Shuksan, Price Glacier

Original, un-edited trip report: https://engineeredforadventure.com/shuksan-price-glacier/

Background

It's 9:30PM in the White Salmon parking lot on Thursday night. Nate and Lane roll in from Seattle. I've been hanging out in the lot for a few hours, waiting to chat with them before going to sleep. We've got two Shuksan days ahead of us, with great weather and good snow conditions. We pass small talk for a few minutes, then get to business; we've talked, in general, about what we want to get after the next two days, but not super specifically. The Price, out to Price Lake, Lane proposes with a cinematic tone. Woah...

The Price Glacier spans over 4,000' on the north side of Shuksan, with massive icefalls and inhospitable cliffs. It's tucked away, out of sight from most places, you really have to be 'out there' to get a glimpse of it. Yes, it's a 50 Classic Climb, but more-so, it's seen multiple, albeit rare, ski descents. Sky, the Hummels, and Ben Manfredi tried to ski it in 2003 from the bottom-up, but only made it halfway due to challenging route finding, dubbing their trip 'Half Price' (gotta love early 2000's Sjue-Hummel-Fortier-Wehrly humor). Sjue went back multiple times in the 2000s, skiing both the Price NE Chute, as well as the Full Price (The Price is Right). Sky and Ben Manfredi skied it in wild style from Nooskack Ridge, down the wildly steep Price Spine Wall.

Ok...history lesson over (apologies to anyone I missed in the history lesson, no harm intended). All that to say, it's been done before.

The Price Glacier has changed, dramatically, with glacial recession. It's not nearly as simple a 'classic climb' anymore, with climbers reporting wild cruxes and challenges getting up the thing. It doesn't take a climatologist to acknowledge that seracs and glacial chunks that once were there aren't anymore. Now, how that translates to skiing...hard to tell, without going and taking a peek.

When Nate and Lane rolled in that Thursday night, we had little intention of skiing the Price the next day. But the idea had been planted, potentially for Saturday. Oh shit, I can't find my harness, Nate nervously muttered. Nate had dropped a bag, including his glacier kit and climbing helmet on his way to Lane's car in Seattle. Well, that changes my day significantly...

Skiing the Price was going to require utmost confidence in conditions. I'd been out on the North Face Thursday, finding good snow and coverage. We all went out on Friday and skied the Price NE Chute, finding stellar conditions that inspired confidence. Back in the parking lot on Friday night, the idea continued to brew. We had seen the upper Price Headwall, which looked in great condition. We studied photos of the Price, discussing the complexity of the route and the ways through. We traced a way through the icefall, across the glacier that exited down to Price Lake on far skier's right; we didn't think the direct exit that Sjue and Manfredi had taken would go anymore. I had packed a 2'x4' with a hole drilled through it, in case we needed a deadman. We discussed our bail-point, the boundary where bailing backwards made less sense than bailing forwards. The price seems right...

Now, to find no-harness Nate a glacier kit...

Thomas had made plans with co-workers to ski in Bagley Basin on Saturday. He lent Nate his glacier kit, a true gift. Thomas has had his eye on the Price for years; watching him pass off his glacier kit, his 'full price ticket' if you will, was a true sign of friendship. We asked Manny to lend Thomas his glacier kit, in case Thomas changed his mind. It was a wild sight seeing Thomas take the kit, think on it for a few seconds, then walk over to Manny's truck and place the glacier kit in the front seat, taking off the table any chance of bailing on his friends. Thomas, mad respect dude, incredibly impressed.

Our plan was to ski the Price down to Price Lake via the Price Headwall, traverse over to a cross-over at 6,500' on Nooksack Ridge to the eastern lobe of the Price Glacier, then traverse out skier's right to a southwest facing exit couloir at 5,000' that would take us down to Price Lake. There appeared to be a more direct exit couloir, north facing at 5,400' that would also go, but it seemed like it'd be filled with huge debris piles. Our plan was then to climb to the ridgeline to the west of Price Lake to make our way back into the White Salmon drainage.

