Mount Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier, October 2001
My first attempt at climbing Mount Shuksan yielded little more than being rained-out while at camp on Shannon Ridge. For my second attempt, I made sure to check the weather forecast beforehand. Being somewhat late in the season I knew that I was risking another big disapointment, but, the forecast was calling for fair weather and I wanted Shuksan bad. After much convincing, I was finally able to talk Andy into a day-trip up the Sulphide Glacier.
We left my place at 2:30am on Saturday and started hiking in at around 5:00am. It was cool and the stars were out. By the time we reached the top of Shannon Ridge the sun was just starting to rise and a strange red hue was cast against the underside of the clouds. I figured the clouds would burn off. This was not to be the case. There were a few inches of fresh snow on the glacier and so we had some careful route finding to do, with several crevasse end-runs. Sunshine filled the valley just beyond us with Tomyhoi and American Border Peaks seen basking in the sunlight. This was our turning around point...and to think we were so close. We had less than 1500ft to go. (more...)
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