Mount Shuksan's handsome profile from Picture Lake has become a frequent photographic cliché. It offers no less than five rugged faces, with four of them commonly climbed. Big and remote, with complex routes guarded by sometimes troublesome approaches, it's frequently the last barrier to a Mazama climber's 16 peaks award. The White Salmon Glacier route offers most of the interesting parts of the classic Fischer Chimney route (e.g Winiie's Slide, Upper Curtis Glacier and Hell's Highway), while avoiding the dangerous, scary, narrow sloping ledge scramble of the Fisher Chimney section. Best done before mid-June, before the snowmelt exposes ugly brushwhacking on the approach.
- Glenn Widener