[TR] Mount Baker White Out

[Josh Lewis]

 

"Adventure isn’t hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life -- facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own unique potential" -John Amatt

 

After just doing a 30 mile backpacking trip, Collin invited me to go climb Mount Baker. "The fun does not stop here" I laughed as I was getting my gear ready. Michael and I checked the forecast which looked very nice, and we even checked the satilite thing on noaa's forecast which also looked good. The next morning Collin picks Michael and I up from my house. Before leaving we practiced z-pulley (we already knew it, but wanted to refresh on it). Then we head over to the Heliotrope Trailhead of Mount Baker. Last time I was there, I had to walk the road to the trailhead.

 

 

At the trailhead it was time to get ready for adventure. When we started hiking, I already felt my blisters from the previous trip. :shakehead: I instantly thought "This is gonna get epic real fast", but then I loosened my boot and it suddenly got a lot nicer on my feet. From here I had the opposite thoughts, "this trip is going to be as casual as it gets". We passed a few water falls, got a nice view of the Baker Seracs, and to my amazement were already at the Coleman Glacier.

 

 

 

 

Going up the slope for me was fun, as we kept walking, a helocopter flew over, I guess they don't call it heliotrope ridge for nothing. :lol: After this we crossed the mostly flat section and were already at base camp, in total it probably only took 3-4 hours (with us taking our time). At Camp the place was nice, it was not cold, had an interesting spot I call "The Window" because you could take photos through a narrow rock pass of the Twin Sisters. Michael and I hiked up to Point 7200 to get a good view of Colfax Peak, I could see now that clouds were rolling in. I figured they were just passing clouds.

 

 

 

Once we got back to base camp we cooked some food, boiled up some water, and I had a talk with a guide. They said they just climbed the North Ridge which I want to do some day, but plan on having practice ice climbs before then. Collin whipped out his cigar (he rarely ever smokes) and we got a photo for my cover of "The J-Team". After this we watched the sunset and went to bed.

 

 

 

 

Fortunatley we kept waking up in the night because we did not have an alarm. At 3:30 a.m. or so we decided it was finally time to wake up and get climbing. We decided to put Michael on lead because he has never gotten a chance at it. As we go up, we pass a 2 person rope team which was nice to know we were not the only ones going up. As we climbed up, there was some faint morning light coming through, but at the same time there was some clouds coming in from the West. I started to wonder at this point if they would interfer with the views above.

 

 

Once it was dark blue out, I loved the atmosphere of the place, it's almost like I imaged misty days in the mountains, crevasses to the left, dark mist to the right. As more mist rolled in, the view of the mountain was out, we were now in fog. For some reason the expression comes to mind "Who flipped the switch?". As we took a break the other team passed us, and I could hear dripping noises of the crevasse near by. It sounded like music, I was impressed by how nice it sounded. Then we preceeded on to the pass.

 

 

From here there were some winds that started to come about. As we went further, the winds got heavier as we gained more altitude. I eventually had to layer up in everything I had because it was just getting to cold. Earlier it rained a little, but now I could see that it began to snow. "This could be bitter sweet" I thought as we went up, I liked the feeling of the place, but at the same time I wanted to be able to complete this route.

 

 

The winds started getting even heavier, and I became quite cold, my hands were starting to go numb as well as my feet. We reached a giant flat zone which I knew exactly where we were. We were close to the summit. Stopped in front of us was the other team, and they had no idea where to go. The boot path was gone, our tracks we starting to blow away. One of the guys mentioned he had a gps which made me feel better. I knew from last year where the summit was. I found a snow shelter which was a hint that I was going the right way, then I found the faded tracks from the Easton Glacier route, and soon found the mound that was the summit.

 

 

When we reached the summit, we did not stay long, perhaps 2 minutes? The winds were at least 70+ miles an hour, and we were getting pelted with ice which was painful. This was the second worse conditions I have seen in my mountaineering. We tried to get off of the summit area as fast as possible. We were following the other group which it seemed as though it were the right direction, but we still were too far south. As we descended, we found a crevasse that cut across the path. "I don't remember this!" we all were thinking. I instantly realized this was the Easton Glacier trail, which if followed we would be on a completely diffrent side of the mountain. I asked the other group to check there gps. Unfortunately the gps ran out of power. "Typical situation" I thought as I fortunately knew the general direction in which to head towards.

 

We traversed going North which was working out, but there was some some what deep snow involved. We passed a crevasse or two, but my main concern was I did not like how the slope was softening up. Fortunately we found the trail, as we went down, the winds were less, and eventually I could feel my hands well again. From here on out we hiked through the fog to our camp site. From here we packed up fast, and headed down. As we were passing some small crevasses Collin decides it would be fun to see if he could fit in one. We all get ready to catch him, but they were to small.

 

 

Then we met some guys that were heading up, and I tell them it was snowing. "Have you checked the calandar lately? It's July incase you did not know" they cracked up joking to me. After this there was a steep section which was excellant for glissading down. Must have dropped almost a thousand feet in a minute. From here we ran down the trail, and I just so happened to see Priscilla which was nice to see her again. As we were running down, I tripped and fell. As I got up a moment later, I had noticed that I ripped my climbing pants! :rant: Oh well I guess I can always sue them. At the trailhead Michael showed Collin some photos of the trip and then we headed home. The next day I wondered where my camera was, turns out it went missing! I looked all over the house, Michael checked all his gear, Collin checked his car, nowhere to be found. The last place it was remembered being seen was the trailhead of Mount Baker (although it's possible we thought we viewed photos at the trailhead and it could be further up on the mountain). Besides that part, it was a fun trip.

 

Thanks Collin for taking us, I had a blast up there! Thanks Michael for leading. Unfortunatley because of the camera loss, that also means photo loss. For Collin's trip report, click here.

 

Here is a link to more photos: http://hikrs.com/photo?func=viewcategory&catid=76

[SExNW]

Glad to hear you boys got back down OK. We were a little worried with the bad weather that day. Also, we found your tent rolled over and upside down when we awoke that morning. I tried to tie it down, but it had no guy lines for anchoring off to rocks. Glad it didn't blow away!

[Josh Lewis]

Did it? We wondered as we were heading down if it was going to. So did you place it back on the same spot?

[SExNW]

I did; I "rolled" it back to the original tent platform. Maybe 2 full rotations. It blew towards the rocks, not the open glacier...otherwise I thought about putting some rocks in it. But the wind seemed to be dying down compared to what it was in the early/pre-light, so I put it back in place, and figured with the bad white out, that would be the least of your worries. We didn't actually meet, but I enjoyed talking with your friend.

 

C

 

 

[Josh Lewis]

Thanks! I appreciate it! We will have to take extra cation in the future on that.