Mount Shuksan via Sulphide Glacier Climb, North Cascades National Park, Washington

After spending five days rock climbing in Mazama, WA, we were ready to shift gears a bit and focus more on a mountaineering objective that involved some glacier travel. With much of the North Cascades National Park closed due to fire activity, our best option was the Fisher Chimneys on Mount Shuksan. At least that was our best option until the forecast called for 6-12” of snow on Mount Shuksan the night before we were set to start (lower elevations got 0.75” of rain). Because of this forecast, we decided to change our approach to Shuksan’s Sulphide Glacier, which would avoid the 4th class rock and snow scrambling that the Fischer Chimneys would have required. 

On the day of our approach, we met at the Shannon Ridge Trailhead, north of Baker Lake in Concrete, WA. We were the only car at the trailhead, which we hoped didn’t mean we were the only ones foolish enough to attempt to summit Shuksan in the conditions we had. We were about to find out. We headed up the trail and after 5 miles and 3700 ft of elevation gain, we made it to the campsites that are right before the glacier starts. We settled in for the night with plans to summit the next day.

The next morning, we woke up around 6 am and got ready for the day’s objective. We put on our crampons and harnesses and roped up because the first part of the day would involve glacier travel. We headed up Sulphide Glacier and found that there was certainly at least 6” of fresh snow, if not more. We had originally planned to climb the Southeast Ridge of Shuksan, but with the snow, we decided to climb up the Class 3 gullies instead. When we got to the bottom of the summit pyramid, our class 3 gullies were filled with a mix of snow, ice, rock, and running water. It made the ascent of these gullies much spicier than I imagine they would be completely dry and without any snow. At times it felt like we were climbing a waterfall. The rock was quite slippery, and we had to be careful about where we put our hands so we weren’t putting them in running water. 

Right as we were approaching the top, a very dark rain cloud found us, and we found ourselves in a downpour accompanied by strong winds. Being at the very top of an exposed mountain in a dark cloud is not my favorite thing so we very quickly transitioned to getting ready to start rappelling down. After about 10 minutes of heading down, the rain did stop and let us catch our breaths. We were able to rappel down most of the summit block, passing some other groups that were either still heading up to the summit or had aborted their summit attempts due to weather and the condition of the gullies. 

Once we made it back to the glacier, it was easy walking back to camp the same way we had come that morning. Once back in camp, it started raining in the late afternoon. The forecast was for 0.5-0.75” of rain that night. I think the forecast may have underestimated how much rain we got. And that rain turned to sleet and then snow by the morning. We had brought our three season tent, where, while it remained standing, we found ourselves quite wet the next morning. The precipitation continued through mid morning. We were hoping to do some crevasse rescue practice that day, but with the weather, we were only able to spend about an hour going over an example and then decided to bail as the weather was getting worse again. We started descending in hail, but it eventually turned to rain, and we quickly found ourselves totally drenched. We passed some people heading up to the campsite who were extremely wet, and I did not envy them starting their trip with every piece of gear being that wet. Five quick miles later, we found ourselves back at our van. We were ready for a dry, warm night in the van. We said goodbye to Tino and started our long drive back to Colorado. 

Overall, I really enjoyed climbing Mount Shuksan. We got a true mountaineering experience with the weather we were given. This trip made me excited to try some bigger, glaciated mountains on our own in the future. 

Total Stats: 15 miles, 6500 ft of elevation gain.