Oct 29, 2011, Coleman Glacier, Mt. Baker

A bit of a conditions report for anyone planning to take advantage of this short weather window coming up. We found 4-6" of windbuffed snow on top of a hard rain crust all the way to the Coleman-Deming saddle. It skied very well, and only felt the crust in a few wind-exposed areas. We opted to rope up due to the new snow and potential for thinly bridged crevasses, however, the cracks were easy to avoid. We turned around at the Coleman-Deming saddle due to lowering clouds obscuring the summit and the high winds buffeting the Roman Wall. As reported here, there was excellent skiing to be had in the Heliotrope Ridge area, and we were happy to do a couple laps after our retreat from the higher reaches of the mountain.

For an idea of snow level, as of 10/29:

We started skinning about 200 vf below the climbers camp on the Hogsback.



Ripping Heliotrope in the afternoon:

(Yes, the clouds lifted in the late afternoon, mocking us after we bailed at the saddle)

More photos here.