June2-3, Baker, Coleman-Deming
6/15/12
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2061
3
My son Ben and his friend Keegan decided to drag the old man up into the clouds last weekend. With an iffy forecast, none of us were really 100% gung ho, and I was feeling my age. But the lure of adding month 69, and finishing with a trip to the Beer Shrine, was incentive enough.
We parked with about 15 cars about 1 mile from the trail head, blocked by patches of snow, which won't be there much longer. From the "Last Chance" Outhouse, we headed up the Grouse Creek route - still very well filled in. What a great route! It made the trip up to Heliotrope a dream. And not too much of a wet one - snow level was about 6000. Too bad, so sad, we couldn't find it in the fog on the way back down. >:(
We camped in the boisterous village of Black Buttes, with about 20 other tents. Our little wind swale was very protected, though probably a bit too close to the eroding rock face. Oh well, you gotta go sometime. And it was nice to not have the tent flapping all night. I went for a low visibility, breakable crust ski while waiting for snow to melt. On the way back, while climbing above camp, I knocked a 12" deep slough out from under me, and decided to back up and take the safe way back. So instead of the graceful arcs I envisioned, showing off in front of my new friends, I trudged slowly back in with my ski tails tucked between my legs.
We woke up to a light dusting of graupel (?) on a frozen crust. It was fine skinning conditions for me, but Ben and Keeg were postholing, whenever they got out of the Mountaineers track. Near Pea gravel Ridge, Keeg punched one leg through a crevasse as he was passing unroped beside a long line of roped up Mountaineers. Regaining his feet, Keegan laughed "Heh heh, whew", to the Mountaineer next to him, who promptly popped through to his armpits. We roped up at that point, but there were no more close encounters of that kind. Coming back down later there was a third hole in the line, so somebody else found the same crack.
We climbed up onto the ridge, and the wind was howling, making it tough to stand up, and our uncovered faces were getting the sandpaper treatment from the 30-40 mph ice pellets. To make it worse, the fog was rolling in and out, then just stayed, making visibility pretty bad. So, down we turned. The ski down to camp was mostly cautiously following the uptrack, with a moment or two of mild panic when I lost the track, and had to glide back and forth to find it.
After packing up we headed back down into pea soup, hoping we could find a trail back to Grouse Creek. No deal - our trail from the previous day was gone, and the only trail we could see well enough to follow was made by the herd of Mountaineers snowshoeing back down the summer trail route. So that's where we headed. I didn't want to lead Ben & Keegan postholing along into some wrong drainage. A GPS would have solved that problem for us. Next time!
Well, a few slices of the "House Meat" pizza with huge cloves of roasted garlic, and two Honey Pale Ales made the pain disappear. Already, three days later I'm ready to climb again. And the boys could have climbed again that night. Ahhh, youth! Thanks, Ben and Keeg for getting me out!
here's a few pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150842914977651.395077.579632650&type=3
We parked with about 15 cars about 1 mile from the trail head, blocked by patches of snow, which won't be there much longer. From the "Last Chance" Outhouse, we headed up the Grouse Creek route - still very well filled in. What a great route! It made the trip up to Heliotrope a dream. And not too much of a wet one - snow level was about 6000. Too bad, so sad, we couldn't find it in the fog on the way back down. >:(
We camped in the boisterous village of Black Buttes, with about 20 other tents. Our little wind swale was very protected, though probably a bit too close to the eroding rock face. Oh well, you gotta go sometime. And it was nice to not have the tent flapping all night. I went for a low visibility, breakable crust ski while waiting for snow to melt. On the way back, while climbing above camp, I knocked a 12" deep slough out from under me, and decided to back up and take the safe way back. So instead of the graceful arcs I envisioned, showing off in front of my new friends, I trudged slowly back in with my ski tails tucked between my legs.
We woke up to a light dusting of graupel (?) on a frozen crust. It was fine skinning conditions for me, but Ben and Keeg were postholing, whenever they got out of the Mountaineers track. Near Pea gravel Ridge, Keeg punched one leg through a crevasse as he was passing unroped beside a long line of roped up Mountaineers. Regaining his feet, Keegan laughed "Heh heh, whew", to the Mountaineer next to him, who promptly popped through to his armpits. We roped up at that point, but there were no more close encounters of that kind. Coming back down later there was a third hole in the line, so somebody else found the same crack.
We climbed up onto the ridge, and the wind was howling, making it tough to stand up, and our uncovered faces were getting the sandpaper treatment from the 30-40 mph ice pellets. To make it worse, the fog was rolling in and out, then just stayed, making visibility pretty bad. So, down we turned. The ski down to camp was mostly cautiously following the uptrack, with a moment or two of mild panic when I lost the track, and had to glide back and forth to find it.
After packing up we headed back down into pea soup, hoping we could find a trail back to Grouse Creek. No deal - our trail from the previous day was gone, and the only trail we could see well enough to follow was made by the herd of Mountaineers snowshoeing back down the summer trail route. So that's where we headed. I didn't want to lead Ben & Keegan postholing along into some wrong drainage. A GPS would have solved that problem for us. Next time!
Well, a few slices of the "House Meat" pizza with huge cloves of roasted garlic, and two Honey Pale Ales made the pain disappear. Already, three days later I'm ready to climb again. And the boys could have climbed again that night. Ahhh, youth! Thanks, Ben and Keeg for getting me out!
here's a few pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150842914977651.395077.579632650&type=3
funny... glad the crevasse only swallowed body parts!
indeed there are some very ripe rocks around there... you slept in back I presume?
btw yr pic link has "This content is currently unavailable" status...
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=25027.msg105735#msg105735 date=1339046534]
Our little wind swale was very protected, though probably a bit too close to the eroding rock face. Oh well, you gotta go sometime.
indeed there are some very ripe rocks around there... you slept in back I presume?
btw yr pic link has "This content is currently unavailable" status...
[quote "This content is currently unavailable" status...
Yeah - I don't know how to fix that. It works on my smart phone, but not on my old computer. Oh well, there's no cool skiing pictures anyway.
Yeah - I don't know how to fix that. It works on my smart phone, but not on my old computer. Oh well, there's no cool skiing pictures anyway.
I noticed your posting in the Random Tracks section "Climbing Coleman Deming Un-roped" where you were asking people's opinions about doing this route unroped. There were a number of answers in the discussion from being roped to not being roped. Thankfully you now know the answer - if you are walking on a glacier PUT A ROPE ON! If it was so simple as to walk safely without one and use it only when you see dangers then there wouldn't be a need for roping up. People are killed, not just hurt, but killed falling into unknown crevasse. If you are using the reasoning that you only rope up when there is danger then when does the danger start? After someone falls into one?
Another note I'll make on your comment "Our little wind swale was very protected, though probably a bit too close to the eroding rock face. Oh well, you gotta go sometime." I really hate to hear this type of reasoning. I am a member of mountain rescue and I have carried bodies off the mountain from individuals that were too close to some of Baker's rock walls. That stuff will and does kill people! Stay away from that crap. I am surprised that it can stand up under its own weight.
People - be safe out there. The accidents do happen and when they happen to you it is amazing how fast a simple trip turns bad.
Another note I'll make on your comment "Our little wind swale was very protected, though probably a bit too close to the eroding rock face. Oh well, you gotta go sometime." I really hate to hear this type of reasoning. I am a member of mountain rescue and I have carried bodies off the mountain from individuals that were too close to some of Baker's rock walls. That stuff will and does kill people! Stay away from that crap. I am surprised that it can stand up under its own weight.
People - be safe out there. The accidents do happen and when they happen to you it is amazing how fast a simple trip turns bad.
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