By not stating the fact that I am not a climbing robot but a human being.

 

[pink]

chicks don't even get along on the ground, what makes yo think an elevation gain is going to make a difference

[ivan]

how did she misrepresent?

 

By not stating the fact that I am not a climbing robot but a human being.

 

gotta take oleg next time - partners who've been friends for a long time

[G-spotter]

Price Glacier in August is a retarded idea anyways, there will be so many open crevasses the skiing would be sucky on the way down.

[mountainsloth]

lame TR

[ivan]

pictures?

[Jens]

Hey, you got a close up view of the second wildest aspect in the cascade range and some fresh air to boot.

 

I went in on a Nooksack Tower route attempt many years ago and a new partner I had never climbed with got "sick" right about the same spot where you bivied. We slogged out. He bought me lunch, filled up my gas tank and all was good.

[AlpineK]

Things could be much worse. In '83 two friends and I went in to climb the Price Glacier. At the lake we were greeted by four guys who ask us if we were Search and Rescue.

 

They had been part of a party of six climbing the North Ridge. Two members of their group were ahead and hit by a large ice fall that swept them over cliffs above Price Lake. The four fellows managed to find their way to the lake trying to spot their friends.

 

Warm temperatures and the story we heard made us ditch our climbing plans. We spent the rest of the day at the lake and watched a helicopter search gullies attempting to locate the bodies. Eventually they airlifted the group at the lake away.

 

The next day we hiked out. Sometimes plans don't go as expected.

[roboboy]

That's amazing. I was on an attempt of the north face on the same day in 1983 and we turned back as my partner had misgivings. On the way down we were overtaken by one of the group who had been higher up, who told us of their tragic accident.

[LostCamKenny]

I appreciate all the feedback, constructive and otherwise. I've climbed with many people who were slow or had a bad day and never felt any urge to complain publicly. In this case, M so misrepresented her experience and conditioning to me, and judging by her attitude about it, seemed likely to do so again to others, that I felt compelled to post about it. I have now learned that I should not have mentioned her by name, and I apologize to her and others for doing so.

i know this is a month late but i have to add my $0.02.

 

it seems that those who solo a lot are quick to condemn their partners when they do rope up with someone for a climb that ends up turning into an epic. mito and i went up to shuksan a week ago to have a go at the NW couloir, but we f-ed up the approach by crossing a creek too early and getting into thicker bushwacking than we probably would have encountered had we not crossed the creek. we turned around too, but neither of us was blaming the other for the mistake... and neither of us misrepresented our experience to each other - we are both fully capable of doing what it is that we set out to do.

 

furthermore, mito is a climber with integrity and in my experience with her she has never misrepresented her ability. at beacon while doing some routes she told me what she was able to do and from there i gave her suggestions of what we should try. she handled herself very well - especially for someone who is very modest on their rock skills.

[DPS]

I just saw this and thought I would add my opinion since I have nothing better to do.

 

I climbed Price Glacier August 15, 2009. http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/542872/price-glacier-mt-shuksan.html I found the route to be fairly serious and exposed to significant objective hazards - the type of route where one should try to climb quickly. I applaud M for realizing she was having a bad day and turning around before anyone got into trouble. I know how it feels to not feel well yet not wanting to dissapoint or lose face in front of partners. Its not an easy decision to make but M made the right one.

 

Soloing the Price and leaving your partner to reverse that bushwack was a bad idea on your part. It would have taken you two days to get back to the car at the Nooksack. What was she supposed to do while waiting? Knit? Climbers don't leave partners merely to satisfy their own ambitions at the expense of the other partner.

[TMO]

Perhaps I am being overly dramatic, but I find the relationship between partners sacred. You share what could be life or death decisions and have each others back if the shit hits the fan. The required trust takes some time to develop.

 

I have had 2 bad experiences with last minute climbing partners. Both times I was pissed.... half at them and half at myself for not warming up on something easy first to sniff each other out. It is really a gamble to climb with someone you don't know (but I still do it occasionally). Things could go really good, really bad or somewhere in between.

 

I've been climbing with my brother for years, so we have a routine that requires very little discussion and our fitness level is very similar. Climbing with anyone else always requires more effort, even if they are an excellent, skilled climber.

 

 

[Choada_Boy]

Big scary route in a big scary area with a new partner that bails. And what's the big surprise, douchebag?