Baker--Coleman Headwall

[mjhclimbs]

We elected to camp low at the foot of the Coleman. Because of the heat we chose to leave early (0300) planning to be at the start of the climb by 6. Crossing the Coleman was more problematic, each of us fell into various crevasse to our waists at different times throughout the morning. It seems that last weeks two feet of snow did an excellent job of concealment, regardless we did manage to be at the base of the climb around 0830.

 

Note that there is evidence of a wet slide. I reason this was a wet slide because I could find no evidence of a crown. Conditions appeared stable and it was close to freezing, the Coleman had breakable crust with six inches of sugar snow below.

 

We ascended the narrow gully climbers right of the main ice bulge in the center of the face. John led the first section to the first ‘shrung where we stopped only to switch leads. I crossed the ‘shrung and took a direct line through the gully and below the Nose where there was a lot of rock fall. The rocks were small but frequent. I must have missed the ramp left to gain the middle of the face because I continued to the next ‘shrung around 9000ft. Here we took a short break getting some food and water. Fred and Frank our second rope team caught us here. In hindsight I should have placed a picket or two while in this section, if anyone had been hit in the face with even a small rock we would have been toast, lesson learned!

 

We nearly followed the shadow on the face created by the Nose in the picture to the first bergshrung on the main face at about 9000.

 

We had noted the path of past climbers on the face while checking out the route from the moraines the previous day. We also noted tracks while approaching the climb.

 

Now I could see the past route in the middle of the face but crossing where the previous team did seemed problematic. Fred surmised that there must have been a better snow bridge for that party. John elected to cross the shrung just above our rest spot close to the Nose where we began the long left traverse to the third shrung. Fred and Frank thought they would try to cross the shrung closer to the middle of the face. They encountered thin coverage and a broad opening which they were able to cross—belayed. Above the main shrung passed without note with the exception of our passing into the sun and the heat. John made a b-line for the large rock in the middle of the upper face where we were able to find shade. Gladly we all found refuge there in the shade. We took our second and well needed rest break. This was when we verified our elevation/location. Sadly we confirmed that we had another 800 ft left to climb. The upper section passed quickly and moderated to a more reasonable angle, my calves were thankful. Unfortunately the snow was well softened by the sun; there were a couple of sections where we were post-holing through knee deep corn. We crossed the upper mountain to the summit proper.

 

We returned via the standard route. I saw only one other party that day. They were heading up the Coleman in the early morning ahead of us by about 45 minutes.

 

A very successful climb that everyone enjoyed!

 

Gear Notes:

Ice axe, second tool, two pickets, helmet, aluminum crampons.

Edited June 1, 2005 by mjhclimbs

[tyree]

nice work! was there any ice?

[Chriznitch]

way to execute a well-oiled plan!

Nice work robert and girlz (root beer)

[mjhclimbs]

Sorry forgot to list the pic:

<http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=10862&sort=1&cat=504&page=1>

[mjhclimbs]

There was no ice to speak of. John tried to place a screw in at about 9500ft but decided against it.

[To_The_Top]

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=10862&sort=1&cat=504&page=1

Photos here. Good job!

TTT

[tomtom]

 

RIP John Augenstein and Mark Harrison (mjhclimbs)