Spring in the Mountains

We had two main goals this spring: get Brooke more time on snow before she headed to the alps to attempt Mont Blanc and climb Mt. Shuksan.

Brooke was home for less than two weeks. The weather didn’t cooperate for our first snow climb. We ended up attempting Russian Butte near North Bend in a fog bank. 

Though we didn’t summit, we considered this trip to be a success. Brooke spent two days tromping through brush and steep hillsides in her mountaineering boots. 

The weather was perfect for our next outing, Little Tahoma on Mt Rainier. 

Little Tahoma was high on Kellie’s list so she worked some extra hours and joined us for the adventure.

We were able to establish a high camp on a rock outcropping. Which not only provided a great view but a magnificent sunrise as well.

Our climb day was picture perfect with summit views far superior to when Jim and I were here before. 

Jim and I decided to stay an extra night at the Summerland shelter while the girls headed out so Brooke could start packing for Europe. 

As we watched Brooke and Kellie plunge-step back down to the trail, Jim and I agreed, she was ready for Mont Blanc. 

After a week of watching the weather, we finally had a stable pattern for attempting Mt Shuksan. I tried not to get too excited and jinx the trip.

Our approach day started with clouds and cool weather which Yoko, Andrew, Jim, and I appreciated as we hiked up the trail through the trees. Once we hit the ridge crest, blue skies started to appear.

Our goal was to camp high on the ridge directly below the Sulphide Glacier. There was a large group hiking out as we were coming in. They left us decent tent platforms already cut into the snow. We had views in all directions from our ridge crest camp.

By the time sunset came, we were surrounded by blue skies.

We woke to equally clear skies. What a beautiful day for a climb!

We headed up the glacier and quickly found ourselves at the base of the summit pyramid.

We climbed a pitch of steep snow to reach the rock gully.

We decided to simo-climb the rock gully. Jim and I took turns leading.

We had to setup belay stations several times to retrieve all the rock pro. Some of them were very interesting.

Reaching the summit was bitter sweet: we had reached the top but the climbing was over. Shuksan will probably go down as one of my favorite alpine rock climbs.

After 30 minutes on the summit, we started our numerous repels back to the snow.

Some of the rapel stations had absolutely breathtaking views.

Before long we had reached the snow and were head back to our packs. Our plan was to drop down to a lower camp but when we reached our packs at 8pm, we decided we were done. The official lower camps were just 300 feet below us, so we decided to camp there for the night. We were pleasantly surprised to find running water, a dry camp, and a melted-out sun toilet. Not to mention, incredible views.

The camp also had a view of the Shuksan summit pyramid.

We crawled into our tents a little after 11pm. Tired from the day but thrilled to have spent such an amazing day in the mountains.