white salmon beta ??

some emails flew around last week, folks planning to ski the white salmon glacier... tim_place, markharf, do you mind sharing, did that get done and if so, how was it ? where does the snow start, how awful was the traverse along the arm ? and how was the skiing ?<br><br>thx much!<br>ema

Ema, the bad weather over the weekend wiped out the traverse we were going to make from the Sulphide Glacier, down Hell's Highway, across the upper Curtis Glacier and down the White Salmon. My feeling is that route needs a pretty good shot at visibility, and the White Salmon Glacier needs to be corn, not slush, for a safe descent this time of year.<br><br>My guess is that the White Salmon would still go, but I would want to scope it from the ski area first. The bottom is very runneled and covered with icy debris from the Hanging Glacier. IMHO, the White Salmon Glacier is not a safe ski this time of year unless you can ski skier's right through the snow chutes to White Salmon Creek and avoid the lower 500' of the Glacier.<br><br>I do not think it is possible to reach the White Salmon Glacier from Shuksan Arm without technical rock gear. You could, I suppose, drop south off Shuksan Arm to the Fischer Chimneys, but they could be reached more quickly via the usual Lake Anne trail from Austin Pass. The usual way to ski the White Salmon is to climb it and ski what you have climbed.

I descended Shuksan via the route tim described back in the middle of May. I agree that Shuksan arm is not the way to approach as there are many technical difficulties to get around. We looked at this as an option for descending, but it was a short-lived idea.<br><br>The ski down Hells Highway would be fun, though short and the upper Curtis mostly a traverse, though very scenic. The WS would be a great ski in the right conditions. When we descended the WS I was nervous the whole way since the only acitivty we heard while camping below the N. Face was coming off the WS. Also, the hanging glacier is definitely taking aim at you down lower and leaves a permanent debris tongue to remind you of this. Then you have the schwacking back to the car. Thank god the devil's club was just starting to leaf out. Not so now.<br><br>I'd say this is a great April/May trip, but am not so certain now. I would not only want to check it out from the ski area, but camp somewhere I could hear what is going on to get a sense of the avalanche/ice fall activity, especially during this warm weather.