A Week of Adventures on Mt. Shuksan

By:  Sam
December 19, 2011


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Sam, dropping in. The shadow of Shuksan is visible in the background


Just before the whiteout, this was the most enjoyable part of the line

Things got a little ominous when we hit the cloud layer. Due to the lack of snow, the direct line through the cliffs at the bottom of the face isn’t yet skiable, so we did a large right hand traverse in the cloud above the cliffs before crossing a few crevasses and finally cutting back left. Had Allen not skied the line the day before and known exactly where to go, this part of the day would have been extremely nerve wracking. As it was, the whole process took about 15 minutes and, with the exception of one little fall from Allen, totally incident free. As we made our turn left, we finally got below the clouds and were able to look up at the cliffs we’d been blindly skiing over. It was almost 1:30 though and we still had several miles of skiing and 1000 vertical feet between us and the car and only an hour to get there if we were to get me to work on time. Our legs were cramping, but we managed to maintain a reasonably quick pace. As I walked into work, stinky and exhausted, it felt surreal that we’d managed to get so much done already that day. It took the last of my energy to keep my eyes from glazing over, but I made it through the rest of my work day with a smile on my face.


Almost back to the car

Thanks for reading and watching. We’ve been having a ton of fun out here recently and though we certainly wouldn’t mind some powder, Allen and I are probably going to be the last people you hear complaining about high pressure.

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Read about the author:   Sam
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: Slackfest 2010 — A(nother) Trifecta

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6 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    wrote on December 19th, 2011 at 4:41 pm  
    1

    Absolutely beautiful and breathtaking footage. Good on ya!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  2. powhounddd
    wrote on December 19th, 2011 at 6:09 pm  
    2

    That was a beaut of a TR. How do you navigate in the cloud? I’d be puckered.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Sam
      wrote on December 19th, 2011 at 6:50 pm  
      3

      You send Allen ahead and if he falls in a hole or off a cliff you go another way

  3. court
    wrote on December 20th, 2011 at 2:46 am  
    4

    nice work as always. your lack of snow is way better than our lack of snow.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  4. savant
    wrote on December 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am  
    5

    get work with that video – the exposure is hard to capture I’m sure but a few shots in there looked pretty sicky……

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  5. Anonymous
    wrote on February 28th, 2012 at 4:18 pm  
    6

    Nice “yellow snow” shot at 2:28… looks like someone was a bit dehydrated. Great footage though!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
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