I also did Baker via Coleman/Deming this weekend. We ran into a descending group just as we started up the trail who warned us about all the new snow - might have been Sharon's friend - we thought we'd head up to camp & consider our chances for summitting then. We found a safe spot to camp at around 7100'. Definitely a lot of new and not-very-well-consolidated snow up there. Sunday morning it was slightly better; stable enough that we were comfortable heading up. The glacier was pretty easy to navigate despite poor visibility through the clouds. What crevasses there were, were easily avoided. To The Top: the wind died down later? Damn, I knew we should've slept in a couple hours. My face is still stinging from being constantly bombarded by 60 mph crystals. It was blowing the snow down on us so fast that by the time I'd covered the 10 or 12 m between me & my ropemate, his step was completely filled in. A few of the more wind-scoured portions had hardened & made for good cramponing but the majority was just a step-kicking slog up. I'd guess there was some moderate avy danger on the final stretch past the Roman Wall - the snow didn't feel quite as firm as I'd have liked, but neither was it sliding on the layer beneath. Completely different from the icy surface we had when doing the Easton route a year ago. It was a good climb & quite a bit of fun - but I was very happy to descend and get the hell out of the wind.
[ 06-14-2002, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Trillian ]
