On Sunday the plan was set: meet at 1:30am at the 65th NE Park-n-Ride and then drive up to Mt. Baker Ski Area. It occurred to me that a bar I enjoy happens to be located on NE 65th St., and that 1am is an appropriate time to order a glass of red wine from a bar. So after dinner at home, I packed up my various trappings of ski mountaineerdom and headed to the Atlantic Crossing. The Lot 96 was a delicious blend, but overpriced at $7 a glass. Kyle Miller is punctual to the minute, so I paid my tab at 1:27am and met him at my car. Kyle and I roared through the night northbound on I-5, picked Jesse up in Marysville, and continued east on the 542. I caught the occasional wink of sleep between deer on the road. Soon we were putting our boots on in the White Salmon parking lot at Mt. Baker Ski Area.
The forecast called for a weak high pressure to allow for partly sunny skies before more disturbances moved through in the evening; this hit the nail on the head especially if one keeps in mind “partly sunny” means snowing in the North Cascades. We were in the sun for the first hour of the day, but then dealt with in and out cloud cover and precipitation of varying density for the rest of the day.
Three glaciers comprise this route; the White Salmon, the Upper Curtis, and the Sulphide. Somewhere on the Sulphide, as we stood in a total whiteout wondering where the summit pyramid went, I took a nap while standing - one of my longtime goals. Kyle’s words jarred me from my rest, “there it is.” We pied’ a’ tous droites cheval du joured our way up the gully and all stood on the 9,127’ summit of Mt. Shuksan sometime after noon, sometime before sunset. A rather ungraceful descent of the summit pyramid ensued, but this gave way to an invigorating shred party deluxe from the Sulphide all the way into White Salmon Creek, ~6,000’ below. The splitboarders only fell into three moats, started six avalanches, and repaired their equipment four times during the descent, a great success.
What kind of after parties are you into?
Ones that look like this, thanks.
Kyle cruises the White Salmon before the clouds returned.
Jesse watches the clouds build.
Crossing the Upper Curtis.
Remember your sunscreen. Despite being in a milkjug, we got greenhouse sunburned.
The clouds broke about one time.
Summit style.
Kyle schralping the Upper Curtis.
Laying it down on the White Salmon.
No place for equipment repair.
End.
