March 25, 2012, Mt. Shuksan, Hanging Glacier HW
3/25/12
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2499
1
Allen skied the NWC in full-on pow with Lee on Friday, took Saturday off (which serendipitously coincided with the heli-bombing operation), and headed up with me on Sunday. The weather guys were calling for something like "mostly cloudy w/ rain or snow showers in the afternoon", so we weren't hoping for much and planned to ski a line close to the resort. When we got to the parking lot however, we realized that the forecast was wrong, the skies were blue, and we were lucky to have thrown the technical gear in the car "just in case".
I didn't really have a strong desire to get 1000th tracks down the NWC, or ski the NF again this year, so we started eying the rarer lines, ultimately settling on trying to ski the hanging glacier with the possible addition of the hanging glacier headwall if we could manage to find the entrance from the top.
Long story short, it went well. Very steep, stable, powy turns up high, followed by some crack-jumping to get onto the hanging glacier, then some more casual turns down the HG until the fork in the road. We chose the skiers-left exit as it seemed to have less chance of a rock step, and the chokes looked like they could possibly be snow. Well, the first choke was ice, so we transitioned and down-climbed, but the rest was enjoyable soft steep snow followed by an interesting crown huck to get back onto the white salmon. All-in-all, an excellent and improbable day in the mountains!
A few photos:
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Steep turns on the headwall
Right or left?
![]()
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/selozier/tr-hanging-glacier-headwall/IMG_9068.jpg" />
One final choke.
Some more photos
I didn't really have a strong desire to get 1000th tracks down the NWC, or ski the NF again this year, so we started eying the rarer lines, ultimately settling on trying to ski the hanging glacier with the possible addition of the hanging glacier headwall if we could manage to find the entrance from the top.
Long story short, it went well. Very steep, stable, powy turns up high, followed by some crack-jumping to get onto the hanging glacier, then some more casual turns down the HG until the fork in the road. We chose the skiers-left exit as it seemed to have less chance of a rock step, and the chokes looked like they could possibly be snow. Well, the first choke was ice, so we transitioned and down-climbed, but the rest was enjoyable soft steep snow followed by an interesting crown huck to get back onto the white salmon. All-in-all, an excellent and improbable day in the mountains!
A few photos:
Steep turns on the headwall
Right or left?
One final choke.
Some more photos