The wind, unforecasted, unexpected, came in the night. Our tents were protected, but the gusts whipped and ripped at our guy lines. Sleep was elusive at best. Exhaustion came with a benefit...the wildfire smoke had been forced down into the valley, providing clarity and vision.....The summit pyramid called to us, beckoning us to climb above the rising smoke. By the time we made the summit, Mt. Baker was all that remained in the clarity of the windstorm. The smoke had caught us, but not before our moment of victory. We would soon descend into obscurity, walking away from our singular objective, into the complexity of life, a glacier.
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| Preparing to descend from the summit PC: Ryan |
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This week marks yet another first day of school for me. While I am excited to be that much closer to finishing up at the University of Washington, I had hoped to get a post up on here before I needed to complete required writing assignments. No such luck! I cannot believe how much I have neglected this. I just completed my first weeks worth of assignments, and am now attempting to write something creative, for myself....
I am coming off of an awesome alpine guiding season in the Cascades: I love the Cascades. I climbed many mountains, and had some challenging work to keep me busy. Oh, and a new baby, Solstice, born June 16th (one week early). A few of my favorite trips were:
Emmons-Winthrop on Rainier (Edgeworks Climbing)
North Ridge of Stuart (Mountain Madness-Private)
Mini Pickets Expedition (Edgeworks Climbing-Private)
Vesper Peak (Edgeworks Climbing-Private)
Sulphide Glacier on Shuksan (Edgeworks Climbing)
By putting this post off for so long, a lot of the details have blurred together. As such, I am going to tell the story of a more recent trip, up the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan....
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The forecast leading up to this trip had shown amazing weather for our climb, with clear skies and no chance for precipitation. Though when I checked this morning, B.C. had gifted us with another dose of fire and brimstone.
When checking in with the National Park Service and gathering our back country camping permit, the ranger looked at me with doubt and said, "have you seen the forecast"? I laughed it off, we were committed at this point. Ryan has done multiple trips with me and had flown out from D.C. to climb this peak with us, and Austin is a regular member of our facility. I was determined to give them the best possible experience with the conditions we had.
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Wild fire smoke filled my lungs. It was thick and nauseating, and was only going to get worse. We moved quickly; both Ryan and Austin showed great fitness. Ryan had previously climbed Baker, and Hood. He had also been to Red Rock and Smith Rock with me. I knew he would do great in the terrain and that he had the base fitness level needed to complete this objective. Austin is new to the alpine climbing realm, but has a penchant for rock climbing and backpacking; the perfect combination of activities to be successful as an alpinist. After an hour on the trail we took a break. It was hot and humid, and the smoke was debilitating. I felt like I needed to cough and my eyes were itching. Spirits remained high, and the conversation was lively.
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| Austin and Ryan, having fun despite the smoke |
It seemed like the early afternoon approach sailed by, and soon, we were traveling on snow. Our objective loomed just out of sight due to the smoke. We could see the Sulphide Glacier, and the lower portion of the route, which looked good, but the upper portion of the glacier and the summit pyramid were hidden entirely. We made short work of getting to high camp. It was deserted, and we had our pick of base-camp location. Setting up camp was quick, requiring only a minor excavation of snow. We sat and enjoyed fresh tomatoes on bagels with guacamole (my favorite post approach snack!), before stepping out of camp to talk climbing techniques. As we practiced plunge stepping and self arrest techniques, a light wind started to pick up. Throughout the night, this gradually increased, dropping the temperature, and thankfully pushing the smoke down-valley.
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| Austin, trying to see the summit from High Camp |
We woke up early, ate a quick meal, pounded some coffee, and got off to a proper alpine start. The routed didn't have much of a track, so we ended up following a faint trail and making our own where appropriate. The initial steep section of the Sulphide went quickly enough. A few cracks to cross and a couple of icy sections to avoid, and just like that we were passing Hell's Highway. The sun was coming up, and we finally had a clear and brilliant view of the Summit Pyramid.
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| Pre-dawn summit photo, our first proper look at it |
As we gained elevation, the world around us was on the rise as well. The sun came up, the winds picked up, and the smoke crept up. It was a race to the summit. We could see that we would not be alone in this race. There was a large group, approaching the summit pyramid, followed closely by a pair of climbers. Upon reaching the base of the pyramid, the duo took the Southeast Ridge to the summit while the large group took the "standard" gully to the top.
I approached the members of the large group and the first words they spoke were "at this point, I am going to have to ask you not to pass us."
I chuckled and said, "I do not want anything to do with this mess you've got going on over here. I am going that way."
It was a NOLS group, and they were fixing lines all the way up the gully. The duo was taking a long time to get racked up for their first pitch on the ridge, so I split the difference, gaining the ridge just ahead of their leader. I had the foresight to bring a small rack, just in case we wanted to climb the more adventurous ridge. Ryan looked a bit dubious at the idea of rock climbing in mountain boots, but he did great and we had a blast! The duo turned out to be MUCH slower than us, and we beat both parties to the summit.
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| Ryan and Austin climbing on the ridge |
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| Me, belaying for Ryan and Austin PC: Ryan |
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| Ryan on the crux move PC Austin |
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| Quick break mid-route |
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| Summit Selfie! |
The decent to camp was smooth, excepting the thirty minutes we spent waiting on that NOLS group to get out of our way. We dropped back into the smoke, and made a quick walk to the tents. The afternoon was spent relaxing, and enjoying our time on the mountain. We had a big dinner with celebratory cookies, and went to bed. Sleep was difficult that night, as the smoke became even worse. We woke up, had pancakes, and boogied down to the trail head, glad to be inside where the smoke was filtered out.
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| Post climb nap time |
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| Austin and I, heading down PC: Ryan |
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