[TR] Mount Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier-SE Rib 6/6/2016

[brokenhalo]

Trip: Mount Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier-SE Rib

 

Date: 6/6/2016

 

Trip Report:

It was a gorgeous weekend on Shuksan, and the first time Kelly and I had done this project. We arrived midday from PDX and could not secure a camping permit until Sunday. We ended up stretching it over 3 days. Sat hiked to camp at the boundary (4600'), Sunday to High camp at (7500') and Summit (and out) on Monday the 6th. We were given good advice to camp high around 7500' instead of the 6500' flats. We needed the time, as the SE Rib (and raps) took us longer than we originally planned. The Rib took a little over 3 hrs and we landed on the summit at 10am. Other reports seemed correct to call this low 5th class, with a few 5.6 moves. We ended up leading it in sections and it took about 5-6 to complete. A couple of the sections we were able to scramble comfortably unprotected. I was very happy to have packed my rock shoes, having not been on much exposed rock before. We had a set of nuts, a couple cams, runners, slings and a 60m rope. The rap stations were interesting but functional. There was one at the end of the rib route dropping into the gully. There was another directly off the summit block. We opt'd to down climb about 100' in the SW direction so we could connect 2 rap stations on the west side of the gully. Then we didn't see another lower than us and ended up climbing across the gully and hoping back onto the East side in order to connect another 2. That allowed us to drop onto a boot pack at the lower gully just where it starts to widen. The anchors were fine but required an inspection, and in one case addition of replacement pro. Taking a couple pieces of anchor building material could be valuable, along with a rap ring. We had thought to go directly into the steep snow climb after the first two raps, but it was 10:30am and the gully was really soft. It was very hard to get a purchase with the axe and crampons. Before the sun hits would have been a much better time to climb up/down. So we finagled our way across and back onto the rock. I am curious if anyone knows if there is a rap station down further on the West side that we didn't see or another higher on the East side so that a group could stay on one ridge or the other. I imagine these change season to season, but it feels like there was a more graceful way to do it that what we did. Haha. Another lady that we spoke to had climbed the gully the day before us and said it was pretty good, but to go very early. We had great consolidated snow when we were near the bottom of the gully and booting the last little bit was comfortable. We made it back to high camp by afternoon and back to the car in the late eve. Overall it was a fantastic climb, and challenging for me. A little spicy at times, but a great partner to work through it with. We were grateful to the Mountain for a successful summit and gained a new appreciation for the caliber of climbers in the North Cascades area.

 

Gear Notes:

60 m rope, slings, small pro nuts/cams, glacier gear, axe, crampons