With spectacular late season conditions, a Blackbird Mountain Guides team summited Mt Shuksan by the Fisher Chimneys route. After a week of unsettled weather, storm clouds cleared, and we had nearly crystal-clear skies to compliment incredible late season conditions.
As we hiked in from the Lake Ann Trailhead, we were happy to be greeted with cloudy skies and cool temperatures. Despite losing some of the renowned views of one of the most beautiful peaks in the North Cascades, it was nice to avoid the heat! As we hiked, clouds parted and by the time we reached the Fisher Chimneys, skies were mostly clear, and the views were only made more dramatic with passing clouds.
Trails were surprisingly still muddy on the approach, but after crossing into the North Cascades National Park, the water dried up. A small trickle on the first rock step (before the ridge camps and talus field that precede the Chimneys) was all that remained of running water after Shuksan creek above Lake Ann.
The Fisher Chimneys were dry and in good condition. The anchors low in the chimneys were in great shape with new tat. The first piton anchor in the upper chimneys have a few loose pitons, so worth thinking twice about using that one. Without banging on it with a hammer, the second piton anchor was much more solid.
The tent platforms at lower Winnies Slide were dry and water for drinking was plentiful. Winnie’s Slide itself was shockingly still fat with snow. A well-established boot pack offered full boot depth buckets and traversed across the slope before bending up toward the Upper Curtis Glacier and higher tent sites. Very friendly conditions considering it’s the end of August!
The Upper Curtis Glacier was also friendly - plenty of snow and thick bridges covering the crevasses. The steep pitch that first gains the Upper Curtis Glacier was showing signs of thinning to firn, and was quite firm in the early morning hours on our summit push. Just above the first pitch, a short section of exposed glacial ice made added a moderate challenge, but features in the ice made it easy to navigate and even the dry glacial ice was soft enough for solid crampon purchase by mid-morning.
After the short section of dry glacier, a zig-zagging snow bridge extends across a wide crevasse. This snow bridge was the most concerning on the route as it was hard to tell how overhanging it was from the downhill side. As we crossed the bridge it was apparent that the bridge was overhung by over 6 feet. This was fairly concerning despite the thickness and strength of the bridge and will certainly be a hazard to avoid in coming days as the snow bridge thins and weakens in the heat.
After the Zig-Zag bridge, the Upper Curtis was solid. A few narrow and deep crevasses make the rope feel well warranted, but mostly it’s smooth sailing to the base of Hell’s Highway.
Similar to Winnie’s Slide, Hell’s Highway is in great shape for late August. The bottom is dry glacier, with some bath-tub-like crevasse features that make for great places to stand while the leader put the rope up. The Highway began with 10m or so of alpine ice that led into a snowy boot pack for another 25m or so before a fixed picket appeared. This picket was useful on the descent as the rappel from it avoided most of the dry glacier downclimbing, but ultimately the down climbing was still pretty easy with two tools and steel crampons.
The Sulphide Glacier continued the trend of excellent conditions. A couple of visible deep crevasses were easily crossed with nice snow bridges, and it felt like there was still substantial snow on the glacier. Excellent snow cover continued to the start of the summit pyramid, and there was even a slight down-climb to get from the snow to the rock on the SE Ridge.
Perfect weather made for incredible views as we climbed the exciting Southeast Ridge to the Summit. The Shuksan Greenschist on the ridge is featured, grippy and while not always obvious if you’re unaccustomed to that rock type, it is exciting climbing!
Our descent though the gullies was quick and the snow patch after the final rappel is only a few feet long at this point. Once we were back onto the Sulphide the snow had softened but was not too deep and made for easy walking back to Hell’s highway.
Descending the Highway, I did a 50m lower for my partner and used the fixed picket to rappel 30m. A short bit of downclimbing on low angled dry glacier got me down to my partner and we were back onto the Upper Curtis headed back to camp in short order.
At camp, a new friend was there to greet us. And we were treated to another spectacular sunset.
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Climbing Mt Shuksan is one of our favorite routes in the North Cascades. It packs our favorite elements of alpine climbing - glaciers, exposure, rock climbing, and ice climbing - into one amazing climbing trip right here in the Lower 48 United States! The Fisher Chimneys is a
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About the Author
Zeb Blais is an IFMGA Mountain Guide and owner of Blackbird Mountain Guides. He spent his formative years as a guide in the Cascade Range of Washington and the Sierra Nevada of California. Climbing and ski mountaineering led him to the great ranges of the world including the Himalaya, the Alps, the Alaska Range and Mt Vinson in Antarctica. He has over 100 summits of Mt Rainier and countless summits of Baker, Shuksan and other peaks in the Cascade Range.