November 24, 2002, Mt. Shuksan, Sulphide Glacier

Ben, Sky and myself thought that with the weather system that rolled through last week, the North Cascades would be our best bet for skiing some fresh snow. We knew however, that as the freezing level rose towards the end of the week to around 9,000' any new snow likely went through the cycle and would be boiler plate. Sure enough, as the FL dropped to around 6,000' at the beginning of the weekend, this is exactly what we were faced with. Snow began just below the first saddle (approx. 3,700'). Began skinning from this point to avoid post-holing. Reached upper saddle at 5,200' and continued onward towards the snout of the Sulphide. Surprisingly, the conditions of the Sulphide were much better 1 month ago. The runnels this time around were huge, making for difficult skinning on the lower slopes. By the time we reached the first pitch, they were less prominent allowing us to skin the entire way. Couple of the large crevasses from my trip 1 month ago have filled in quite nicely. The route, however, is essentially crevasse, but definitely NOT runnel free. Stopped close to 8,000' where again, the runnels were enormous. As we knew conditions were not going to soften up, and thinking we could yo-yo a south facing slope just above the saddle at 5,200', we stopped to grab a bite to eat and then skied down. Great weather with excellent views, but definitely felt like the Sulphide was excluded from those storms that have been hammering us since early November.