Mt. Shuksan - North Face

I've been busy getting ready for my Alaska trip picking up odds and ends as well as doing some outings with my friends at the Bushwhacker Climbing Club. The weather has been finicky in the Cascades the last couple of weeks, but this Thursday and Friday promised to be clear. I trolled cascadeclimbers.com for a partner, and Josh Kali responded with interest in doing Shuksan's North Face. This would be perfect - a bigger route requiring a bivy would be a good 'shakedown' before my big trip. Josh had made an attempt on the route earlier in the season, and I had skied the White Salmon. I had been battling a cold earlier in the week, but was feeling good and definitely stoked.

This climb offers a rare combination of experiences - a steep snow climb up a face with unrelenting angle and exposure, traversing of broad glaciers, a summit pyramid scramble, some narrow glacier traversing and steep glacier descending, culminating in a complete circumnavigation of a very large peak. I was ready for a 'full meal deal' of a climb!

After some last minute preparations Thursday morning (more related to Alaska than this trip), I picked up Josh a little after noon. We got on the road up towards the Mt. Baker ski area (where we would access the climb). On the way, Josh realized he had forgotten his snowshoes. D'oh! No worries, we could stop at REI in Bellingham and he could rent a pair. After taking care of this and consuming some great energy food (Wendy's), we headed down Mt. Baker Highway. It was clear out, and cool once we got to the pullout near White Salmon Lodge.

Shuksan basically stares you in the face on the whole approach. I agreed to carry most of our group gear; both in an effort to simulate the pack weight I plan on carrying up Mt. Hunter next month, and also as a last conditioner. Rather than traversing out from the ski area through the trees, Josh suggested descending a clear cut into the basin then climbing back out. This went great, and was really fast. Probably the better option for snowshoe travel.

We agreed to take a liesurely pace in approaching our bivy, a ridge below the north face with views down into White Salmon basin and Price Lake. I started to move more quickly, however, when I realized we'd be getting to the ridge around sunset; I wanted the chance to take pictures. This was one of the more scenic campsites I've had in the Cascades. It was beautiful, with clear skies and no wind. We were really excited. After melting some snow (which takes a lot longer with a Jetboil than a white gas stove) and dinner, we crammed into the tiny tent. There is just enough room for 2 climbers in there, and about nothing else.

Winds picked up around 3 or 4am, and I had fitful sleep. That said, I was out hard when I suddenly awoke to there being light on our tent. I had slept through the alarm on my damned altimeter watch; the thing was just too quiet. No worries, I thought. We got up and out, broke down camp, and were on the move by a little after 6am. A little later than I wanted to be moving, but oh well.

We headed towards the slopes of the north face. The line was pretty obvious - straight up, weaving around rock bands. Down low there was some exposed crevasse/bergschrund terrain. Josh wanted to cruise over it, but being the worrywort I insisted on roping up. We belayed a couple of pitches to be on the safe side, and were quickly past this area. Teams attempting the climb soon would likely move over this terrain unroped just fine. The setting was beautiful; I was really happy to be out here, with cool temps, hard snow for great step kicking, and in such a scenic spot.


Once we moved right out of the way of some seracs, the terrain steepened a bit. I'm really bad at estimating slope angle; it always looks less steep when I'm not on it, and seems steeper when I'm on it. I would estimate the slopes to be between 35 and 50 degrees most of the way up the face (about 2000' vertical from camp), and pretty sustained - there weren't any surprise flat spots. That said, we were on snowfields and able to safely climb unroped. I noticed that Josh was moving a little slower. My original estimate for us was 2 - 3 hours to move off the face, but I backed off the pace to avoid opening up gaps and it took us more like 4 hours. The views from the north face were stellar, with the peaks as far as the eye could see to the east, and the Price Glacier (I think?) down below us to the east.

The slope was steep enough that I didn't want to have a 'packs off' break if at all avoidable. It had been awhile since I'd eaten or Josh had been able to drink (he doesn't have a dorky water bottle holster like many other climbing fashion victims including myself). We paused, drank, and then drilled it to the top of the face, where we gained the upper portions of the Hanging Glacier. I was starting to get more concerned about pace, and suggested an extended food/water break here so that Josh could get more fueled up. We were both very psyched to be out here on this climb, having sneaked in on such a narrow weather window. We also had the place all to ourselves, with no other footprints or bootpaths (a rarity on moderate climbs in the Cascades).

