suge Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 (edited) Trip: Mount Baring - West Ridge - South Slope Date: 4/7/2007 Trip Report: I needed to get out in to the alpine, but I also needed to get broken in before doing something more difficult. I hadn't been up Mount Baring (Baring Mountain) and had heard wonderful things about its North Face. Well, maybe by wonderful I really mean terrifying. I would get broken by a route over there. So, instead I headed over for the standard scramblish route running up the West Ridge and onto the South Slope. You can read a full on TR at http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett/local/baring/index.html Here is a shorter, less long winded one. Mount Baring's north face is a little scary. Things there are of the grade V, 5.10 variety. I should probably get a wee bit stronger before I try a route there. From the Barclay Creek trailhead, an old road grade (not the trail!) leads about 300 meters to a large cairn that mark the start of the climbing route. Er, rather the bushwhack. There is something of a trail, and occasionally you get some flagging tape, but mostly just head up slope via the easiest route you can find. As no route is especially appealing, don't agonize over it, just go. From the top of the ridge (about 4000 ft, 1800 feet above the trailhead), you'll have about a mile of pleasant, mostly flat walking. Dip to the south and continue your traverse along the flanks of the mountain. There is hard, icy snow here in the forest and you'll want crampons and an axe. Climbing up to a notch at about 4800 feet where you can see the rest of the route. Cross the basin and head up the obvious snow gully. The main peak is to the left. The snow was in good condition and the steep gully was no problem. Without snow, I don't think this would have been very much fun. This is a view down the gully to some other people in our group coming up. The gully steepens to around 35-40 near the top, but the snow was in great condition and going up was like climbing a ladder. From the notch you get some excellent views off toward Mounts Hinman, Daniel, and Stuart (L->R, Hinman is the snowy, ridge like thing on the far right). From the notch, make a left and climb steep (but super good) snow toward the summit. Traverse to the left after the initial climb, through some trees, to reach the summit block. Beware that there are some cornices hanging over the north face. If you venure out onto one and it breaks, you'll fall for a couple thousand feet before you deck. Here is Steve chilling on top. The descent follows the same route, but dropping off of the West Ridge is really rather unpleasant. Steep and brushy, we had to use a lot of roots and rocks to make our way down. Be careful and take your time. Gear Notes: Bring a helmet as rock fall is fairly common lower down in the brush. An ice axe and crampons are fairly mandatory at this time of the year, but you only really need the crampons along the traverse from the West Ridge up and onto the notch at 4800 feet. Approach Notes: Take US2 to Baring and make a left on a FS road marked for Barclay Creek. Drive to the end of it and start up the old road grade. About 5 hours to summit, about 4 down. About 4000 feet of gain. Excellent early season or winter climb. It would pretty much suck in the summer. Edited April 8, 2007 by suge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldbfree Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 very nice - that's a solid day. a friend and i nicknamed baring "mt bitch" after getting foiled by crappy weather the past 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 was this the same party as this TR? http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/666839/page/1/gonew/1#UNREAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluka Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 was this the same party as this TR? http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/666839/page/1/gonew/1#UNREAD No... different party. They neglected to mention that they didn't have to do any postholing because we did it for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suge Posted April 11, 2007 Author Share Posted April 11, 2007 You guys did a great job for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottP Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 was this the same party as this TR? http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/666839/page/1/gonew/1#UNREAD No... different party. They neglected to mention that they didn't have to do any postholing because we did it for them. Actually, they did mention it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suge Posted April 11, 2007 Author Share Posted April 11, 2007 Yeah, that is the longer winded trip report that I also put up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluka Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Yeah, that is the longer winded trip report that I also put up. Nice TR and photos. Nice meeting you guys on top and sharing a nice summit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbabler Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Nice meeting you guys near the summit. I have my pictures posted here: http://www.northwestendeavors.com/Baring/baring.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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