Trip Report

Alarms were again set for 4AM and yet again, a miraculous poop got things going. It was a double Red Bull morning, a rare feat I know (honestly was kinda regretting the second Bull halfway through).

Our entrance into the White Salmon drainage was not as smooth as the day before; the snow was not as re-frozen in the trees and in open areas more of a breakable texture. Nate dove a tip at one point and somersaulted into a tree well headfirst, quite the wake up. He was fine and we continued down the dirt booting sections. Ahh, Cascades...

There were more people out and about on Saturday, as would be expected with a spring Shuksan window. Nate laughed at his interaction with one group in the trees.

So, what are you guys getting up to?

Oh, we're going out to ski the Price.

That's a dumb idea!

While that person isn't wrong, it's a little weird to say to a total stranger at 5AM in the trees, whilst skiing shitfuck snow and trying to not tear your ACL.

We smoothly sailed up the climb; right on schedule we were back at the north shoulder of Shuksan right around 930AM, right below mighty Mt. Nub. We were surprised to see a bivy site and a rime sculpture from a group a day or two prior? Hey Toby!

We paused atop the north shoulder to take in the view over the Crystal Glacier and out towards the Nooskack Headwall. A snack or two, some water, and we were ready to move over towards the Price Headwall.

The Price Headwall drops northeast from just beneath the North Summit, maybe 45 degrees at the top and pretty sustained for 800' or so. I went to probe the snow, finding similar conditions to what we had the day prior on Price NE. Guys, it looks fucking awesome. I got into position with my camera, ready to snap away as Lane and Nate skied down. The aura of the headwall, with Nooksack Tower high above, was wild.

Lane dropped first, finding soft snow with some punchy wind affect in places. He radioed up, then Nate's turn, then mine. There were two small schrunds that were well bridged, easy to ski right over.

We paused at the bench around 7,500' to re-calibrate our position. We pulled out photos and studied them again. Do we wanna go fall line? Or to skier's right of this hump right here? Glacier ski navigation is never easy, the topo map never quite capturing the rolls and crevasses accurately. The key to our descent was getting to a cross-over at 6,500', where we would boot up briefly to get over to the eastern lobe of the Price. The one we were on terminated in a huge icefall.

After study time, we agreed to ski down a few hundred feet through a wide gully we were on top of, then traverse hard out right towards the cross. We could see the easy bench over to the cross-over beneath this gully, the question was does it go? It rolled over near the bottom and was hard to see. Psyched to launch into the unknown, Nate went first as Lane and I waited atop the gully. Our slough had scraped the gully down to firm bed surface, making for icier skiing than the headwall. Nate loves some good ice...and he found it.

At the bottom of the gully, Nate paused. Guys, this doesn't go, he radioed up. He was on top of an icefall. It seemed like if he climbed up maybe 100' or so there was a cross-over that would take him towards the cross-over; he transitioned to crampons, briefly, to boot up the bed surface.

Once he was out of the gully, Lane and I sidestepped over the hump to our skier's right and looked down. It appeared it would go clean. I led downwards, finding surprisingly steep skiing for a glacier; these were some real turns. The ambiance made it feel more real, huge seracs above and the Price Spine Wall high above. The position was nuts.

Nate found a way through once he climbed up 100' or so that dumped him out just below where Lane and I had skied. We all met up at a bench at 6,500', taking a breath for a moment; we'd managed our route finding snafu, found a way through, and now had clear sight to the cross-over at 6,500' on Nooksack Ridge to our east. A short traverse, a short booter, and we'd be on the eastern lobe of the Price with a clear path to the lake. Almost through the crux!

We gazed around us, taking in the scene. This feels more like Chamonix than Washington dude, the scale is insane! The seracs, thousands of feet of glacier, and sheer ambiance was honestly hard to take in. This was not a place to hang out, but rather a place to admire and fear simultaneously.

