Shannon Ridge is great, but the Mount Shuksan trail beyond the boundary marker is even better!  There is a pass 400' above the end of the Shannon Ridge trail with spectacular views.  Be sure to put in the extra effort because pictures are not sufficient for the spectacle.

There is no water on last three miles of the Shannon Ridge trail, but there are snowfields at the pass above.  Clean snow is safe.  I scraped away the top layer, and scraped piles of snow that I put into my new hydration bladder that has an extra-large port.  The warm water remaining in the bladder melted the snow quickly, and I had a full bladder of cold water.  Perfect!

The Shannon Ridge road is better than most TH roads.  The trail is easy for the first 2.5 miles.  The next half mile is steep and full of roots.  When you reach the ridge, the final mile is up and down.  The pass trail is steep and rocky, but worth the extra effort.

There are ripe blueberries everywhere on the ridge.  There are many species of wildflowers blooming.  And the butterflies are abundant.  It doesn't get much better.

About five groups of climbers summited Shuksan yesterday.  I captured two of them approaching the summit in the afternoon.  I met them on their way back to the TH in the evening.  I'm not a climber, but I think I might be if I were 50 years younger...

Sunset was beautiful last evening. 

The first time I hiked Shannon Ridge, I vowed to return and go higher.  I am extremely glad that I remembered my previous decision.

Stats: 8.2 miles, 2,900' of elevation gain.  A fantastic, moderate hike.

My wife Pauline has always wanted to climb Mt Shuksan. A couple of weeks ago, we were on a WTA weeklong logout in the Pasayten Wilderness that required a 16-mile hike each way to/from our camp. We figured that, after that workout, we were in as good shape as a mid-60s couple is going to get.

So we packed up for Shuksan. We decided the best route for us would be north on the Shannon Ridge trail and north on the Sulphide Glacier to the summit pyramid. As rock climbers, we had no desire to ascend the standard third-class gully up the pyramid (with other people likely above and below us). We opted instead for the next easiest choice, the low 5th-class SE ridge of the pyramid.

There's a lot of helpful information about climbing Shuksan on the Internet, including WTA trip reports and the North Cascades National Park website. I'll try to give some extra pointers here.

(1) To summit Shuksan, we needed a high camp on the Sulphide Glacier. This is a limited access area: To camp, you have to get a permit from the Nat'l Park Service. There are a limited number of groups allowed there at any given time. If you're heading north on I-5 / Rte 20, the best place to get a permit is the ranger station at Sedro Woolley. Check their website to find out what time they open ... then arrive early. Also, make contingency plans for a different climb in case the permits are all issued. (We brought enough food to sleep for two nights, not knowing in advance how long we'd be out.)

(2) We did not adequately appreciate that the Shannon Ridge trail goes up a ridge. After passing two streams in the first few minutes of hiking, we encountered no water for a number of hours until we neared the glacier. We started out with a liter apiece so we had some dry hiking. Do-able but not optimal.

(3) The trail is in great condition except for a short section where a seasonal stream (dry when we were there) has adopted the trail bed. There, the trail is in a trench with many tree roots to step over.

(4) There are a couple of nice campsites just outside (south of) the park boundary if you can't get a permit for the Sulphide Glacier. There are some tiny tarns or large puddles there that might be a source of water.

(5) After hiking north across the park boundary, the whole area becomes populated almost exclusively by mountain hemlocks, with occasional Pacific silver firs. The formerly glaciated scenery gets beautiful as you go through "the notch," a large break shown on the NPS map online.

(6) When we were there, a stream was gushing out of the bottom of the glacier. Wildflowers, ferns, and grasses grew all around the stream as it flowed downhill. Quite pretty! We refilled our water there, maybe 15 minutes before reaching the glacier.

(7) Some trip reports (on other websites) from Aug 2018 say there's no water above 6,000' at the bottom of the glacier. If so, that must have been during a cold spell. When we were on the Sulphide, there was plenty of running water at almost every elevation.

(8) To be specific, we camped on the glacier at around 6,400', a few hundred paces north the upper privy. (Exact UTM coordinates of the two privies are on the NPS map online). We found water gushing off rocks near the west side of the glacier at about a 10-minute walk north of our tent. Water=https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%3Fq%3D48.8045617752232%2C-121.611177530253&data=02%7C01%7C%7C5cd7e1120e474b5144e508d60d1c4427%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636710812426570974&sdata=PFnbt%2BpnS0u%2FleKVdkDRoAOfF5Rv3x4NcVLvADxjA48%3D&reserved=0

The flow was robust in the afternoon. We filled collapsible containers when we made camp, not knowing if water would be flowing the next morning.

Skipping ahead, under sunny skies, we found water here and there higher up on the glacier flowing over about 25% of the rock outcroppings sticking out. We didn't expect this, so we carried 3 liters each for the climbing day and that was sufficient without refilling.

(9) We're not fast anymore, up or down. We woke up early and headed upward with crampons and headlamps at 4am. Climbing in late August, I assumed we'd encounter (a) bare icy patches, and (b) numerous crevasses. We didn't. There was ice here and there but we could easily avoid it. And higher up, going up the west side of the glacier, there were a small number of crevasses that we could either avoid or jump over or cross on snow bridges. (The farther east on the glacier you get, the more crevasses there are until it becomes impassable.) We wore full crevasse rescue gear but fortunately had no use for it.

(10) Teams of younger people occasionally caught up with and passed us. Wow young people are fast!

(11) Where the glacier meets the summit pyramid, we assumed as usual that there would be a potentially difficult bergschrund. There wasn't. We doffed our glacier gear and most of our baggage and cached it in a stable spot. Then we donned our rock gear.

(12) We had a light alpine rack of 6 small-to-mid sized pieces of protection. We also had several single and two quad-sized dyneema runners. We brought one 7mm x 60m rope. And rock shoes. After scrambling up to the SE ridge of the summit pyramid, the route to the top is straightforward: Just follow the ridge with its ups and downs. If I were to do it again, I'd probably bring less pro or no pro except for a couple of quad-sized runners. The only protection I placed was to show the direction I took, plus looping some rock for belays.

(13) If you want to know what it feels like on the summit, just go there. :)

(14) On the way down the pyramid, we did one short-ish rappel and then ran into a backlog of a guided group of 11. We bypassed them by simply walking the rest of the way down the rock, not on their rappel route.

(15) After switching back to our glacier gear, we found running water on the rocks to our left, just 50' below where we began our descent. We slowly headed down to our camp at 6,400'. Meanwhile, the younger people all passed us again, going twice our speed. I think we were first out of our tent in the morning and last into our tent in the evening. We were beat and didn't even consider hiking down to the car that evening, which some other people did. Two nights on the Sulphide for us. We couldn't beat the view!

via Sulphide Glacier and SE Rib on a 2-day trip. 

A group of Everett Mountaineers set out on an adventure on Mount Shuksan. We had a full alpine experience - hiked, camped in snow, crossed crevasses, and topped it off with a few scenic rock pitches to the summit.Huge thanks to our volunteer instructors for leading the trip and for carrying the extra rock gear to help students get the most out of the experience. Love every moment with this group!

Overview 

• GPX
• Stats
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Camp options
• Gully scramble vs. rock climb
• Route description
• Group gear
• Personal gear
• Weather

GPX

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/lNkOr6RMqTfgVkoNKDqllklR

Stats

Ascend: 6,544' over 7.5mi

Day 1: TH - camp

8am 

Sedro Woolley Ranger Station (810 WA-20, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284)

Our climber leader secured an overnight permit for a group of 6 during the lottery(?) in March, so we arrived at the time when the ranger station opened just to pick it up. If you don't have a permit secured, you can walk up for a chance to get a permit the day of. We were told by rangers that the normal driving route to the trailhead was closed (due to a down tree??), so we had to take a bit detour on the backroad to get there. 

We double checked that everyone packed their assigned group gear, and consolidated cars. We left our cars at a park n ride about 5 mins away, since we were not allowed to park overnight at the ranger station. 

10am 

Shannon Ridge Trailhead

A small parking lot that can fit 10-15 cars, and has a bathroom and bear proof trash cans. Remember do display either Northwest Forest Pass or America the Beautiful pass in the cars' windshield. 

10:30am

Start!!

After putting on mountaineering boots, gaiters, and rain jackets, we were stoked to start our hike to the camp, in a little rain! We were planning to take it easy since we had plenty of daylight to hike to the high camp. It's a beautiful hike with blooming flowers, salmon berries (sour but juicy!) and some cool breeze from the river that runs along. A few streams running across/next to the trail that can you can filter water from. Trail was easy to follow in the snow-free part. 

First 2mi (1,000' gain) was relatively flat, a warm-up but still a good exercise with a full overnight pack (45+ lb). Most of us used trekking poles to balance the weight, especially in the steeper part later. Then switchbacks began and trail became more rooted and muddy in places. 

Leaving the trail, our journey continued onto a loose terrain and became steeper. Still some obvious dirt paths to follow. Good thing that every step became more productive, in terms of elevation gain. Boulder hopping and loose scree scramble added some exciting variety to our trek. Needed to look out for carins or check gpx track every once in a while to make sure we were on the route. We went a little higher and to the right than supposed to, but quickly backtracked and hopped on boulders to correct it. 

A few relatively flat snowfields to cross but there were well beaten boot track. With the afternoon sun hitting the snow, the path became more slushy. I lost my footing once and slipped, but was able to quickly stop with my poles ... and palms lol. Also a good time to put on sunscreen and glacier glasses.

4pm

High camp (6,500')

Scouting for our objective!! It looked so close yet far. Looking forward to a gorgeous day tomorrow and hoping the weather holds.  

We toured around the base camp to find the toilet (where the highest ridge of snow meets the rock ridge) and evaluate different spots to make camp. The toilet supposedly has a great view of Mt Baker on a clear day. We got smoky and some whiteout view today. Such a luxury to have in the wilderness! Be sure to check with ranger before your trip that the toilet is open, otherwise blue bags would be required. We had a few camping spots to choose from: dirt / snow next to the rock ridge, and snow next to the snow ridge. We were set on the last option since it's (1) closer to a stream for water filtering, (2) on a less exposed flat ground next to a snow ridge and a rock ridge for protection, and (3) closer to the ascent boot track. We set up tents, and shoveled a nice kitchen for dinner. We heard a few rock/ice(?) fall. 

We also ran into a big (20? people) guided group that were practicing roped travel and self arrest. For a while, we could hear people yelling 'climbing' and 'climb on' but saw nothing but a whiteout. 

When we planned the group gear, we only knew about the running water at the low camp and had no clue about the high camp. So we packed a few collapsible water bottles, and planned to carry filtered water from the low camp (up 300' to the high camp). Before we hiked in, we found out about the running water at the high camp, which would save us from carrying weights or melting snow. We found a stream on the other side of the high snow ridge (go up the ridge, and drop ~50' to a small rock island). We had 4 filters (2 squeeze, 1 pump, 1 gravity) going on at the same time, and were able to quickly fill up our water bottles and water reservoirs, which was more than enough for today's dinner, and tomorrow's breakfast and ascent. We had a variety of sit pads that worked out well - actual sit pads, sleeping pads, and inflatable pillow.

Knowing that there's no other group attempting the summit from this camp tomorrow, we were able to sleep in a little bit. The rain and snow forecasted for the day before and today AM must have kept many groups off the mountain. Our leader set the our late alpine start time at 4am tomorrow. Time to pack for tomorrow and take out the things we wouldn't need. We all rolled into tents sometime 7-8pm after packing and enjoying some sunset view. 

Some routine that works for me personally: (1) leave headlamp, ready-to-eat breakfast, and chest harness (w/ biner) in the pockets of my puffy inside the tent, so I can access them as soon as I roll out of my sleeping bag next morning. (2) Leave boots and gaiters outside the tent. (3) Plant ice ax into snow, and leave crampons and helmet nearby. If we set up the rope the night before, have these next to the rope and Texas prusik on the rope. Basically, don't leave anything I can do tonight until tomorrow morning. Putting on crampons and attach yourself to the rope can take a surprisingly long time when it's dark and your fingers are cold (too inflexible w/ gloves, but too cold w/o).

To save space in my pack, I was trying to use a 3/4 length sleeping pad and my puffy as a pillow inside my sleeping bag. It almost worked out, but I did wake up in the middle of the night feeling cold. But debating between wearing the puffy or leaving it there as a pillow, I decided to it's more important to keep my head than my upper body warmer. I could've brought another puffy to wear.

Day 2: camp - summit - TH

4:15am

Leaving camp for summit.

We woke up at 3am, and made hot breakfast/coffee. Everything felt like a slow motion when your fingers were cold. With headlamp, helmet, crampons, ice ax, harness, chest harness, Texas prusik and rope on, we started walking at 4:15am. The first 400' leaving the camp was the going straight up a steep and icy snow slope, the most heart pumping part of the ascent for me. Boot paths from yesterday were gone, but my rope lead was amazing for navigating in the dark and kicking a new path for us. Snow was not too firm to plant ice ax in, so it's not hard to keep balance while you keep steps. Everyone was kicking the steps deeper to make it easier for the people following. He's aiming for a spot between 2 rock islands where we then turned right to traverse along a ridge. Such a relief from this point. We frequently checked the gpx track from last weekend to make sure we were on track. We did traverse a bit higher toward the ridge and walked down as soon as we found out. 

Took a quick break in a flat area at 7,500' at 5:30am, after 1h15m of walking. It's a relatively safe place where you can unrope to find a bathroom (zero privacy though lol). Some beautiful sunrise view here, despite it being hazy. Headlamp was no longer needed. We could see a group of 5 people coming up from the Fisher Chimney route in the far distance to the left. Snow was firm and icy here, and I love the crunchy sound of crampons hitting penetrating the snow. Some huge cracks in the distance. 

Stepping over these deep cracks was the most nerve wrecking yet exciting highlight of the climb. Not a big a concern in the early AM when snow was firm. We made sure to only cross when the rope was tight (when the climbers on the rope in front of and/or behind me were far enough away from me that there's no slack in the rope), and to yell 'crossing' to make everyone aware of its happening. I initially coiled the rope in my hands to keep it tight, but learned that I'd only be dragged if the climber were to fall into the crevasse. I should have instead walked far enough to let my body keep the rope tight. There were about 3 - 5 crossings like this on the way up to the summit. On the way down, when snow was more melted, we were extra carefully when crossing. 

We we reached the based of the summit pyramid, we hand coiled the ropes to shorten it as the following climbers approached here. We unroped, and removed crampons and ice ax. Didn't stash any gear since we didn't know if we'd end up here after rappel. 

Some class 3 on the way to 1st rock pitch. Some route finding was required. Our 2 instructors went for different directions to find an anchor. 

We got a gully where our leader free climbed to the top, and threw a rope down, so students can prusik into and climb with protection. Not exposed. But one big move in the middle of the gully. With 3 instructors in the group, they always made sure one went first and one went last, whether it's climbing or rappelling. 

MY FAVORITE PART OF THE CLIMB started here. We climbed 4 pitches of nice 5.4 rocks. All anchors were big boulders, and cordelette and quad runners were frequently used to set up the anchor. It's windy in the middle of the pitches, and hard to hear the climbing commands. But wind calmed down as we climbed higher. One free soloist, and a few other groups took the same route or something next to it. I didn't have many pictures because I was focused on my moves. Climb wasn't steep and had lots of good handholds and footholds. IT'S SO GORGEOUS OMG!! You'll find an iconic pink tri-cam that's stuck in a crack at the beginning of pitch 4, which was easy to clip in or even as a handhold LOL. 

After 5 pitches, we were left with some class 2 'walk' to the summit. Yay!!!!!!!

10:25am

1st group summited. (11:35am last group summited). There's a summit register you can sign. 

11:40am 

Started descending from summit.

Many rappel stations that were already set up with webbings (with bright colors, easy to find on boulders) and rap rings, for ~60m rope. We didn't have to leave any gear (webbing, ring, cordelette) behind. Definitely bring ropes at least 60m long to take advantage of the existing rap anchors. 70m rope was even better IMO. We had 70m and 80m ropes, and alternated between rope lengths, depending on where we found the next rap anchors. 

We rappelled most of the way to the bottom of the gully, because it felt safer and not everyone in our group were comfortable with down scrambling some class 4. We could see the first rap webbing at the summit. We scrambled a short rock section with some exposure right off the summit to that. Be aware of the climbers scrambling up the gully when you rappel and avoid knocking down rocks on them. Raps were mostly straightforward and we could see where we were going for. I tried to lean back and keep my legs perpendicular to the rock face, but still pendulum sometimes.

After 2 raps, the 3rd rap webbing looked far - too far to directly rap from here and too short to set up an additional rap station in between (not knowing if there's good anchor). Our instructors lowered us down to a flat area where we could downclimb to the 3rd rap, while they downclimbed a bunch. I was attached to the rope with a figure 8 on the bight. It's like being lowered on a top-rope situation, plus that I'd face in downclimb like a spider. I was asked to lean back as if I was rappelling and it took me a while a get used not holding onto anything with my hands. 

5 raps left us with a short scramble through some slab and loose scree to the snow. Looking up at the gully that we just descended from, it's more loose and slabby toward the top. Glad that we rock climbed it, which was more fun and scenic. This short scramble was the most sketchy one I've done in my climbs. I was uncertain about my footing when I was to take a big step. My instructors literally guided me through each handhold and foothold. They literally grabbed my foot/hand and put it in a crack and told me that I wouldn't be going anywhere lol. Super thankful for their guidance and patience! The rest of the scramble was loose (sometimes wet) dirt. Ice ax could help balance. 

We ended up on the dirt island where we unroped. We roped up again, and put on crampons. It's a mix of following deep boot track and plunge stepping on the softened snow. Crevasses seemed wider and the snow on the edges were weakened after being hit by the sun. Be careful and make sure to keep the rope tight. 

3:50pm

Back to camp.

Took down tents and packed. Didn't see any other groups. We filtered enough water yesterday that could last the rest of the hike out. At 4:35pm, we left the camp. My group were cruising the rest of the trip (maybe they all wanted pizza??), so I had to keep up. The boot track that we followed yesterday was more slushy. 

7:10pm

Back to car.

We celebrated our successful summit attempt at at a restaurant called Train Wreck in Burlington, 1h30m from trailhead. Pretty happy to find out that they had a happy hour started since 4pm. The 

Camp options

*One group from 7/2017 camped at 7,600’ (“large, flat area, no water”)

Gully scramble vs. rock climb

At the base of the summit pyramid, you have the options of scrambling up a loose gully and climbing some nice/easy rock. Regardless of how you ascend, you will mostly descend by rappelling. 

Route description

The Mountaineers

https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/mt-shuksan-sulphide-glacier

Summit post

https://www.summitpost.org/sulphide-glacier/155524

Peak bagger

http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=1630

Group gear

Group of 6

(2) MSR Windburner

(3) 8oz fuel canister

(2) squeeze water filters

Pump filter

4L gravity filter 

(3) 2L collapsible water bottles (for carrying water from stream to the camp)

(3) 60/70m ropes

(3) sets of pro

Shovel (for making tent platform)

InReach / PLB

2 way radio (for communicating in the windy rock pitches)

Personal gear

Climbing:

Helmet

Harness

Locking (4+) and non locking biners

Glacier climb - crampons, ice axe w/ leash, chest harness w/ a biner, Texas prusik, picket w/ double runner and biner, prusik (for handline)

Rock climb / rappel - pear shape biner, belay device, belay gloves, nut tool, hollowblock, double runner, cordelette, rappel rings, webbings, personal anchor

Rock climb lead: cams, nuts, double and quad runners

Clothing:

Hat

Glacier glasses

Gloves

Puffy

Shell

Mountaineering boots

Gaiters

Extra socks, shirts, pants

Camping:

Sleeping bag

Sleeping pad

Tent w/ footprint or bivy

Other:

Headlamp w/ extra batteries

Sunscreen

Chapstick

Water bladder/bottle

Map/track loaded to GPS/phone

Food & snacks

Utensils 

First aid kit

Toilet paper 

Trash bags

Optional:

Power bank

Camera

Bug spray

Trekking poles

Sit pad

Pillow

Rock shoes / approach shoes (for rock leading)

Down booties (at the camp)

Weather

Mountain forecast

https://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-Shuksan/forecasts/2782

Below are the forecast for the 2 days we went at 3,281', 6, 562' and 9,128'.

Day trip to Mt. Shuksan via the Sulphide Glacier. The Shannon ridge trail is in great shape, snow free for the most part. There's lingering snow around the National Park boundary near 5400 feet. Snow is pretty consistent once you get to the ridge above Shannon's Ridge where the trail ends. The glacier is in great shape, no open bridges along the north east aspect. It was super busy in the summit pyramid, around 40 people trying to summit at once. Many were avoiding the gully and trying the ridge route. We chose the gully up and down and didn't rappel and tried to climb quickly to avoid potential rock fall hazard from other parties. Rangers were out asking for permits and a group of 6 got some pep talk as I was resting near the rangers.

Gpx file below.

Last weekend eight of us climbed Shuksan via Sulphide glacier, 7 of 8 climbed pyramid to the top.

Started from Seattle around 7am, road to trail is excellent and passable for all vehicles. Trail in good condition, we met two rangers who checked our permit. They said they dug toiled at 6200 and wished us having fun. Around 4200 we hit first snow, trail is wet and muddy at some parts but overall condition is good. Weather was foggy and we didn't see much around us. Bowl travers was easy, snow was slushy and easy to go. After the travers we climbed couple more snow hills and put camp around 6200. We found few more tents there it was guided group, they came at Friday and were waiting good weather for summit. 6200 is good spot because of it flat, has toilet and water. Next morning we woke up at 4:30, weather was clear and great. Started from camp at 6 am. I wish we knew how much time it will take, so please start early, 6 am is late. From camp to pyramid just plain glacier walk, no crevasses on the way and beautiful view around. When we came to pyramid we have seen how many people there. Two or three groups was going down, only one group of two people who climbed by ridge but not by gully was successful with summit. We stoped at pyramid base for decision, we understood that we can not climb ridge because of not all people comfortable with 4-5 class same time we can not climb gully because another group just started and they can trigger rock fall at any time. Some people suggested go back since it was pretty late already and other group not even climbed half... We decided to go closer to the gully to see how it looks from below. To get to the gully you need to cross big and steep snow patch, we used few pickets on that part, why not use it if we brought it. We set at the gully base and seen that for some reason group before us decided to turn around, maybe because of time maybe some other reason. They rappel down and we started climb. I was leading gully climb and climbed it first 60 m, I put few protection points in between. If you comfortable with 3-4 class climb without protection you can skip it but there is no right for fall. There are few well built anchors for rappel, I tied tope to the rappel ring and signaled that next can climb. Bring 60 or 70 meter rope, that's aprox distance between rappel points, of course you can build your own but there are not many spots for solid anchor. When second came I started next pitch with new rope. There two more snow patches in the gully that you can climb, it help little bit. We put three ropes all the way up to the summit. Climbed it one by one and then rappeled down. On the rappel rope stuck few times and our last climbed up again to free it up. This was we started from pyramid to the camp only at 5 am. Reached camp, packed it and headed back to trailhead. As I said where was excellent and all the way we seen Baker and beautiful sunset.
Great technical climb and great experience!