In mid March, conditions lined up perfectly for Nate, Matthew, and I to ski Mount Shuksan. From Sunday to Monday, Baker received 2-3ft of snow followed by calm, clear weather. A couple avalanche accidents on the Shuksan Arm and Slate Mountain on Tuesday and Wednesday gave us reason to be cautious. We had originally planned to ski Shuksan on Thursday but decided to push our trip to Friday to give the snowpack another day to adjust. On Thursday we drove up to Baker and did a short assessment tour on the N slopes of Table Mountain. We found excellent powder on shady aspects with minimal wind effect and no signs of instability which made us feel good about attempting Shuksan the next day. On Friday we started at 4:44am and approached via the White Salmon Glacier. At the top of the White Salmon we ran into Nick, Kate, Sam, and Kaitlin who were also headed to the summit. After skiing the summit pyramid in quite good condition we traversed over to the Crystal Glacier with amazing views of the Pickets and then skinned up to the North Shoulder and peeked into the Price Glacier. We decided to ski the NW Couloir because it is more sheltered from wind than the N Face and has less objective hazard than the Hanging Glacier. The top was firm wind-board and felt very serious with the exposure. We were all very happy to hit the bottom and escape after an incredible day on the most beautiful mountain in the world!
Music: Weird Fishes - In Rainbows - Radiohead
28 авг 2024
