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Topic: February 1st, Mount Shuksan, North Face (Read 2572 times)
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GGrove
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First trip report here at TAY. I don't typically post but I figured this could be of some useful help to anyone like myself that is curious about the conditions of this route. Myself and three others (john, dave, adam) skinned up the white salmon glacier (great snow) then descended the North Face of Shuksan yesterday. It took about 9 hours round trip. The top quarter of the NF was pretty damn scary due to bulletproof ice on the exposed/steepest section. The rest of the route was a mixed bag of punchy wind blown powder with ice underneath but the angle lessened so fears calmed. Not ideal but all went well. No one noticed any cracks or signs of instability on the White Salmon or the North Face. Cheers!
Less useful info, photos and details can be found here: http://blog.garrettgrove.com/2011/02/mount-shuksan-north-face-ski-descent/
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Marcus
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Hell of a first TR Garrett -- thanks for putting it up.
This is a great shot:
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Scotsman
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Posts: 3173
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I pointed out that line to my wife when we were at Baker on Sunday.
I told her" people have skied that".... she was incredulous.
Amazing confidence in your skill level.... well done.
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Zap
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Great images and a "sporty" ascent/descent.
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skykilo
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Nice one GG. One of my favorites. Did you see any tracks from the Dansanity?
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GGrove
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thanks all. hope it is of some help. sky, i totally saw dans steep insane tracks, a out of this world descent. that exposure must have been pretty wild. i saw his trip report which is what led me to think the stability and conditions were good enough to try the North Face yesterday.
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Lisa
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Posts: 366
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That's a high pucker factor with the said conditions, I'll save it for a powder or creamy corn day. Nice work getting it done safely. Thumbs up!
Marcus, can you add a thumbs up emoticon for such TR's please. 
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jwplotz
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Posts: 323
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Great pics on your blog! I'm going to have to ski this one soon. Were you guys tempted to climb the n. face to see what you were in for? That's gutsy to drop in blind on such a committing line. Nice work!
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allenat@ylor
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Posts: 19
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I bailed off the N face before you guys got there prob 300 vert down into it, a little too icy for me. I was worried it would be icy like that for quite a long way. I'm glad you got past it without too much trouble. I found the NW couloir to be much less icy, I only punched though the windbuff on a few occasions. Other than that it was just a little sloughy. The run down the north face has to be one of the coolest looking runs I have ever stood on top of.
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kath
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Posts: 191
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awesome .. you got some great images too .. way to go guys
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ski_photomatt
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Posts: 310
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7 of us (three separate groups of 3, 2, 2), plus a solo skier ahead of everyone headed up there on Wednesday with thoughts on the NF or NW Couloir. Unfortunately we were a day late as a persistent cloud deck from 7-8K covered the top of the mountain and everyone turned around at the top of the White Salmon except the solo skier who disappeared into the fog on the Upper Curtis.
One note of caution: a skier (not in my party) punched through a crevasse on the White Salmon while following the skin track yesterday. He said he fell a few feet into the hole and was caught by his backpack and managed to climb out. Similar to Amar's story from a few years ago. In the three separate groups of 7 skiers, no one carried a rope yesterday.
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andyrew
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Posts: 214
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One note of caution: a skier (not in my party) punched through a crevasse on the White Salmon while following the skin track yesterday. He said he fell a few feet into the hole and was caught by his backpack and managed to climb out. Similar to Amar's story from a few years ago. In the three separate groups of 7 skiers, no one carried a rope yesterday.
The crevasse/moat/bottomless spirit pit was about half way up the WS, climbers right on the glacier, on a 300 high steep roll above a bench. You could tell there was a sag in the snow but everyone until the last person in the groups skinned over it without result.
Fun day, but we were a day late, although the NF sounds like it was too spicy in its current condition for my taste anyway.
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GGrove
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Allen glad you got the NW couloir in better conditions...seems like that is a better line since it is most likely sheltered from constant winds.
Good to hear everyone is ok from yesterday, didn't even think there were open crevasses to fall into where the skin track went up the WS. We carried ropes/harnesses the entire time but didn't have them on over that area at all...ignorance is bliss?
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alpymarr
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Posts: 237
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Sick. Glad to see folks hitting huge things in the current state of affairs up there. One good thing about midwinter high presure in the NW.....some of the sickest alpine lines found anywhere are skiable....nice trip ya'll.
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