Early morning near snow line
Right up until we headed south across
the US border the day before our ski ascent we were debating which
route to take. Both ascend the Roman Headwall, both would involve
carrying our skis at the start and end of the day, and both have some
crevasse hazard. The Coleman-Demming route also has some serac
hazard, and some reports indicate the crevasses tend to be bigger.
I think this is the Picket Range
In the end, we opted for the
Coleman-Demming route. When you have 2200 metres of elevation gain
and almost 20 kilometres of distance to cover in a day, it makes
sense to choose the shortest route. We also thought the west side
route would offer more skiing and less walking making the day just
that bit faster.
Seracs on the Coleman-Deming route
We parked our hashtag van
in a very scenic location the night before, pretty much overlooking
the route. This gave us plenty of time to worry about how well
bridged the crevasses would be, an important consideration as we were
going without a rope, harnesses or any method of extracting ourselves
from a crevasse should we fall in.
Climbing volcanoes in the
Pacific Northwest is a popular past time. In addition to private
parties, there are guiding companies whose entire business is
trundling people up and down glaciated volcanoes in the Pacific
Northwest.
Van life with a view
Very late May must be low
season guiding however as we did not see that many guided parties on
our ascent on the last day of May. We left the parking lot wearing
approach shoes with skis and boots on our day packs and started
walking up the Heliotrope Ridge trail around 5.15 am, a time that
many people would consider ridiculously late. Almost immediately we
had a slight delay as Doug's ski strap fell off and he went back to
look for it which meant I went back to look for him.
Morning light in the Pacific NW
Away again, we got to the
only fork in the trail, left goes to Glacier Lookout over Mount Baker
while right is the climbers track up to "the hogsback"
which is the crest of a moraine and a campsite for many people
climbing the route. At this junction we were able to walk west to a
gully with sufficient snow cover for us to switch from shoes to ski
boots and start skiing.
Small waterfall on the lower trail
At the top of the moraine
we passed a number of climbers hanging around tents and got a view
down the valley which was filled with early morning cloud. We had
very good firm spring snow conditions which made for fast and easy
travel and after the one slightly steep slope directly uphill from
the Hogsback camp, it was easy skinning all the way up to the col to
the east of Colfax Peak.
Morning valley fog
There is a pounded in yak
track from all the climbers going up and down the peak and we stuck
close to this to avoid crevasses, and although we skied across a
couple of small cracks, everything was well bridged. There is also
one section where we skied past some fallen seracs but compared to
skiing up the Athabasca Glacier under the seracs of Snowdome to
access the Columbia Icefields, the Coleman Glacier is a doddle.
Pounded in yak track
We passed a number of
parties descending - on foot - all of whom appeared to be dead beat.
Sadly for them, we passed one party twice as they descended, once as
we were going up and then whizzing past them again on the way down.
Near Colfax Peak
Past Colfax Peak, we put
ski crampons on for a short steep section that led to a ridge beside
the Roman Wall. I kicked about 10 steps but Doug managed to ski all
the way up, and then we had only to ski up the final steeper slope to
the summit plateau which is known as the Roman Headwall. Apparently
most people kick steps up but with ski crampons it was skiable all
the way.
Doug with the Roman Wall behind
The inauspicious peak of
Mount Baker is a little rounded snow bump on a big plateau and
perhaps a kilometre away across the flat summit area. It was here
that we really felt the altitude as we started skiing across at our
normal "flat terrain" skiing pace and were soon gasping for
breath.
Skiing across the summit plateau
The view is amazing.
Mount Baker is the biggest peak around and the panorama of the
Cascade Mountains is simply stunning. The weather was amazing, sunny
and calm on top. Not warm, it is only May and we are at almost 3300
metres, but really pleasant for sitting around enjoying the view.
All up, we were 7 hours to the summit, and, as it is only noon, we
don't feel we need to rush.
Yep, views for ever
After an appropriate
amount of time on the summit, we pant back across to the top of the
Roman Headwall where we take skins off and tighten our boots for the
2200 metre descent. Well, not quite 2200 metres as we did have to
walk the first bit through forest.
Looking down on everything
What a ripping run it is.
The Roman Headwall is a bit challenging as it is pretty steep and I
have to jump turn, but then it is spring corn all the way. We
managed to ski all the way back to our approach shoes in one hour
from the summit!
Colfax Peak
We snack and drink where
the snow runs out, then change into approach shoes and strap our skis
and boots to our pack and stroll happily down the track. Ten hours
round trip and we feel great.
