Mount Shuksan via Fisher Chimneys and East Ridge

 Mount Shuksan (2784m) August 3-5, 2024.

Izzy, Kai and I were looking for an objective worthy of a long weekend. We set our eyes on Mount Shuksan as it has been on all of our lists for some time now and what better time to cross the border and summit then on a Canadian holiday. Diana was in Europe and Sho went on a trad climbing trip in Eldred Valley so it was just us three this time.

Day 1: It is about a 2h drive from our home. We were unable to acquire a permit online because they were sold out. However, once at the North Cascades National Park ranger's station we were able to snag the last walk in permit (of six!) - super lucky. 

The Lake Ann trailhead parking lot was lit but we again managed to snag a spot. We started the hike in the late afternoon and arrived at Lake Ann after about 2h15min to set up camp. No permits required for this area as it is still within the Baker National Park boundaries. 

We went to bed at around 8:30pm. We could see the sun setting on Mt. Shuksan from our tent. 

Day 2: We woke up at 3am to pack up and get ready to travel to our next campsite and then summit. We left camp at 4am. 

We arrived at the Fisher Chimneys just as the sun was rising, around 5am. 

The scramble was mellow and we made it to our next campsite above the two Fisher Chimneys and a short section of snow climbing at around 8am, just in time for a proper breakfast. There were many tents set up there already but no one in sight. We were exhausted and hungry by this time and it was cold in the shade. 

We spent about one hour here eating and resting, getting ready for the snow and glacier travel. The sun finally shone on us at around 9am and we were so happy to be warming up again. 

We left our sleeping gear behind. We walked up the steepish section of Winnie's Slide in crampons with an ice axe in hand. It was still covered in snow and had a nice boot pack staircase making it easy. We found the second campsite higher up which had primo spots for views. I would stay up here next time. You can see the route going up and then veering right to navigate around the crevasses. Again, there was a boot pack lane for us to follow. We roped up at this upper campsite (can see a tent set up around that area in this photo).

We walked towards Hell's Highway (can see it lit up in the sun in this photo), the short steep section of snow climbing. We met a few parties coming down. 

We arrived at the base of the east ridge sometime in the afternoon. We ended up pitching out most of the ridge as Izzy and I did not want to solo the low 5th class terrain. Kai had started to solo the route and would have been able to continue but felt more comfortable on lead - decided to lead the whole way for us and belay us up. 

At some point we forgot to make sure Kai had a belay device but he was able to use a Munter hitch instead.

We made it to the summit in the late afternoon. 

We rappelled down the scrambling route to the snow patch. It took us a few pitches of rappelling on a 60m rope. Because the route is popular, there were multiple sling and rap ring anchors for us to use. Izzy even found nut on the way down!

The sun was starting to set as we made our way down. We were glad we finished the raps and the Hell's Highway portion with daylight. 

We had amazing views of Mt. Baker on our way back to camp.

The best camp spot (maybe next time!):

We arrived back at the campsite just in time, at 9pm. We replenished our water supplies at the upper camp using the easily accessible glacier snow melt before heading down Winnie's Slide back to our campsite.

Day 3: We woke up and had breakfast around 6am.

We headed out at 8:30am and rappelled most of the descent. 

Arrived at Lake Ann around 1pm and headed out again after a 30-60min break. Arrived at the parking lot at 3:45pm absolutely exhausted and ready to head home!