Farrgo Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 Climb: Mt. Baker-Coleman Headwall Attempt Date of Climb: 6/9/2004 Trip Report: My buddy John and I rocked out of B'ham at 1 am this morning intent on doing the Coleman Headwall. We saw quite a few flashes of lightning on our way up to the trailhead but figured we were already awake so we might as well go. We reached the glacier at first light, roped up and headed toward the left of the Roman Nose. Right off the bat we noticed that there were many slots ready to open. The snow hadn't frozen up very much at all. My buddy John plunged through several crevasses up to his chest. I plunged through only once. The weather looked pretty iffy and about halfway across the glacier it started to rain pretty hard for about five minutes. We debated about if we should continue or not for about five minutes when a massive avalanche ripped down just to the left of the headwall. This was followed by another big slide toward the black buttes and several claps of thunder from some very ominous clouds. After this we decided today wasn't the day for the headwall. Gear Notes: None - Brought 4 pickets, 4 screws, 2 tools, standard glacier gear Approach Notes: Trail is half/half snow covered. First major stream crossing is tricky. If you are paying attention you can cut to the right long before you reach the standard climbers trail and save some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_Ramsey Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 How did the headwall look? Is the schrund gaping wide at this point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quikclimber Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 how crappy is the snow up there....im thinking of doing the standard coleman/roman wall route starting tomarrow and summiting friday. i thought the lower snow level would help cool down that snow from tuesday and consolidate it. is it worth going? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracked Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Take skis. Or a board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashw_justin Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 how crappy is the snow up there....im thinking of doing the standard coleman/roman wall route starting tomarrow and summiting friday. i thought the lower snow level would help cool down that snow from tuesday and consolidate it. is it worth going? Sure. Why not? There could be a little fresh snow higher up. As we are still deeply within Spring conditions skis are definitely nice to have. Altough, since on that route you'll probably be booting the last 1800 feet anyway, it shouldn't too much harder on the ascent just to bootpack. It's coming down that the skis are worth their weight in gu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrgo Posted June 10, 2004 Author Share Posted June 10, 2004 Ya I think that the standard route would have been fine. Snow wasn't so bad that it would be torture to boot up the thing, but definately not ideal for a steep climb. The headwall looked pretty prime to me, although I haven't been on it before. From the glacier we could see a couple straight forward lines just to the left of the roman nose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quikclimber Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 anybody want to come? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrgo Posted June 10, 2004 Author Share Posted June 10, 2004 i would but i got finals today and then its off to yos' for a week!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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