Home > Trip Reports > July 12-13th, 2008, Boulder Glacier, Mt. Baker

July 12-13th, 2008, Boulder Glacier, Mt. Baker

7/12/08
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
4276
8
Posted by Lisa on 7/16/08 5:20am
Boulder glacier offers a crevasse free ski from atop the cleaver at 9000 feet to 4800 feet before a short rappel.
The approach meanders faintly through the dense forest and thick brush a couple miles before it climbs steeply nearly 1000 feet through sprawling roots and water almost a mile up to the basin at 4000 feet.
After we met five climbers descending as we came out of the trees, we saw no one the remainder of our trip.  I chose this route for the solitude it offers and true wilderness ambiance.

A short scramble led us to the ridge where we found running water and splendid views of Shuksans north face. 

Sunday we skinned the roughly 4000 feet to the top of the cleaver moving slower in the ever increasing warm temps and windless skies. 
Although the plan was simply to ski the cleaver route, being so close to the top made me want to keep going as I fought the inner voice that wanted more.  The upper route was laden with large crevasses that would require some sketchy skiing and without crampons and sticking to our schedule we thought it best to descend as planned. 

We relished in fantastic corn skiing and were back at camp in 35 minutes.  We vacillated between skiing down to the meadow which would take more time, or making the short rappel.  My 30 meter rope was not long enough for the rappel so Scott was kind enough to go first and test the fixed wet rope.  With skis on the pack negotiating the tree and roots added some spice as I turned into the hillside grasping the roots to fix the rope into my ATC.

Once down we donned skis again and meandered through the meadows a few hundred feet to the trail.  Back down the soggy trail laden with slick roots made for some short dance moves and back onto the dry trail for a more relaxing walk to the car. 
We stopped in Mt. Vernon for Mexican food and ran into Christy, Hannah and Jason and swapped stories of our outings.

Scotts photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/roamin.grizzly/MtBakerskiing

Mine: www.flickr.com/photos/9883272@N03/sets/72157606211241387/
Hey Lisa, nice tour. I'm interested in repeating this one . Can you give some more details on trail-head , length etc. Is it a two day tour or can it be done in a day?
Thanks
Scotty

Thats a b ushel of bush whackin! Looks good, hindsight being what it is I should've gone with ya!

author=Scotsman link=topic=10668.msg43388#msg43388 date=1216271301]
... Is it a two day tour or can it be done in a day? ...


It can definitely be done as a day trip.  Sky does it all the time!

Figure that it is about two hours longer up and an hour longer returning than the C-D slog. So, if the Coleman Deming trip gets you back to the car by 3:00, you should get back to car from the Boulder Ridge trip about 6:00 PM. Better put TWO beers in the creek!

For me, it is a mandatory two-dayer!

Two days is casual and nice if you are not in a rush. 
"Better put TWO beers in the creek!"  There is no creek near the parking lot, best bring a cooler and have fun.  :)



Hey Lisa,
It was great running into you on Sunday! Next time, we'll have to meet up before the climb. Although those margaritas were awfully tasty....
:)

author=Lisa link=topic=10668.msg43406#msg43406 date=1216329643]
...  There is no creek near the parking lot ...


Good point.  The official beer stash for this route is the creek about 1.5 miles up the trail.  There is a real advantage to this -- it make the last mile and a half of the return more bearable.  But if you space out and get back to the car, feet smoking, and remember that the beers are over a mile up the trail ... expect tears!

Very cool!!  Looks like a great ski!!!!!!!!  CONGRATS!!!

author=tim_place link=topic=10668.msg43417#msg43417 date=1216398738]
The official beer stash for this route is the creek about 1.5 miles up the trail.  There is a real advantage to this -- it make the last mile and a half of the return more bearable.


Why didn't we think of that Lisa?

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july-12-13th-2008-boulder-glacier-mt-baker
Lisa
2008-07-16 12:20:21