Baker: Railroad Grade route beta for a newbie?

[Kiwi]

Weather permitting, I'll be doing the Railroad Grade/Easton glacier route with my BoeAlps group this weekend. Anyone have any beta for a newbie?

 

Is this is a pretty common route? How difficult is the Roman Wall? Will the summit be above the clouds this weekend?

[klenke]

What I know/remember:

You take the trail through Schrieber Meadow, get onto the moraine to the left (Railroad Grade) or climb up the center:

Eventually, you transition from unpermanent snow to permanent snowfield to glacier. Initially the crevasses are few and easy to avoid. We camped maybe 1000 ft up from the Railroad Grade about where the glacier starts. A lot of people camp in this area (some rock outcrops).

 

The next day you follow your nose..it's always nose. Although, Tucan Sam won't like the smell he's following: H2S emissions from the crater. Maybe the wind will be blowing the other way. You basically go up the glacier (few crevasses that I can remember when we did it in June 2000) heading straight for the obvious saddle of the crater:

From the crater saddle, you turn left and arc around the yellow cliffs above the crater. This is the Roman Wall part you're talking about but it's not the most difficult part of the wall. The difficult part is farther left (west). Expect steep snow/gelid firn with little in the way of crevasses. Even so, a fall here could be hard to stop depending on how hard the snow is:

The Roman Wall bends over to the flat summit area whereupon the hordes of other climbers there will sting away your solitude. Typically, you can unrope on the summit dome and traipse over to the knob to the east. This knob is often considered to be the true summit:

 

What will the weather be like? For a Kiwi: why perfect, of course. Haven't seen your mug at pub clubs too much lately. Where have you been?

[Kiwi]

Sweet! Thanks for the info and pics.

 

Yeah, I haven't been able to go to the pub clubs. Been really busy with school. Summer will be a different story.

[cracked]

Take skis. The Roman Wall was really nice last weekend.