Brief report:
Well, I got a good taste of North Cascades climbing. Hiked with Alex Gorokhov and David Valdes.. We started from the Shannon Ridge trailhead (2500') just before noon on still partly cloudy skies. Then, half an hour into our approach, clouds started to come in. By the time we reached the North Cascades National Park boundary sign (at ~ 4700') at 3:30pm, clouds were very dark and it started to rain. Then, up the hill to the pass/saddle. Visibility less than 100 yards from here on. More and more rain.....we got quite soaked. We finally & quickly made camp at 6200' (about 50 yards uphill from the toilet). We tried our best to dry out all 3 of us on a small 2-man tent. It was crowded in there with Alex and David. It rained all night long....not only that, then the winds picked up and it howled most of the night. None of us got any sleep at all. By 8:30am next morning, we said f*** it, broke camp and headed down. All 3 of us got even more soaked on the walk-out (it had been raining now for over 20 hours...and was still raining!!) When we reached the trailhead, it looked like the 3 of us came out from a swim with all our clothes on......completely drenched in rain water. Ah.....the fun of North Cascades climbing! Bring several umbrellas!
Additional info about climbing Mount Shuksan can be found here.