8/6 Baker N. Ridge climb Coleman ski, car to car
8/6/11
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3840
5
On Saturday Tony J, Eric N and I climbed the N. Ridge of Mt Baker. We left the car at 3:45am and tagged it again at 8pm. 14 hours up, 3 hrs down.
While the (sorta) plan was to ski the N ridge, a bunch of route finding fun on the Coleman glacier put us on the summit at 5pm and made it an easy call to descend the chill Coleman/demming. Though, as Tony said the N. Ridge was "eminently skiable" (on Aug 8 no less!).
The route is still in pretty good condition though it's significantly more cracked up than the trip report on CC from a couple weeks back.
We started on the coleman at about 6,000ft and had to take a very circuitous route around cracks and seracs. The better route is to start left at about 7800 ft. The berscrund to the apron is still crossable from the far left (a bit spicy). The apron is money, just don't fall.
Tony lead the ice and it was in good shape, took screws, crampons and axes well. Tony called it "plasticly" which I think is good. 2 pitches of real ice then steep snow.
The 'secret passage' is getting interesting with some exciting/rotten snow bridges over gaping cracks and long falls.
It was an amazing day with good buddies
Pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.719613671319.2206256.4810912&l=d874a64b41&type=1
While the (sorta) plan was to ski the N ridge, a bunch of route finding fun on the Coleman glacier put us on the summit at 5pm and made it an easy call to descend the chill Coleman/demming. Though, as Tony said the N. Ridge was "eminently skiable" (on Aug 8 no less!).
The route is still in pretty good condition though it's significantly more cracked up than the trip report on CC from a couple weeks back.
We started on the coleman at about 6,000ft and had to take a very circuitous route around cracks and seracs. The better route is to start left at about 7800 ft. The berscrund to the apron is still crossable from the far left (a bit spicy). The apron is money, just don't fall.
Tony lead the ice and it was in good shape, took screws, crampons and axes well. Tony called it "plasticly" which I think is good. 2 pitches of real ice then steep snow.
The 'secret passage' is getting interesting with some exciting/rotten snow bridges over gaping cracks and long falls.
It was an amazing day with good buddies
Pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.719613671319.2206256.4810912&l=d874a64b41&type=1
A few more pics
~brandon
~brandon
Great write-up B. Excellent time with great folks! Some more route info from our trip here:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1030280/TR_Baker_N_Ridge_Climb_Ski_Rec#Post1030280
More photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150272823452278.342600.774392277&l=299ccc4213&type=1
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1030280/TR_Baker_N_Ridge_Climb_Ski_Rec#Post1030280
More photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150272823452278.342600.774392277&l=299ccc4213&type=1
nice trip, fellas! looks like some quality August ski fun.
did the same a few years ago in July (i think; maybe June?) and the N ridge looks even more skiable now than it did then. crazy.
did the same a few years ago in July (i think; maybe June?) and the N ridge looks even more skiable now than it did then. crazy.
Good one....Thanks for sharing.. My brother Andy and Dan H skied it last year sometime in August..My brother made a little you tube video of the descent.(For some info)
I was hoping to do some serac climbing down at the toe of the Coleman this weekend. Any word on how it looked?
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