[TR] Baker - Easton Glacier 01/29/2023

[geosean]

Trip: Baker - Easton Glacier

Trip Date: 01/29/2023

Team
@geosean @Albuquerque Fred

Trip Report:

Me and Fred have decided we need to get into bigger mountains, so to get ready for cold weather we decided on doing some winter volcanoes, Baker being the easiest nearby.

The weather seemed perfect if somewhat cold, and @thedylan offered to give us a tow with his snowmobile so the trip was a go!

On Saturday morning Dylan (really his wife Ellie drove) towed us from the snow line to the summer trailhead where we started skinning.

We skinned up the groomed, that's right groomed! Track up the Easton Glacier drainage to about 4400 ft where we broke left and headed to Park Butte. We ditched our stuff at the lookout then went for a look around for a couple of hours. We had a pleasant but very chilly evening hanging out in the lookout drinking and chatting.

After a very leisurely wake up of 5:00 a.m. and an extremely slow leisurely time getting out of the lookout we were finally on our way in the bitter cold. Fortunately the sun came up pretty soon and because it's mid winter it was shining right on us immediately.

The sun the previous two days made for really gross icy crust over soft powder that would have made for tough skinning if it wasn't for all the snowmobile tracks everywhere. Somewhat ironically they basically broke the trail for us.

Eventually we got high enough that the crust gave way to rime and hard wind packed sastrugi. We eventually put ski crampons on but not for very long and then at about the crater we switched to crampons and left our skis behind. The Roman Wall was extremely firm, but probably would have been okay if not a little hair raising.

All the way to here the predicted wind had really not materialized and we'd been skinning in the sun so it was almost pleasant despite being in the single digits. But once we hit the summit plateau the wind started blasting and the temperature dropped hugely. So we spent all of maybe 10 minutes on the summit and turned right around again.

The whole way up we have been thinking how crappy the ski down was going to be since the conditions were very variable with the only constant being firm. But actually everything ended up being pretty decent if you like hard icy skiing, which at 9,000 ft in the winter is more than you dare ask for.

The way out down the groomed snowmobile highway also went shockingly well. As long as you don't mind a lot of traffic. It's definitely not your normal wilderness experience but I can't complain.

We went into this trip hoping to learn something about how to deal with cold weather like the rest of the world experiences most of the time and all I really learned is to try to keep my nose covered, man was it red and sore on Monday.

 

Approach:

Sunset over the Twins:

 

Nearing the summit:

 

 

Fred skiing:

Gear Notes:
Glacier stuff, ski stuff, camping stuff, whiskey.

Approach Notes:
Snowmobile, it would be an easy skin.