[TR] Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimneys 7/13/2014

[Lisa_D]

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimneys

 

Date: 7/12/2014 - 7/13/2014

 

Trip Report:

Mt. Shuksan has always loomed large in my imagination because I grew up skiing and hiking all around it. This was my fourth attempt on Mt. Shuksan and my second summit of it. I'd always wanted to climb it from via the Fisher Chimneys, because the route tours many of the mountain's complex and beautiful aspects that you can see from the ski area. I got rained off the Chimneys seven years ago (has it really been that long?!) and finally got around to heading back this weekend.

 

Short conditions summary:

The approach trail was tedious, but conditions on the mountain itself were perfect. Go and get it!

 

Longer conditions report - will change quickly because of the heat:

The hike in and out from Lake Ann was hot and tedious, with some post holing, high creek crossings, and snow on much of the trail. It's melting out quickly, though. Tip for finding the entrance to the chimneys: the climbers trail leads past Lake Ann and comes to an engraved, wooden signpost that marks the entrance to the North Cascades National Park. From this signpost, continue slightly left and gently up to access the "grassy knoll" that Beckey describes. It looks a little improbable, because it climbs a small 3rd class cliffband with a stream flowing out of it. We made the mistake of going down/right to skirt the Lower Curtis Glacier. That added hours and pain to our approach. Take a little time after the signpost to find the entrance to the knoll. You can see rap slings at the top of the 3rd class stuff when you get close enough - that is a sign you're on the right track! We ended up climbing some sketch to get up to the chimneys and I was not so happy.

 

The chimneys are in excellent shape. And yes, the yellow spray-painted arrow is visible! The snow tongue leading to the entrance of the chimneys was a little spicy. I had to downclimb/slide down a vertical snow cliff that was about 7 feet tall, but the landing was safe. Once you're in the chimneys, you can stay away from snow the whole way and it is easy scrambling.

 

We were very happy to arrive at our beautiful campsite just below Winnie's slide after a long, hot day of approaching. Electrolyte drink mixes, salty crackers, dehydrated bananas, shot bloks, and instant miso soup were all really helpful on this trip. There are several dry tent and bivy sites right below and above Winnie's slide. We camped just below Winnie's slide (literally 50 meters from its base) There was running water in the evening and a flat space for our megamid plus a few other tents. We had the place to ourselves.

 

Our summit climb was fun and beautiful. We awoke at 4:00 AM, were climbing by 5:00 AM, and summited at 8:00 AM. After a leisurely time on the summit, we were back at camp by 11:00 AM and down to the car by 4:30 PM. We brought crampons but never put them on. Winnie's slide has great steps and ice axe holes in it. The Upper Curtis Glacier is in excellent shape and was easily navigated. Some ice is starting to show through right above Winnies Slide, but there's plenty of easy snow around it. There is a scary, thin-looking snow bridge before Hells Highway but it's easily avoided by going up a slightly steeper snowfield to its left. Great steps the whole way.

 

The Sulphide Glacier is very smooth. We arrived at the base of the summit pyramid hoping to climb the SE arete, but there were three parties already on it. They were all really nice and reasonable people, but we decided not to wait in line because it was going to be a very hot hike out. Gully it was! We were up and down the gully before most of them summited. The summit gully is half melted out: you can climb decent snow for the bottom half and 3rd-4th class rock for the upper half. There are great steps on the snow and two sections that were a little melted out: an icy hole by rock and a small bergscrund. I called them "sketchy" but my husband was totally calm about them and told me to quit my whining. We went up the gully at 7:30 AM and down at 8:30 AM. It was already quite sloppy when we were down climbing. Our descent was uneventful and fun until we reached the bottom of the Chimneys. From there, it was a hot slog to the car, made worse by the fact that we didn't have quite enough food. Thankfully, we got to go to my parents' house in Ferndale for an amazing dinner and some much-needed rest after our climb.

 

Pictures:

 

sweltering approach hike:

 

Snow tongue at chimney entrance; sketchier than it looked and changing quickly:

 

Climbers heading up Winnie's Slide to their bivy

 

Sunset from camp:

 

Sunrise from route:

 

Supermoonset and Mt. Baker

 

Upper Curtis Glacier and Hells Highway

 

Upper Curtis Glacier

 

First view of the Summit Pyramid:

 

Summit Gully from below:

 

Mountain Madness party on the ridge:

 

summit shot:

 

my #1 climbing partner on the summit:

 

North Cascades from Sulphide Glacier:

 

obligatory "I climbed that!" picture from the ski area on the way home:

 

Gear Notes:

Instant miso soup, white hats, sunscreen.

 

Approach Notes:

Lots of post-holing and deep stream crossings on the Lake Ann trail. It is melting out fast, though.

[curtveld]

Awesome! Next time I go up there, I want to do that Winnie's Slide bivy that you did.

[montynet]

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing.