A group of 8 climbed Mt Shuksan. The summit pyramid is in great shape for a snow climb. Snow started about 500 feet above the trailhead, but it's melting fast. There were some potentially dangerous moats from meltwater running under the snow. 

It's wet loose avy season, and a number of massive cornices visible from the route had failed by the time we hiked out. The route goes through several debris fields from previous avalanches. In a word, be careful. Conditions are changing fast, but there should be a good trail broken in above the ridge by now. The summit is pretty heavily corniced as well. 

I had an amazing climb up Mount Shuksan (via the Shannon Ridge Trail and the Sulphide Glacier) with Mount Baker Mountain Guides. We camped around 6700' and the next morning we were roped up and moving by 4am. The Summit Pyramid is tricky and technical but our fantastic guide Mike lead us through it without incident. We had the summit to ourselves, soaking in the views that stretched on forever. Rappelling back down to the glacier was one of the highlights for me, along with being high up in the North Cascades for sunset and sunrise.

Not a lot of Mt. Shuksan trail reports on WTA, but we wanted to post anyways and document for posterity. After 3 days on Mount Baker attempting a summit attempt and doing glacier travel training, we headed over to Mt. Shuksan, hoping for a break from the snow and rain we got hit with on Baker. The break in the weather lasted until we started on the Shannon Ridge Trail - as soon as we started hiking with full packs, the rains started. The trail starts mild along an old logging road, and ripening salmonberries are abundant right now. After the long straight stretch ended and the switchbacks began, the rains really picked up, and the trail turned into a creek, with constant mud and water running down. The trail here is similar to Snoqualmie Mountain, and we were thankful for our experience on that mountain to prepare us for this. Snow starts at about 4,700 feet, but as with everywhere now, it's melting fast down low. As we made our way past the sign marking entry into North Cascades National Park and up and over the ridge where the first amazing views are to be had (or would be if visibility wasn't so poor), the wind and rain really picked up. Our goal was to make it to the Sulphide Glacier and camp there, but visibility dropped to next to nothing, and so we found an area to camp just above the first pocket glaciers at 5,000 feet. We spent the next day resting and practicing crevasse rescue and began our summit attempt at 1:30 AM on the following day. After several days of dicey weather, we awoke to crystal clear skies and stars, with the dull glow of Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle in the distance. Roped up, we made our way onto the glacier and past the normal campsites. There were 4 other groups heading up that morning, and by 3:45 as first light made it's appearance, headlamps began to go off, and we enjoyed an amazing sunrise coming over Baker, the Shuksan Peaks, and the entire North Cascades. With the heavier snow this year, we didn't have to go around any crevasses and this made for a relatively easy trek through Hells Highway to the Summit Pyramid. The Gully is still almost fully covered in snow and ice and makes for a more technical climb - definitely not just a "rock scramble" right now. Other climbers were going up the gully, ice axes dagger in, without too much trouble, as the snow and ice were pretty secure. Half way up, we began to use pickets and the anchors fixed to the rocks to provide a bit more of a safe ascent. We stayed on the snow the entire way, until 30 feet below the summit, where a couple of tricky moves were required on rock to wrap around the final notch to the small summit. Fortunately, a party ahead of us was heading down, so we had a half hour at the summit to ourselves. Words and even photos can't do justice to the beauty from the top of Shuksan. "The most photographed mountain in America" has incredible views in all directions, with Baker to the West, the mountains of Canada extending on seemingly forever, the North Cascades to the East and South, and Rainier on the horizon.... Coming down, we rappelled most of the way - 5 pitches. Some were down-climbing, but with the sun hitting the gully, snow was getting sloppy, and conditions were getting more dangerous. Rocks and chunks of ice were coming down frequently from others (took one rock in the arm), and it was getting crowded. We even saw someone going up without a helmet or gloves. This is a popular route, and there is not much room for more than a few parties - it was interesting to see the different approaches people were taking to climbing here. Some were solo, others were roped up, some were enjoying it, and some weren't - definitely heard some profanity from a few people :-). The Summit Pyramid is a serious climb, and admittedly we were relieved after getting off and onto the relative safety of the glacier. The long trek back to camp in the soft snow and blazing sun was tough, but the surrounding beauty provided a diversion. The rest of the day was a typical "Big Mountain" afternoon: Coming down from the summit, breaking down camp, and making the final slog out with big packs. The car was truly a welcome sight! This climb for us was high on the difficulty and technical level, but was an unforgettable experience. Although the Sulphide Glacier is the "standard" route, it's not easy by any means, and requires endurance, training and skill.

