Seracs at Baker

[climbingshuksan]

We've climbed seracs at Baker a number of times to prepare for the North Ridge, but nothing over more than a rope length (with anchors). We worked the lower glacier east of the bluff along Glacier View. Can you get better climbs by dropping entirely to the bottom of the Coleman Glacier? This would mean heading down the trail (from camp in trees), left at the moraine and dropping all the way to the bottom. In the past we've gone left from where the trail breaks on to the moraine, down about 200 m, and working those faces, but you only get about one rope length. There's still a lot of ice below that point - better climbing lower? Thanks.

[fenderfour]

I don't know of anything climbable over 1 ropelength on the lower Coleman. In fact, most of the stuff I've been on there is maybe 30m.

 

I have seen some spots that might be long enough to need a midpoint belay, but those walls are pretty unstable.

[Jason_Martin]

There is some stuff that's down there that's longer, but it is incredibly dirty. A guy I know top-roped down there and the dirt that got into his rope actually made a groove in the carabiners he was using in his anchor.

 

That said, you don't really need a super long route to stop in the middle and build a belay. Go halfway up the wall, build a belay and then continue. The wall could be thirty feet long, it doesn't matter if your goal is to learn how to multi-pitch on ice.

 

Jason

[dylan_taylor]

Cross the coleman at 5000' towards the medial moraine and bedrock between the coleman and roosevelt. Sometimes, no more than a few hundred feet up and right from the andesite outcrops, are some "slabs" of ice. 3 or 4 ropelenghts when conditions are right. some years it rocks, some years it sucks. A new hole in the coleman opened up this year (more global warming????) a few hundred feet above this spot.

 

Watch out for hangfire. If you have to wade thru large chunks of ice boulders and avy debris, you should probably rethink your routfinding.

Edited November 16, 2005 by dylan_taylor

[climbingshuksan]

Fenderfour, Jason, Dylan - thanks greatly for the replies.

 

It was an image I saw in the Ice Forum (few days ago) that suggested a longer pitch was possible. Jason - I think I know the spot your friend likely went down, it is very dirty and the only way down seemed by rope. We though you might be able to lose the dirt once you shifted to a more centered position at the base, but that may happen. We worked the ice just up from that location and got in a good day of single pitches. Dylan - I'll look into your suggestion. I'm pretty sure I know the area you are talking about. We stayed away from that area last year because of ice fall which as you said - can't be underrated. On one Baker trip we had great day until a chunk swept the slope 60 m from the face we were working. It erupted into blocky shrapnel leaving us with permanent reminder of the risks associated with using this area for training.

 

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