| August 1998 I received the sad news that my Grandfather, age 96, died
suddenly. He lived nearly his entire life in Lynden, Washington and had
climbed Mt Baker and Mt Shuksan. I had climbed Mt Baker about 20 years
before, so in his memory after the funeral I set out to climb Mt Shuksan.
Since I would be climbing solo I selected the easiest route, up the Sulphide Glacier. A steady drizzle with nearly zero visibility accompanied me on the 6 or 7 mile hike in to the glacier. Climbers I met on the way back reported the summit also was completely fogged in. Once on the glacier I wandered around in the fog seeking a suitable spot to set up my tent. |
 |
 |
I awoke before dawn and started up the glacier with my headlamp around 5 AM. Hiking solo on a glacier is not standard practice. I stuck to the beaten path and by leaving early while the ice was hard the risks of falling into a crevasse were lessened. The snow bridges over the crevasses were firm. |
| Reaching the final summit pyramid just as it started to get light,
I was on top as the sun rose. The final scramble is a class 3 climb if
you go up the center, I went to the ridge on the right where it was bit
more exposed than I would have liked being all by myself.
I spent about half an hour on the summit, but when I saw some climbers approaching far down the glacier I headed down to avoid kicking rocks on them as I descended.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
| After an unpropitious start the day before, the weather cleared enough for some gorgeous views. After returning to camp I quickly packed up and headed for my car and a 2 hour drive for another climb in the Picketts--an attempt on Mt Despair. I was on the trail up to a series of three glacier lakes by 5 PM, hiking around 5 miles that evening before dark. |  |