If you were living in Washington, not showing any particular interest in mountaineering you'd sooner or later find out about Mount Rainier, Baker, St. Helens an maybe even Mount Si - unless you lived under a rock in downtown Seattle - but Mount Shuksan would probably not come up in casual conversations. And so it was that until a few years ago I didn't even know Mount Shuksan existed. When I started scrambling in earnest and became familiar with the geography, the mountains and rocks of this state, Mount Shuksan's image started crystalizing in my mind as this mythical rock and ice place, a restless pile of giant crags tucked away and hidden behind Mount Baker, jagged and beautiful, buried under and carved by layers of glaciers on all sides. Then someone mentioned - "Fisher Chimneys, that's a hard route" - and I had to find out. The Mountaineers team I joined for this trip started the hike shortly before 10AM Saturday morning at the Lake Ann trailhead. We zoomed over the 4 miles to the lake in no more than one and a half hours (thanks to one very strong leader who set the fast pace and made the rest of us sweat profusely), then found our way to the chimneys. These steep gullies on the south side of the mountain scar the rock wall west of the Lower Curtis glacier making up an amazing scrambling opportunity: good rock, solid holds, many friction steps, impressive exposure, and more importantly, there is a lot of it - you scramble on and on, gully after gully until you reach the top, where the Forest Service rangers might wait for you to check if you have an overnight permit - they were present and on duty that day. From the top of the chimneys, following the standard route along the edge of the White Salmon glacier, we went up Winnies Slide to reach a spur ridge that marks the edge of the Upper Curtis glacier where we set up camp on rock. We were lucky we got there early, by around 2:30PM; a few parties arrived later and had no place left for tents so they decided to press on and camp higher on the Sulphide glacier. Two of our leaders went to scout the route on the wall of ice above the camp while the rest of us sat around and relaxed. There was plenty of water nearby. On summit day we woke up at 3AM after a great sleep (apparently I missed a beautiful sunset, but my eyes couldn't stay open after 7PM), started climbing up the wall of ice at 4, crossed the Upper Curtis glacier and reached Hell's Highway by 5 and eventually arrived at the summit rock pyramid by 6AM. We spent the next hour scrambling to the summit. Just like the chimneys, the summit block is also an amazing, challenging scramble. A few weeks earlier another party of Mountaineers scrambled to the summit in crampons as the gullies were still partially filled with snow, but crampons weren't necessary today as most of the snow was gone. We must have strayed a bit off the scrambling route at one point and reached some class 5 moves where we decided to traverse back to the regular route rather than follow the harder one and having to put in some pro and set up belays. We crossed paths with a few parties who were downclimbing and rappelling, including a large Mountaineers group that had come up the Sulphide glacier route. We touched the summit shortly after 7AM and caught some great morning light that would make even the unsophisticated pictures taken with my obsolete point-and-shoot camera look good. Forty-five minutes later we started the long way down. We rappelled some parts of the summit gully and downclimbed others; at Hell's highway we used pickets for additional safety, and on the steep wall of ice above our camp site we just took our time an treaded carefully. We mostly downclimbed the chimneys rappelling one single tougher section with a dihedral. Finally after a long slog on the Lake Ann trail, we got back to the cars at 4:35PM. Another successful climb! Current conditions: It was very warm and the snow was soft even at 4AM. There is a steep wall of ice above the spur ridge where we camped, on the way to the top of the Upper Curtis glacier, and it doesn't feel very secure; some areas rang hollow, I'm sure there's a stream running under. There didn't seem to be any scrambling route around it. In the middle of the Upper Curtis glacier there's a large crevasse that splits the glacier from top to bottom, pointing in the direction of the ice fall. There is one last snowbridge over the lower end of this crevasse. If the crevasse advances another twenty or thirty feet, crossing would become very steep and dangerous and the route might be off limits for the rest of the season. On the Sulphide glacier navigation was not a problem. There was only one small snow patch left to traverse in the lower summit pyramid gully, but it's quite a steep one - it can be avoided on the way up by scrambling around, but you'd end up into a more difficult area, just like we did. On the way down a rappel brings your right to the top of the snow patch. Climb on!