April 15, 2015, Heliotrope
4/15/15
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3469
3
TAG and I were on Heliotrope yesterday. We parked just below the last bridge, maybe a quarter mile before the trailhead? A bit more clearance/a bit more melting and you'll be able to drive right there.
The "behind the bathroom" ascent route looked a bit to wild and untamed for our liking so we skinned up the summer trail. 'Twas a pretty painless ascent and we were on top of Heliotrope less than three hours after leaving the car. There was a bit of evidence of a snowboard track or two from a day or so before but I broke trail in 3"-5" of new snow from where the climber trail reaches the moraine to the top of the ridge.
There was little/no wind on top of Heliotrope but it appeared to be cranking pretty well higher up. Puffy clouds came and went every once in a while but for the most part it was bluebird. We saw one person on the ridge west of us (maybe came up from the behind the bathroom route?) but they stayed on the west side, leaving the entire Coleman Glacier and the cuff-deep powder to us!
~90 minutes from the car - on top of the moraines and getting to the goods.
~60 minutes later, on top of Heliotrope Ridge.
Thunder Glacier looking good!
Our descent, also looking good!
There was evidence of serac falls skier's right of the Coleman Headwall (nice propagation!), the Roman Mustache, and off of Colfax Peak.
The skiing was so good we lapped it 3x!
Whee!
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http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k593/f1slash/Simulshred_zpsbmc3uuet.jpg" />
By the time we got to the bottom of our 3rd run the snow was getting noticeably thicker and we were feeling it in our legs so we decided we should call it and head down. The sticky snow down low and minimal coverage on/near the trail made the trail descent the most extreme part of the day. Only minimal amounts of ptex were sacrificed. The trip ended up being 7h20m car-to-car.
video
The "behind the bathroom" ascent route looked a bit to wild and untamed for our liking so we skinned up the summer trail. 'Twas a pretty painless ascent and we were on top of Heliotrope less than three hours after leaving the car. There was a bit of evidence of a snowboard track or two from a day or so before but I broke trail in 3"-5" of new snow from where the climber trail reaches the moraine to the top of the ridge.
There was little/no wind on top of Heliotrope but it appeared to be cranking pretty well higher up. Puffy clouds came and went every once in a while but for the most part it was bluebird. We saw one person on the ridge west of us (maybe came up from the behind the bathroom route?) but they stayed on the west side, leaving the entire Coleman Glacier and the cuff-deep powder to us!
~90 minutes from the car - on top of the moraines and getting to the goods.
~60 minutes later, on top of Heliotrope Ridge.
Thunder Glacier looking good!
Our descent, also looking good!
There was evidence of serac falls skier's right of the Coleman Headwall (nice propagation!), the Roman Mustache, and off of Colfax Peak.
The skiing was so good we lapped it 3x!
Whee!
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k593/f1slash/Simulshred_zpsbmc3uuet.jpg" />By the time we got to the bottom of our 3rd run the snow was getting noticeably thicker and we were feeling it in our legs so we decided we should call it and head down. The sticky snow down low and minimal coverage on/near the trail made the trail descent the most extreme part of the day. Only minimal amounts of ptex were sacrificed. The trip ended up being 7h20m car-to-car.
video
I know of two parties that reached the summit via the Coleman-Deming route yesterday. Looks like it was pretty good up there!
updated with video
Thanks for the video. That was quite fun to watch from the dry eastern side of the state.
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