Like a true idiot, I had forgotten to wipe my camera's SD cards before the trip and after snapping my final pictures of Nate skiing the headwall the red Memory Card Full message reminded me of my stupidity. DOH! Honestly, though, I wouldn't have wanted to fiddle with my camera in the upper Price.

We ski traversed over to the cross-over at 6,500' on Nooksack Ridge and quickly booted 50-100' or so up to the cross-over, the gate to the eastern lobe of the Price. Finally, in a spot safe from overhead, we paused. Wow...this is wild. We kept using that word, 'wild', because it was the only word that seemed to capture the emotion of what the Price was: untamed and inhospitable.

I took all the seconds I could to hastily wipe old photos off my camera before we pushed off the cross-over. I managed to clear enough space for the rest of the day and un-do my fuck-up.

We sighted our exit couloir to the east; the eastern lobe of the Price is much lower angle than the upper Price so we'd make big, wide turns and traverse over to it. The direct exit did also go but again, looked filled with debris and we didn't exactly want to be in the direct line of fire of a clearly active avalanche path beneath the Price. Nate went first, then Lane, while I stayed on the perch and pressed on the shutter. We'd crossed through the gnar.

We traversed over to the exit couloir, which was still firm re-frozen snow, and turned around to gaze at the Price. We were in no hurry, no rush, and needed to process what we'd just crossed through. Wild.

We skied southwest down towards Price Lake without issue, making our way onto the moraine wall above Price Lake. We noted how huge a moraine wall it was, like the Railroad Grade on Baker except Shuksan isn't a volcano! The Price Glacier falls all the way down to the lake, down to 4k! Wild.

The snow turned manky on the moraine wall and at one point Nate pointed downhill to get through a weird section, double ejecting and full explosion crashing. Lane and I watched suspensefully, not sure if we were watching our day turn into an epic or just a silly moment. I'm totally fine. A rip in the rear of his pants and something to laugh about, thankfully.

We skied down to the lake and sighted a huge ice cave at the terminus of the Price Glacier. We had to check it out. Lane and I skied over to it, peering in. Wild.

We skated across Price Lake, all of us excited at the novelty of skating it rather than skinning across. Not the most energy efficient, for sure, but conditions were pretty good. Across the lake, we found a spot to break through the ice and fill up on water. Water, full price.

We took a long break, again, unable to process what had just happened. The massive Price Glacier and North Face of Shuksan loomed above. Wild.

The next crux of the day: getting back. We had drawn a route on the map that contoured up through the forest to the west along a bench system that would lead us to the ridgeline separating Price Lake from the White Salmon. How this forest would be? Anyone's guess. After sipping Price Water we continued onwards.

The forest was shockingly easy and chill. Low angle, well-spaced trees, and plenty of snow coverage. We were all psyched on the ambiance of the forest, old and quiet. We mosied our way upwards.

Around 5,000' on the ridgeline we broke through the trees. The ridgeline offered panoramic views of the Shuksan Arm, the North Face of Shuksan, and the White Salmon. This is the best view of the arm I've ever had, Lane remarked. The light and position, together, made taking photos pretty damn easy. Point and shoot, enough said.

We topped out at 5,400' above the White Salmon drainage on a point we'd marked that would easily bring us back to the outrack from the North Face. We stopped to snack, again, watching skiers on the North Face. We saw one skier skinning back up the lower North Face, clearly turned around by our track out the BYS. We munched, like kids eating popcorn at a movie.

With the afternoon rolling on, we finally clicked into skis and readied for our descent back into the White Salmon valley. We skied trending skier's left on, shockingly, corn snow for a lovely descent back into the valley. We quickly were back on our old tracks from the days prior, skiing out the White Salmon back to the familiar dirt booter.

We didn't even bother putting skins on this time for the exit, fully leaning into the dirt booter. Sadly, the grill at the White Salmon lodge was closed...no burgers this time. The Baker lot was in full weekend swing, with fire pits and hooligans abound. We'd gotten what we had come for, a full value adventure. We fist bumped, hugged, Nate climbing into the car with Lane and I into mine, ready to head home.