Glacier Skiing Mt Baker questions

This is my first season BC skiing. I've gotten out on some big terrain including Mt Hood. I'm looking at hitting Baker soon. Is there anything beside the obvious that I should know that makes glacier skiing different? I've climbed Baker in the summer before, but never been on it in the winter. How much coverage typically (or specifically to this season) does it get in terms of snowpack covering crevasses? Do you rope up for skinning up? When skiing down is it like navigating a minefield of crevasses or pretty mellow?

I hear CD side has better skiing than Easton, but is Easton more straight forward for a new glacier skier?

What is road access like for each of these approaches?

Any other recent beta or reports on conditions up there recently?

Thanks for any help!

(And if anyone has time off this week I may be heading up there Thursday or Friday. Let me know if you wanna join!)

I'm far from an expert, but here's my two cents...

Skiing crevassed terrain in the winter is significantly different than in the summertime- one of the biggest issues in the winter, aside from the usual avalanche hazards, is that winter storms can thinly bridge crevasses with snow not thick enough to support one's body weight, and until there's been a reasonably long period of warm weather, those thin bridges won't sag, fail on their own, or be all that obvious.   
One of the better examples of what a thin snowbridge failure looks like is this old report from Jason Hummel back in '02...scroll all the way down to the last picture
www.cascadeclassics.org/MountRainier/Ing...mDirect,Winter02.htm

Roping up while skinning is personal decision for ones own risk tolerance, but I would rope up. I usually do even on the Coleman Deming, Easton routes in the summertime.

Both routes are good skis under the right conditions, both have long approaches this time of year.  I've skied the Easton before in the middle of winter- expect to spend a full day skinning up the road just to get to the alpine- and you'll be passed by snowmobilers on the road and up on the glacier.  There's a pie-shaped wedge of land from Sherman  Peak south across most of the Easton and Squak that is 'recreation area' not wilderness, you'll see it on a USGS map. In the winter and early spring its legal for snowmobilers to be up there zipping around. 




 

Thanks for that info. Maybe I'll hold off for now. Not sure if I have more than 1 day available. What is the best time of the season for skiing baker in terms of these weak snow bridges revealing themselves and shorter approach and prime snow quality? Early-mid Spring?

Great skiing can be had on Baker until July, sometimes into August. Plenty of season left. To ski to the car, you'll want to go as soon as the road melts out to the trailhead.

often by late May to early June, one can drive most if not all the way to either trailhead, snowmobilers will be gone, and crevasse navigation is pretty straightforward.   Baker can be a good ski well into mid-late summer.  I'm sure trip reports will pop-up regularly on TAY once its summer corn season up there.

Glacier Creek Road is currently close near the highway which makes for a very long approach on the road just to get to the trailhead. I haven't seen the problem but I'm told it's a combination landslide/washout. I don't know what the repair schedule is like but I hope they have the road open again before the summer season is in full swing. The south side is a very long approach as has been said already. I think Rd 12 is clear for about 2 miles after you pull off Baker Lake Road. The Easton seems like a more appealing ski to me but I've only done the CD route in April. I thought it had too much traversing to be much fun but I'm on a split board. If I did it again I'd ride more fall line and then skin back up in a few spots instead of holding a high traverse from the CD col to the Grouse Creek drainage.

Good luck and have fun!

If I were you I would not go unless you have someone who is familiar with the mountain. There are a few people on here who took me under their wing when I was very green and I am glad it worked out that way.

If you do go, the Squak route is very straightforward right now, I have been up that way four or five times this season including this weekend. The normal spring route on the Easton side seems to have opened up a lot since 2013, I am still waiting for it to fill in more. Snow was good on Saturday, a bit windblown above 8k. You can follow snowmobile tracks up the back door route straight to the Squak. You can drive to within about 2mi of the TH.

There is a great piece of literature in th WWU Library that summarizes early attempts on Mt Baker. Hostile Indians up the Skagit...Squock and Talum up the Nooksack.

Have skied Baker every month of the year.  I argue CD is easier; especially from a crevasse-navigation perspective.