Home > Trip Reports > August 10, 11, Mt. Baker, Coleman-Deming, corn

August 10, 11, Mt. Baker, Coleman-Deming, corn

8/10/11
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3099
5
Posted by danpeck on 8/12/12 4:05am
The Coleman glacier is still in super fun shape for skiing.  Thanks to good beta from Amar I was able to convince my climbing partners to make a later start (5 am, August 11) for the summit as opposed to their original planned 2 am start.  This allowed us to descend from the summit at approximately 11 am and I could ski the Coleman glacier starting around 12pm.  It was in perfect condition.  Mild-moderate sun cups as seen in the images.  Soft enough to not be too bouncy--especially if I kept my speed on the conservative side which was good practice for me being around crevasses.  Crevasses are beautiful and easily managed--either completely avoided or an easy jump. 

The previous day, August 10, I was able to do several laps off of heliotrope ridge and midway up the Coleman glacier.  The corn remained excellent all the way until 6 pm when I had to stop for dinner.  Beautiful clear skies for star gazing and visibility.  However there is a lot of haze out there obscuring some of the view of the rest of the majestic North Cascades and beyond.  All around one of my favorite trips ever. 

Wish I had someone to ski with :)

Modification: I also meant to add that I was able to skin up at 5 am on firm icy snow with the help of magic ski crampons.  I took my skis off for pumice ridge and left them there due to the icy nature of the Roman wall (10 am) and the gaping crevasses of the Deming glacier.  As we descended at around 12 pm the snow was soft enough on the Roman wall to ski--so I sort of kicked myself for not taking them all the way.
More Photos:  Wild flowers are amazing.  Haze filled our views of the North Cascades etc.  Pumice Ridge is very pumicey.

More Photos:

Camp on Heliotrope ridge is very nice.
Some turns from August 10
Love the twin sister range

Final picture giving another view of the suncups.  They grew slightly with lower elevation.

author=danpeck link=topic=25517.msg107801#msg107801 date=1344798304">
However there is a lot of haze out there obscuring some of the view of the rest of the majestic North Cascades and beyond.


The haze is from Asian smoke, the same problem that affected my trip to Mt Baker a month ago. Cliff Mass has the goods: "This summer is clearly the most polluted from Asian smoke since 2003.  It is extraordinary that fires over Asia can have such a profound influence on air quality over the Northwest U.S., many thousands of miles away."

Reference:

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2012/08/extraordinary-asian-smoke-versus.html

Lowell,

That's amazing.  I was actually telling everyone on the summit about how you saw smoke from China!  I had read your post before and I am amazed that we are still being affected by that.  The conversations on the summit were funny in a way.  Everyone was speculating about possible "fires in Idaho, but that wouldn't affect here...." etc... and telling stories about "epic fires on Mt. Adams lasting an entire year, even through the winter."  I wondered if the latter were a true story.  But it was fun conversation.

Thanks for the response.

Dan

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danpeck
2012-08-12 11:05:04