Saturday, October 12, 2019

Mount Baker On Skis, Or Perspective Is Everything

Snow is falling in Canada, which  made me think it was time to write up our ski ascent of Mount Baker in Washington State. Done as a day trip from the road, the elevation gain is significant, about 2200 metres, and, the elevation gain is about the same whether you take the west side route - the Coleman Demming Glacier - or the south side route - the Easton Glacier. The Easton Glacier route is about 6 kilometres longer and being on the south side of the mountain, one would expect the approach to melt out sooner.

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.



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