Buckaroo Posted October 25, 2009 Posted October 25, 2009 Trip: Mount Baker - Coleman Seracs Date: 10/24/2009 Trip Report: Don't know where all the couch climbers are the post in "partners" got no bites... but went up on the Coleman and soloed a bunch of vertical and near vertical ice, the weather was perfect and the ice in the sun was perfect plastic. A little brittle in the shade but still very good. Mostly short stuff like 20-40ft but quality. There was bigger walls but you would have to rap down into slots. Looked like some were a pitch deep. Some interesting technical moves topping out on a knife edge serac top. You get to the top and hook the top edge then up and over looking for a flat enough spot to stop and rest before downclimbing. Sometimes having to reach over the top and get an upside down stick in the opposite face and mantleing at least one of your sticks. Lots of traversing and lots of downclimbing, working different techniques than just climbing up. The weather was partly cloudy and a sunlit Baker was visible as the clouds came and went. Freezing level about 4,000ft. The parking lot was full and thinking everyone was on the Coleman, there was about 30 climbers there. But the serac area is huge so there was plenty of ice for everyone. The stream crossings weren't that bad but I dropped a ski pole into a plunge pool and lost it. Tried fishing for it with a tool but no dice and that water is cold. The road was in good condition, just a few potholes here and there. ICE JUNKY GETS A FIX YEAH!!!!!!!! (sorry no camera this time) Quote
DPS Posted October 25, 2009 Posted October 25, 2009 Don't know where all the couch climbers are This couch climber was on Prusik peak. Quote
cbcbd Posted October 26, 2009 Posted October 26, 2009 Hey Dan, were you guys the ones with stuck ropes on the summit? Quote
YocumRidge Posted October 26, 2009 Posted October 26, 2009 Nice work! If I knew I would have joined you for the ice bouldering. How does the upper Coleman look like these days? Any chance of summiting via Coleman? Quote
Buckaroo Posted October 26, 2009 Author Posted October 26, 2009 Nice work! If I knew I would have joined you for the ice bouldering. How does the upper Coleman look like these days? Any chance of summiting via Coleman? Yeah as an old ice climb partner used to say (in a ghetto accent) "hook it up" I think the top of the Coleman would have powder snow bridges, sort of scary to climb. I remember a summit attempt at this time of year where we were zig-zagging around slots and it was scary because of the new snow up high. Quote
Buckaroo Posted October 26, 2009 Author Posted October 26, 2009 Don't know where all the couch climbers are This couch climber was on Prusik peak. then you ain't a couch climber. Unless you took your couch up there and leaned it on the crux like a ladder and climbed up it. Quote
DPS Posted October 26, 2009 Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) Hey Dan, were you guys the ones with stuck ropes on the summit? Nope. The climb and descent went off with out a hitch. We summitted at 2:00. Hiking back under the north face on our way out we heard voices and wondered what was up. Were you up there too? Edited October 26, 2009 by danielpatricksmith Quote
cbcbd Posted October 26, 2009 Posted October 26, 2009 Yeah, we were on the Burgner-Stanley and topped out just as it was getting dark. There was another party on top who had done the WR waiting for us so we could untie their ropes that were getting stuck on the first anchor. Our rope also got stuck off the first anchor and then stuck for good lower down. Long day, long night, long story Quote
DPS Posted October 26, 2009 Posted October 26, 2009 Wow, that does sound like a long story. We lucked out, every rappel went smoothly. Quote
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