Josh led the traversing of the upper Hanging Glacier over the col to the Crystal Glacier. The wind was furious up there and I could feel my lips getting hammered. Once we dropped down, it abated. This side of the mountain had a 'way out there' feel to it, even though we weren't more than a few hours from the car. The snow was virgin, and I enjoyed the challenge we faced navigating the glacier to avoid steep sections and cracks. Unfortunately, Josh's pace on the front of the rope had not picked up after our break. Since our itinerary was a circumnavigation, and I wasn't too keen on downclimbing the north face at this point, we were committed. I knew that we were on pace to be out most of the day and probably finishing in the dark. No worries - we were both familiar with the way in and out. Besides, the day was just too fine to be too preoccupied. As long as we maintained a steady pace, things were gonna be fine.

We picked a line down low to avoid some cracks while crossing over from the Crystal to the Sulphide Glacier; Mt. Baker was in the background the entire time, staring us in the face. Eventually our traverse brought us below the south facing aspect of the Summit Pyramid. The 'scramble' looked like it had some steep snow sections, and maybe a little bit of steep stuff near the top. At this point it was 2pm. I had grown a little weary of the slow pace that Josh was able to muster, but we were a team and I've had tough days in the mountains, too. We discussed, and Josh told me he didn't feel like he had the juice to climb it. I was a little disappointed, and considered asking him to hang out for an hour while I soloed up the thing and came down. Ultimately I didn't present this option; I thought asking him to sit around and wait for an hour would only increase his fatigue. It would also delay us further. Besides, we had already climbed a massive north face, and were on track to circumnavigate the whole mountain, being on 5 different glacier systems. I was pleased with just being out, and stayed positive. We agreed to forego the summit scramble and move on.

I could tell Josh was bummed out, and tried to cheer him up. This was definitely the most scenic day I'd had in the mountains in a while, and I was very happy to be up here on such an aesthetic route and new terrain. Reminding him of what a good day we were having in this regard helped keep spirits high as we descended down the Sulphide towards the Hourglass (a.k.a. Hell's Highway). A short downclimb of the steeper terrain brought us to the upper Curtis Glacier, #4 for the day (after the Hanging, Crystal, and Sulphide). There was some wild crevasse terrain down lower, and this narrow glacier again brough more fantastic scenery. At this point, I was on the front of the rope, and was not shy about giving Josh a few helpful 'tugs' on the uphill section to aid in our progress. We went up and over the lower Curtis, and made a short descent to the tiny notch where we could cross over to the upper White Salmon (or is it Winnie's Slide? I can't figure out exactly where this feature is located). Neat crevasse features and views to the lower Curtis glacier (which has almost as dramatic an appearance as the Hanging Glacier) were the highlights of this part of the trip.

As we began losing elevation, Josh and I had very different desired paces. We popped over to the upper White Salmon glacier. Steps traversed far to the west, and I was skeptical about where they led. I pushed for a more direct line of descent down the glacier. It was steep enough in places (35 degrees plus), much steeper than it had been earlier in the season when I ski toured here. I knew the steep parts would require some downclimbing, but figured that straight down would be better. Josh found the downclimbing tedious, and we didn't descend nearly as quickly as I wanted - I had to make sure not to pull on the rope going down (which made him uncomfortable) . I knew that he was tired and that pushing him to go faster would likely make the situation more stressful, so I did my best to keep a moderate pace.

After what seemed like hours, we were eventually able to turn around and plunge step down. At this point it was late in the day, and the snow was really soft. The bottom of the glacier had steep exposed rock, and we had to traverse into the line of fire of the Hanging Glacier to complete the descent. We hauled ass and eventually were down! Finally! Strapping the snowshoes on, we made our way down into the cirque for the walk out.

We reached what we thought was the clear cut for the 'descent' (which actually required about 500' of climbing). It darkened, and after awhile it became clear this was a drainage but not the drainage. I was pretty worked from being out all day, and ready to be back at the car. I pushed for us to continue to ascend and then traverse to the ski area, rather than descend and search in the dark for the 'right' drainage. Nothing like a little bushwhacking in the dark to wrap up a good day of Cascades climbing.

Overall, I had a really good day. Josh's technical game was tight, and with a little more conditioning he will be a great partner for big challenging routes in the mountains. Thanks for partnering up, Josh!