In North Cascades Park, Washington State, early September 1965, snapped by either Gary Snyder or Martine Algier, from a cache of color slides we recently unearthed. Courtesy Ginsberg Estate.
Allen’s journal entry from that week: Up early ate & climbed thru long plateau forest by white church river till we came to great meadows walled with brown ashen cone on one side and snow botched grey ridge on the other—White Mt.—to a place called White Pass, a hill saddle 6400 feet where standing we could look back on the ridges sunning up the glacier peak, and on the other side west we could see great ranges of glacial mountains—craggy in clear afternoon light stretching from one end of the Horizon to another
from Fall of America Journals, 1965-1971, paperback due out this Fall from University of Minnesota Press.
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Diablo Lake Thunder Arm North Cascades, Washington by Steven Gordon / 500px
Escape to the enchanting Diablo Lake Thunder Arm in the heart of Washington's North Cascades. Immerse yourself in the beauty of nature with this captivating photograph by Steven Gordon. Find more visually inspiring content on our Pinterest board.
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JUNE 1, 2013 – MT SHUKSAN – SULPHIDE GLACIER
Last year at the end of May we attempted Mt Shuksan, and were shut down due to getting up to the pyramid a bit late, and the soft snow zapping the energy from the bootpackers in the group. This year we aimed to have everyone on skis, set a higher camp, and get up there a bit earlier.
We started on Saturday AM from the Shannon ridge TH, which was easily driveable, in contrast to last year where we added ~1 mile of road walking to our trip. There was also less snow up on the trail, as we walked up to the third switchback of the summer trail before hoofing it up the snowslopes to gain the ridge above.
Nicole and Erika heading on up through the trees
Lunchbreak under the tarp – this setup was just practice, but it was put to good use soon after!
Two climbers high up on the Sulphide glacier (view from ridge below notch). CLimbers are on slopes above the 6400′ bench
Soon the ridgelines started to disappear into grey…
Nicole and Erika making their way up to the notc. Baker Lake and weather behind.
Pulling up to the notch just in time to catch a rainstorm
We huddled under the tarp to keep dry in the intense but short rainstorm that passed through. The UW model proved fairly accurate with its midafternoon system moving through and then general, close clearing
cleared up enough for a rainbow
Traverse track from the notch around to the Sulphide glacier
Bryan leading the way across
clearing skies as we climbed the slopes up to 6400′ camp
camp… I love camps with views of starry skies…
good morning Baker
Little snow peak above camp
Summit pyramid visible from camp
Sunrise provided some amazing light as we prepared to head up to the pyramid
High on the Sulphide glacier
Northern Pickets from high up on the Sulphide. Mt Challenger is the largest peak on the left – its namesake glacier shrouded by clouds from this view. Phantom Peak is the high point on the right.
…amazing scenery…
…mountains and clouds…
Looking back down on camp (We are the two BD tents center left. Nols group above us)
scenery off to the right as we approached the pyramid
Nicole climbing through the upper Sulphide
Bryan taking in the views
Nicole topping out on the steep slopes above camp
…getting there…
Climbers on top – jealous!
We watched them pitch out walking down the gully. They didn’t appear to have much trouble, but did take their time, which was another reason we went over to the ridge around to the right.
Upon reaching the base of the pyramid, I pushed up onto the notch on the right hoping to get a view around of a scramble route to the top. It wasn’t promising, as exposed rock moves with downsloping slabs and partial snow cover would make the climbing committing. We hadn’t really prepared for a full on technical climb on the pyramid – just a few pieces of rock pro to back up raps if we needed to. Bryan scratched a ways up and checked out the route before pulling the plug on trying the ridge. Being that it was only 11AM, I wish we had taken a shot at going up the gully, but we were afraid that the detached rime ice that was prevalent everywhere would start raining down once the sun really started to work on the upper pyramid. Looking back now I think we would have been OK to shoot for it, and should have just taken a rope up to have a belay down for Nicole as we worked our way down. I was fairly bummed about being shut down again, but now we have an excuse to try an April Nooksak traverse trip… Baker ski area to Mt Shuksan via the White Salmon, then traverse out below the Nooksak ridge before climbing Ruth and Icy and out Hannegan Pass TH. More likely for the gully to be fatter and better for skiing then too!
We flipped it and started out ski down, enjoying lots of consolation turns on the way down. Up high the conditions were great corn, though the visibility kept us from being able to open it up too much, it was difficult enough just staying together.
Bryan about to ski the last slopes down to camp
Back at camp we ate some more food, hydrated and started the packup for the long ski and walk out. Despite the thick heavy snow below, I only wiped out once, in spectacular head over heels flip action. The tripod and random junk I had tacked onto the outside of the pack all made the flip with me, though!
And the timelapse turned out OK – was a bit cloudy in the middle of the night, and the method I was using to transition from night to day has still left some significant flickering… more practice needed there! Also think the tripod sunk into the snow as it was warmed by the sun in the morning… will need to fabricate some metal clamps to attach to the legs…. or maybe some sort of repurposed snowbaskets…
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Gary Snyder, Prototype of Kerouac's Dharma Bums (1957) fictional hero, 8 day backpack climbing in wilderness area of Northern Cascades, Glacier Peak, Washington State, Gary back from a near-decade in Kyoto studying & practicing Zazen. My first mountain walk. My first mountain walk, August 1965. [Photo & caption: Allen Ginsberg courtesy Allen Ginsberg Estate & Stanford University Libraries] #garysnyder #allenginsberg #martinealgier #northcascades #glacierpeak #kodachrome #dharmabums #japhyryder #jackkerouac #mountainsandriverswithoutend #earthhousehold #turtleisland #northcascades #northcascadesnationalpark (at North Cascades National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CinJkg4u9yN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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