April 23, 2011, Mt Shuksan Northwest Couloir

Mike, Jesse and I took advantage of an excellent weather window on Shuksan on Saturday.  We left the car at 5:30 and headed up the White Salmon on Oyvind's skin track (thanks!).  On the glacier we ran into another group of guys, Dave and Taylor, who were intent on skiing something steep.  We leap-frogged all the way to the summit, topping out around 1pm in glorious sunshine.  On the descent, Dave and Taylor allowed me to tag along with them to explore some steeper lines, while Mike and Jesse skied great pow down the White Salmon. 

After finding the North Face to be significantly wind-affected with a reactive 1' slab layer, we traversed over to the Northwest Couloir.  The snow near the top of the couloir had a small wind crust, but the new snow resting on the crust from the past week was less reactive than what we experienced on the North Face.  Stability increased as we exited the couloir and resulted in a few thousand feet of spectacular, aesthetic powder skiing in a great setting.

The skin back to the resort was painful, but after skiing such a great line it was truly worth it.  Thanks to Mike and Jesse for waiting for me while we schussed out conditions in the Couloir, and thanks to Dave and Taylor for letting me tag along on such an excellent line!