[TR] Mt. Baker - Lower Coleman Icefall (Photos)

[lukeh]

Trip: Mt. Baker - Lower Coleman Icefall

 

Date: 9/30/2012

 

Trip Report:

Alin getting ready to ascend the northern serac on lead. We made our way in between two large seracs separated by a deep crevasse. Towards the far end ice blocks had filled in the top of the crevasse. Linsey belays from the ice blocks, anchored into the south serac with a screw or two.

 

After visiting the serac-filled Coleman Glacier icefall several weeks ago before a North Ridge attempt, I knew I had to return to get more images. This time I enlisted Linsey Warren who I also thought would be perfect for some Steadicam shots in heavily crevassed areas during the day. I've been reviewing my Untitled Time-lapse Project and decided it needed more of a human element to better connect the spectacular landscapes with our relationship to that environment. Alin also agreed to join the adventure and ended up leading on ice at night. 

 

For this trip I ended up bringing my 10-pound large Gitzo tripod legs and Sachtler tripod head to get some smooth pans. This made my pack around 75 pounds after offloading some group gear to Linsey/Alin. After arriving at the lower Coleman glacier near some large seracs around dark, we setup camp and starting preparing to do some icefall exploration by moonlight. We made a B-line for the most interesting, largest seracs and climbed through several block systems until finding the perfect spot. As Alin lead I began to feel more nauseous than I've ever felt in my life. I struggled to setup a time-lapse wedged in-between these two massive seracs on a small ledge next to a black hole. I became so sick and developed such a headache I couldn't continue and had to climb out back onto the flatter area on the glacier. There I tried again to setup a time-lapse and could not due to the nausea and pain. I made it back to the tent and then puked up a ton of liquid and went to bed still in great pain. I was devastated that I would not be getting a motion-controlled time-lapse in these seracs as the scenery was gorgeous and I had carried all of the gear up here. There was, however, nothing I could do. I've been sick before and still managed to setup my shots, but this mysterious force kept me pinned to the ground.

 

Luckily the next day the photography/cinematography gods shined down on us after what looked like a dead-end path through an extremely broken up serac system. I wanted to turn around after climbing up a series of ledges only to face steeper terrain and more crevasses, but Linsey was determined to break on through to the other side. She placed a couple of screws and made it up past a crevasse/ice wall that I thought would drop off on the other side. Turns out it lead us to a perfect playground of crevasses, ledge systems, moats, and seracs. We spent the rest of the day filming travel across these systems. Running out of time we weren't able to descend into a crevasse/moat system for ice climbing footage, so hopefully the weather gods allow for at least one more weekend of filming before winter arrives.

 

Alin leading up the northern serac while Linsey belays. A mysterious and powerful nausea and migraine headache starts to come over me as I take pictures on the ledge of a crevasse.

 

The next morning we make our way through a maze of seracs. Linsey follows me through this hole, which I barely fit through to gain a series of ledges. Photo by Alin Flaidar.

 

Linsey easily takes the lead up some steep stuff after I turn back, concerned we would spend all day in the icefall and possibly get stuck. She found the perfect playground you see below after we had to make our way over more ledges with even wider crevasses. Photo by Alin Flaidar.

 

Alin and Linsey look out across the late season lower Coleman glacier. We had reached this point through Linsey's perseverance at ice climbing through a jumble of intimidating seracs.Click for 500px.com version.

 

Alin takes a picture of Linsey perched atop a narrow bridge in a large crevasse moat system.

 

Me planning a shot with Linsey up a narrower ledge between two moats/crevasses. Photo by Alin Flaidar.

 

Steadicam footage will go into my Untitled Time-lapse Project, which I hope to release by year's end. Copied from my blog.

 

Gear Notes:

Pickets couldn't be placed on/near the icefall - too hard.

Edited October 9, 2012 by lukeh

[Dave7]

Nice pictures. The first couple remind me of something you would see in some sort of old school syfy thriller. Sweet shots!!! I look forward to the timelapse!