brambo Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 The plan was to climb Mt. Baker via the Coleman-Deming route this weekend (26-27 May, yes, in Canada we didn't have a long weekend), with two other VOCers , however, as forecasted, the weather didn't cooperate... After a short drive from Vancouver (B.C.) we left the trailhead Saturday morning ~ 8am. When we reached the snow, it was still soft due to warm temperatures and lack of overnight cooling (cloud cover). This ended up being the general theme of the weekend... However, we managed to make quick progress to the Heliotrope Ridge. White-out conditions (50m visibility) made things somewhat interesting when we reached the Coleman Glacier. However, we reached the ridge fairly soon and made camp (~7000ft). Remainder of the day was spent building a camp, kitchen and making food. The weather cleared up late in the evening, making us very hopeful for the next day. However, we also got a decent look at our route and saw some big open crevasses we would have to navigate through the next day before reaching the ~9000ft pass between Colfax and Baker. You might want to rope up in case of a white-out... The next morning awoke us with rain and total white-out conditions. We decided to sleep a bit more... Rain changed to wet snow and back to rain again. More sleep. Rain stopped occasionally. We got bored and hungry, and made breakfast. Clouds did not lift, and the snow was still slushy, so we decided to ski out. Fast and non-eventful descent brought us back to the car. On the way down I lost a non-locking biner with a 22cm ice screw, blue 120cm sling, some prussiks and two locking biners... &*^$% must have fallen of my pack while skiing down. If anyone has found it (just posting this b/c there were at least 20 cars at the trailhead when we came back)... pls contact me. Thanks! Some more beta: * The Grouse Creek was open until ~4500ft (this is where a more continuous snow cover started. * On the way out, we could ski down to ~3800ft (about 10min's from the trailhead) only having to take off our ski's once. * Parking about 250-500m from the trailhead. Recommended winter/spring route: Start just behind a small cabin, about 50 meters beyond the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead. From this cabin, make an ascending traverse (stay on the West side, and close to, Grouse Creek) for about 10 minutes. This will lead you through the forest, crossing a small tributary of Grouse Creek (on map), to the base of a large avalanche path along Grouse Creek. Follow open terrain along the creek until a gully (open slopes up to ~40 degrees) branches off to the SE around 4700ft. Follow until on the Heliotrope (North) Ridge, and contour onto the Coleman Glacier to reach the tent city (~7000ft). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.