I would like to be able to say that I have climbed the Fisher Chimney route on Mt Shuksan. Unfortunately I have not. The mountain said no and I listened.
What I did do though is go all the way to the base of the Fisher Chimney and I’ll tell you a little about that because it was a little epic in and of itself.
We followed Beckey’s instructions to get to the Lake Ann trailhead to the letter. We got off at I-5 exit 255 and followed highway 542 past a lot of markers that he mentions. To get there it should be easy but because his directions are vague at best it took forever to figure it out.
What we figured out in the end is you follow 542 until you get to a rather large loop that circles a lake. It is a one way loop so follow it right until you are on the other side of it. On the other side of the lake you’ll see a turn off for a parking lot and another road that may be gated. If it is, park in the lot and started hiking about a mile up that closed road. The Lake Ann trail head will drop you into a valley so if you go too far and see the valley you are supposed to drop into just turn around.
When I went in mid-July the road was closed and any signage was buried under quite a few feet of snow. Eventually we found the trail head and dropped into the valley. If the trail is melted out follow it. When I was there we were jumping over snow-melt rivers and tip toeing over weak snow bridges. Eventually you’ll enter an old growth forest which is utterly breath taking. After you exit that you’ll head uphill towards a corniced ridge. Lake Ann is on the other side of that.
I can’t really give that many details about the approach because I sort of felt my way to Mt Shuksan but I hope you enjoy the pictures.
