June 7/8, Mt Baker Easton - Car2Car x2
6/7/14
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3750
1
I was originally wanting to do Furher Finger this weekend, but I could not find a partner for something that large. So, I sent out a few feelers for doing Baker car2car. Danny could only go Sunday so I pinged Jake and we locked in on Sunday. A day later, Loren asked me if I wanted to go up Saturday to Baker, so having already plans for being up there, I agreed and the thought of a 2x car2car came up.
Saturday morning around 3am, Loren and I left Issaquah, met up at the trail head and were on the trail by 6:15am. We took our first break about 2 hours later at 4,000vert up from the trail head and ate some food and relaxed a bit. We then pushed to the crater for our next semi-break and transition to crampons. After a hike up the Headwall, we got to the summit with a up time of 5 and a half hours. We took a few pics and ate some food before we headed down. The trip down was met with some of the best corn I've ever skied.
We got back to our car around 7-7.5 hours Round Trip and had a few beers to celebrate. After 15-20 minutes Jake arrived and joined in. We then met 2 climbers with double ice axes strapped to them that came down and asked if they could hitch a ride back as they 'accidentally' went down the wrong side of the mountain. Since Loren was leaving, he was a good citizen and gave them a ride to the closest town.
Video from the trip: https://vimeo.com/97852125
The next day, I woke up at 3am with Jake and Danny and we were on the trail by 4:15am. We went a bit slower this day, but we made the summit around 3:30pm. The ski down was craptacular as it was all slush and whiteout for about 3,000 vertical.
Trail notes: The trail from the lot was starting to melt out fast, going up through the creek won't be in to much longer and will need to transition to the switch backs soon. The Easton Glacier itself was in great shape, Loren and I opted to not take any glacier gear and we found no issues with any crack crossings (as of Sunday, nothing more than a 6 inches)
Few records for me set:
-Most vert in a day: 7600 (had to up climb on day 2 to look for something)
-Most vert in two days (15100)
-First ski from the true summit of a volcano
-First climb of baker to the summit
-Most continuous skiing
As far as trips go, this was probably one of the most fun ones I've ever had. Attitudes from all climbers were great, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
Saturday morning around 3am, Loren and I left Issaquah, met up at the trail head and were on the trail by 6:15am. We took our first break about 2 hours later at 4,000vert up from the trail head and ate some food and relaxed a bit. We then pushed to the crater for our next semi-break and transition to crampons. After a hike up the Headwall, we got to the summit with a up time of 5 and a half hours. We took a few pics and ate some food before we headed down. The trip down was met with some of the best corn I've ever skied.
We got back to our car around 7-7.5 hours Round Trip and had a few beers to celebrate. After 15-20 minutes Jake arrived and joined in. We then met 2 climbers with double ice axes strapped to them that came down and asked if they could hitch a ride back as they 'accidentally' went down the wrong side of the mountain. Since Loren was leaving, he was a good citizen and gave them a ride to the closest town.
Video from the trip: https://vimeo.com/97852125
The next day, I woke up at 3am with Jake and Danny and we were on the trail by 4:15am. We went a bit slower this day, but we made the summit around 3:30pm. The ski down was craptacular as it was all slush and whiteout for about 3,000 vertical.
Trail notes: The trail from the lot was starting to melt out fast, going up through the creek won't be in to much longer and will need to transition to the switch backs soon. The Easton Glacier itself was in great shape, Loren and I opted to not take any glacier gear and we found no issues with any crack crossings (as of Sunday, nothing more than a 6 inches)
Few records for me set:
-Most vert in a day: 7600 (had to up climb on day 2 to look for something)
-Most vert in two days (15100)
-First ski from the true summit of a volcano
-First climb of baker to the summit
-Most continuous skiing
As far as trips go, this was probably one of the most fun ones I've ever had. Attitudes from all climbers were great, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
Strong work & great attitude, congrats!
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