Home > Trip Reports > September 9, 2012, Heliotrope Ridge/Coleman Gl.

September 9, 2012, Heliotrope Ridge/Coleman Gl.

9/9/12
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3308
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Posted by ejk on 9/10/12 4:04am
We were planning to check out the Sholes Glacier/Coleman Pinnacle/Portals area after reading last weekend's trip report from that area, but due to the 7:30am - noon closure of Hwy 542 (Mt. Baker Hillclimb cycling race) we changed our plans to head up Heliotrope Ridge and see what we could find.

We started out in the clouds at the trailhead (3700'ish) but they rose as we climbed and we had great views as we headed up the climbers path.  Had lunch near the campsites at the toe of the glacier, then headed up climbers right of the main bootpack.  The beaten path up onto Heliotrope Ridge zigs and zags around a couple of fairly large cracks, and given that the skinning was a bit slippery, we followed some downtracks up to the right.  There are still cracks and some open gapers to avoid, so keep an eye out as you're skinning up / skiing down.

After climbing about 1000' up to the ridge (around 7200'), we clicked in and got some pretty good September turns!  Soft snow on top, firm underneath, mild suncups turning into moderate suncups lower down on the glacier toe.  I'm not a religious "I ski every month" kind of guy, but it's good times getting to scratch the ski itch in September, and conditions were way better than we expected.

Whoever said "You're already going... you may as well bring your skis" on this forum - thanks for the advice.  After we hit the road closure and had to pick a new option, I had to use your line to help convince at least one friend to bring her skis  ;)
author=ejk link=topic=25621.msg108261#msg108261 date=1347303896">
Whoever said "You're already going... you may as well bring your skis" on this forum - thanks for the advice.  After we hit the road closure and had to pick a new option, I had to use your line to help convince at least one friend to bring her skis  ;)


Not sure who was the first to make the coment in a post...
But surely Mike Rolfs can claim to making it official with a bumper sticker :)



Well, hell. I thought for sure the weather would be all socked in on Baker on the 9th so I went back to bed and did something closer to home (where the weather WAS pretty bad). Wrong call. Get any pix?

To be fair, the weather wasn't exactly great.  It was cloudy at the start, but that improved to partly cloudy when we were going up the climber's trail (with some beautiful views of the mountain, some direct sunlight even!).  After lunch, we had foggy, misty, slightly rainy, and finally just overcast, but we kept chasing the cloud layer up slightly higher and higher until we reached the ridge.

I can post some pictures a bit later.  It was no "48 days of sun" weather, but it was nothing terrible.  Whether it was worth driving 120 miles one-way is a question that will get different replies, based on your perspective and the amount of time since your last ski hit :)

Pictures!






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For more, see the album on SkyDrive (still uploading at this moment, but should be up shortly.)

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2012-09-10 11:04:56