[TR] Baker - Coleman Headwall 8/9/2010

[ptownclimber]

Trip: Baker - Coleman Headwall

 

Date: 8/9/2010

 

Trip Report:

 

This was an unlikely trip. I'm out of shape and the weather forecast was not promising. The forecast called for 50%, then a 70% chance of rain on Saturday, and about a 30% chance on Sunday. Monday's forecast called for partly cloudy skies. Not wanting to bail, four of us agreed to go Sunday-Monday. Pushing the trip out one day meant I would probably catch a little hell at work. It also meant I would get home a whole day later than my girlfriend was due home from Canada. Now I did have some reasons to go on this trip in spite of that. Owing to a long, sad litany of reasons, I' haven't been getting out much this year. OK, so they're not all sad reasons. Take the aforementioned girlfriend, for example. All of this explains how this climb came about when it otherwise might not.

 

 

Early Sunday morning we left gardens full of green tomatoes under cloudy skies. Is it really August? We made good time on the drive, avoiding weekend traffic. There was a little bit of precip on the way up, and some breaks in the clouds. We grabbed a bite to eat in Bellingham. Things were looking up. The promise of blue skies gradually faded; we arrived at the trailhead in a steady drizzle. Undaunted, we headed up - putting our faith in the prospect of clearing skies. The wildflowers on Heliotrope ridge were somehow more brilliant under the grey mist and silvery beads of water. The black rock glistened wet. We set up tents and tried to nap and dry out, hoping it would let up. Sure enough, by dinnertime things were dry and we started to get glimpses of Baker. We resolved to head up early. If the weather cleared, we'd go for the Coleman headwall. If not, we could always run up the Coleman-Deming.

 

 

 

We woke at 1:30 to a very fine, cloudy mist - just some visible humidity, if you will. Jeff had seen some stars at night, and we could see the moon through the clouds. We geared up and headed out. Very soon, we were climbing above this low cloud layer. Our excitement grew as the snow was nice and firm - well frozen over night. We followed an obvious boot track up, veering North somewhere around 8,000 feet. We headed straight for the tip of the Roman nose, but had to back-track and descend a little to find a reasonable way across.

 

 

Ever since last year's trip to Orcas Island, I've wanted to climb the West side of Baker to get a summit view of the ocean. It didn't look like this would happen, as a sea of clouds obscured everything below camp. Sunrise over this layer raised the excitement. Soon we were ascending up to the cone, through rock and icefall debris. The beta we had indicated a traverse onto a swath of black ice. Approaching this, the transition from snow to ice looked rather exposed, so we trended up and right instead. After a simul-climbing pitch, we found a nice belay that offered an option down and across the black ice, or up and through more broken up glacier snow/ice. We opted for the latter, and soon found ourselves crossing snow bridges on softer and softer snow. We didn't intend to avoid the black ice, but never found our way over to it.

 

 

As the hours drifted by, thin layers of high clouds were building, and the tide of low clouds was rising. By the time the sun crested the summit, the high clouds thickened, blocking the bright rays but not the warmth. Higher up, we encountered less ice but softer and softer snow. Things were taking longer than anticipated, and it was clear that ocean of clouds was going to beat us to the summit. By the time we got to the final bergschrund, it was snowing. Is it really August? This section proved to have the softest, steepest snow. We placed pickets, somehow finding psychological protection in their 0kN strength. By the time we topped out, snow was starting to accumulate and visibility was limited. The bright white snow over old, wet snow lent enough contrast for us to find the descent track. The lack of visibility seemed to extend the descent. On and on we slogged, down through the snow and into mist, then rain. Camp looked as wet as when we arrived. We stuffed wet gear into packs and soldiered out. The lack of sleep, visibility and dryness cast disbelief on the experience. Is it really August? Did that really happen? Sore feet confirmed that it did.

 

 

Not bad for a Monday. Thanks guys for a great outing.

 

[dirtysouth]

Way to make it happen.....especially from P-town!

[Pete04]

I might head up there this weekend, but haven't been past Heliotrope Ridge before. How well marked (/well tread) is the route up? This time of year I'm guessing there's a pretty good footpath - true?

[ptownclimber]

sorry just saw this. yes, there is a pretty obvious boot track.

[Pete04]

yea - went up there anyway, thanks though.

the boot track was not all that obvious compared to Rainier's DC the last time i did it. but yea, it wasn't too difficult. unfortunately the trail dead-ended several times at uncrossable crevasses, so we had to end-run a bunch of crevasses and then come back to the trail. thankfully the bootpack was followable b/c last sunday it was pretty well overcast up there and we only saw one other party moving towards the summit all day. is it always that desolate on Baker or did the weather keep people away?

[JoshK]

is it always that desolate on Baker or did the weather keep people away?

 

If you mean in comparison to Rainer's DC route, yeah I think most everything is "desolate"