spionin Posted June 7, 2011 Posted June 7, 2011 Trip: mt baker - easton Date: 6/5/2011 Trip Report: my little brother, who had never climbed a mountain before, recently decided that he wants to do rainier. so it was my duty to show him the ropes, provide a dose of reality, and try to kick his ass (the latter mission not accomplished). i decided to take him up baker. since he's getting married in two weeks, this was also like a demented pre-bachelor party (he's going to cabo next weekend for the real b.p. and some more sunburn, a little more his style). anyways. since i had done my other two descents of baker on skis, he decided that he wanted to drag his snowboard up as well. thankfully, rei rents full strap-on style vasaks, which fit his boots perfectly. his moon boots were also very comfortable the entire time, which was very fortunate. the approach goes through hwy 20 to baker lake road (about 22 miles from i-5). the road to baker lake t.h. (3200 ft) was still snowed in to about 2.5 miles. b/c of heavy snowmobile traffic, it's full of moguls and burms, which make the approach very tedious. the constant exposure to exhaust and the high-pitched "eeeeeeeee" isn't awesome either. the freezing levels this weekend were above 10k ft, it was very sunny and warm. the snow on the approach was very mushy and soft. the skins on my skis benefited from skin wax, and pavel came to appreciate his snowshoes. we made it up out of the woods in fairly unpleasant heat and constant sun, supplemented with regular water intake and generous sunscreen applications. our goal for the day was to make it to about 5500 feet, to treeline. we picked a nice spot, and i set off to do regular camp chores. pavel did what he does best - relaxed and sun bathed we spent a few hours learning snow skills, walking with an axe, walking on crampons, walking in a rope team, self arresting, and placing pickets and clipping off to them. i figured that we could turn around on our summit attempt if i saw crevasses, if anything felt marginal, or we were tired. we started climbing at 3:30 from our camp at 5300 ft. the severely softened snow had firmed up overnight, and crampons made for fast progress. took a few quick breaks, constantly assessing our comfort level and speed. based on times in previous reports, we made nice progress. i was very impressed with his tenacity and persistence (apparently, soccer and yoga make for a decent mountaineering training regimen ). i also made sure he kept focus, was ready to self arrest if needed, and was paying attention to his foot placements. we continued to have food and water, he did totally awesome, never got sloppy, and i felt comfortable enough to continue unroped. saw quite a line heading up the coleman deming, as we slowly made our way up our side of the roman wall. we were on the summit at 10:00. the views were wonderful - incredibly clear. we cheered with our summit almond joys, and started down. represent'n the initial part of the descent was a little unnerving. i made a few sharp turns on the scratchy, icy steep part of the wall, but also had a few falls and made use of my whippet. around 9000 ft the snow changed to an amazing, buttery softness, and we glided down in pure joy. so much so, that we flew past our tent, and then had to hike back up and search for it for about 45 minutes. d'oh! lower down, around noon at this point, the snow became quite sloppy, and we set off a wet slide. i could see it forming and got pavel to move off the slope as quickly as he could. no falls, but it was a little unnerving. we packed up and started a grueling descent. back by the car at 16:30. the road had melted out about a half mile since the previous day! as usual, stopped for a mandatory beer (and growler refill) at birdsview brewery on our way back to seattle and got treated to some live bluegrass renditions of beatles in their beer garden. great weekend, and needless to say - i'm totally proud of my bro! Approach Notes: two miles of walking up to the trailhead on sunday. follow snowmobile tracks up. Quote
YocumRidge Posted June 7, 2011 Posted June 7, 2011 Very sweet, - V! Glad you have finally took him out. So, Pavel is not into clubbing anymore? Quote
spionin Posted June 7, 2011 Author Posted June 7, 2011 So, Pavel is not into clubbing anymore? no, he is. he's just multitasking Quote
summithound Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 Sweet! We saw you guys at the summit. I think my buddy was the one who took the picture of you both holding the flag. Fun times! Quote
spionin Posted June 8, 2011 Author Posted June 8, 2011 ah, nice! it was definitely busy up there - lots of groups and everyone having a good time. good job, you guys. Quote
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