Mt Shucksan - Sulphide Glacier

Party:

• Meg
• Taylar

Approach:

Humid hike through trees until treeline. Nice cool snow patches above.

Just missed a big set of fridge-sized snow chunks breaking free from the rock above on the approach

Summit: Monday 14th

Conditions: Wind/Low Vis with intermittent sun breaks

Some difficulty accessing the ridge from steep snow, but got beta from another party

Made the summit in 3.5 pitches on a 70m rope. 35m pitches with followers on middle and end of rope.

Summit 1pm - found the register nearby after an unnecessary climb towards the “summit”??

Much slower than expected rappel down the gully - difficulty finding the correct route

Completed descent of the pyramid around 7pm!

Easy return on snow to camp with rainbows over distant mountaintops

Having had all day to sit in melting snow, my tent finally broke free of its surly earthly bonds and rejoined its brethren in the skies around Mt Baker

Having no shelter for me and with Taylor needing to work early next day, we decided safest option was to break camp and return to car. Tired and sleep-deprived, we managed to get back to car by 3am.

We made it back to the P&R at dawn and all returned safely to homes that morning for some sleep & recovery.

Fun facts

• Over 24 hours of continuous physical exertion is hard

• Invest in snow stakes for tents

• Almost gave up at base of the ridge when we had trouble finding a route up. Fortunately guide led the way & provided the necessary beta