As I mentioned in the Emmons Glacier trip report, the main objective for this trip to the Cascades was a technical climb on Mt. Rainier. We'd planned to ascend the Emmons Glacier on Rainier both as acclimation and as a way to scout our descent. Unfortunately, the conditions on the mountain this year haven't allowed for any ascents of Ptarmigan Ridge. We had heard from some guides on Emmons that the North Ridge of Mt. Baker was in condition, and as a technical climb of similar difficulty, we thought that would be a good objective.
The North Ridge of Mt. Baker starts like most trails in the North Cascades, through old growth forest. It follows a nice trail up and past some spectacular waterfalls before reaching treeline around 4000'. It ascends glacial moraine and permanent snowfields for another 2000' to high camp at Gargoyle Rock. The climb then winds its way through the heavily crevassed upper Coleman glacier in order to gain the lower ridge. Steep snow climbing leads to a major ice cliff which separates the lower ridge from the upper ridge. Once past the ice cliff, more steep snow leads to the bergschrund at the summit plateau, which must be crossed on snow bridges or end run. From there, an easy walk across the snow filled crater leads to the summit. Descend the Coleman-Deming.
7/11/14
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| Heliotrope Ridge trailhead (3200') |
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| Ascending the Hogsback Moraine toward high camp |
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| Derek taking in the sunset at high camp on Gargoyle Rock |
On the way to high camp, we ran into Kel Rossiter of Adventure Spirit Guides out of Burlington, VT who had just done the North Ridge with a client and he gave us some invaluable beta on the crevasse crossings and lower ridge navigation.
7/12/14
We left high camp about 2:30am on Saturday and followed Kel's boot track through the crevasses on the upper Coleman Glacier, reaching the base of the lower ridge just after sunrise. We simulclimbed the entire lower ridge to the base of the ice cliff, where I took over leading for three pitches of ice.
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| Full moon on the upper Coleman Glacier |
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| Simulclimbing to gain the lower ridge |
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| On the Lower ridge |
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| Ice cliff looms ahead |
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| Myself taking over lead for the ice cliff pitches |
Once passed the ice cliff, we ran into some horrendous snow conditions. The snow was soft enough that we were punching up to our ankles at minimum, so the going was very slow. We had a few hundred feet more of steep snow, then a bergschrund to navigate. The bergshrund was completely open, so we had to hike all the way around the end of it and back up. Soon after that we were on the summit plateau and it was an easy walk to the summit.
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| Steep, crappy snow above the ice cliff on the upper ridge |
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| Summit! |
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| Descending the Coleman-Deming |
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| "Trudging: the slow yet determined walk of a man with nothing left in his life but the will to just soldier on" |
We summited at 5pm, almost 15 hours after we left high camp. Bad snow conditions and slow rope transitions slowed us down, but beyond that we made very few mistakes. We had another 4 hours or so of descent down the standard route, and that put us back in camp about 10pm. I really enjoyed the North Ridge, and I think it was about the perfect level of challenge for our group. I think Ptarmigan might have been a bit more than we could chew, especially once you add in the extra time at high elevation. Comparatively, Mt. Baker is only 10,800' above sea level, so altitude is no where near the problem it is on Rainier.
