Gerry and I climbed mount Shuksan North Face on June 25-26 weekend. We arrived at White Salmon Lodge gate at about 10:30 AM on Saturday. We were not sure which way we will take on return. We had 2 options – back by White Salmon creek or taking Fisher Chimnies. We wanted to keep both options open and for this Gerry brought his bike with us and stashed it at lake Ann trailhead, further up the highway. In case we decided to take Fisher Chimnies way back he would ride down the highway back to the car. This is what we ended up doing in the end. We started hiking gravel road from White Salmon lodge at 11:15 AM keeping left at junctions. The road ended soon without any sign of a trail.

We stated bushwhacking through thick shrubs and thickets. We kept to the right of main White Salmon flow. The progress was very slow. We crossed 5 or 6 side streams each time downclimbing steep gullies and then climbing up pulling on branches.

After some time we descended to the main White Salmon flow. There we hiked on boulder fields for some time but then more brush followed with more struggle. We bypassed the waterfall on the right side. Finally we reached the open areas with a view on a large avalanche slope and a hanging glacier.

After climbing moraine and some snow slopes we got to the North Face col.

Price Lake

Next morning we started at 3 AM and began climbing at 4:15 AM. The sky was clear and it was pretty warm. The conditions were very good with show soft enough to kick steps but stable enough. We crossed the first ice bulge closer to the right side.

Switching leads we simul-climbed the whole face putting protection in few places. We reached the East col at 8 AM.

We originally discussed climbing NE ridge. This would be the most logical continuation of the North Face route. However the upper buttress of the ridge was still covered with snow. It looked steep and was exposed to the morning sun. We were not sure how stable it was and decided to climb SE ridge instead.

We traversed around East side of the mountain and climbed steep snow slope to the notch in the SE ridge.

Climbing the ridge was easy, but somewhat awkward with overnight packs. We were at the summit at 10:45 AM.

Lake Ann

One short rappel from the summit brought us to South gully which we downclimbed and reached the upper Sulphide glacier. After previous day’s bushwhacking we decided that in no way we would go down White Salmon again. So, our only option was Fisher Chimnies. For those who did not climb Fisher Chimnies before, I created a map with our approximate descend with marked places of photos taken.

Photo A.

Photo B.

Photo C.

Photo D.

Photo E.

Photo F.

Photo G.

Photo I.

Photo J.

Downclimbing Fisher Chimnies was not difficult, there are many rappel stations, but we did not use them. Part of the Lake Ann trail was still under the snow and it was tricky to follow it. I got to the Lake Ann trailhead at 6:50 PM. Gerry went ahead to retrieve the car and was about half an hour earlier. Fun route, difficult approach and long descend!