June 1, 2002, Mt. Shuksan, Sulfide Glacier

Shuksan is in prime condition. We left the car at 0520 after spending the night where snow stopped car travel, about 1 mile from the trialhead. After that, there's about another mile or so of walking before there's enough snow for skiing (right before the road turns and starts to head up the old clear cut). There were two parties of two ahead of us (one on the mountain already, and one started at 0040). The weather was perfect, with firm/hard snow on the ski up and silky smooth corn for much of the ski down. We climbed the summit pyramid after seeing the two other parties climb up and down and arrived ca. 1130. It is steep, and I'm not sure why I took my skis all the way to the top.... I put the skis on about 100' down from the summit, but didn't manage to turn for another 100-200'.

The skiing was excellent, and, surprisingly for a beautiful June day, we had the slopes all to ourselves. On the way down around the gap just below the glacier we saw at least 30+ climber in several groups heading up to spend the night. We did not feel that ropes were necessary on the glacier, but one might be nice if you want extra security for climbing the summit pyramid. Shuksan is a BEAUTIFUL mountain!

Phil Higuera (w/ Paul C.)