August 2, 2015, Mt Baker, Squak Glacier Still Fine

8/2/15

WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)

4025

Posted by Amar Andalkar on 8/5/15 3:38am

Skiing smooth corn on the Squak Glacier!

As of August 2, the Squak Glacier route remains in excellent condition, pretty much just as nice as when I skied it on July 20! (See

August 1: Mid-afternoon view of Mount Baker rising above 722 ft Baker Lake, with the Squak Glacier at left, Talum Glacier at center below 10160+ ft Sherman Peak, and Boulder Glacier at right below 10781 ft Grant Peak. (click for double-size version)

I spent Saturday afternoon taking some scenic photos from Baker Lake and then hiking up the spectacular Railroad Grade Trail to take a look at the Easton Glacier. Had a nice chat with noted guide Craig Van Hoy who was leading an Alpine Ascents group camped at 5900 ft Sandy Camp. They had summited earlier in the day and had enjoyed quite the crevasse adventure crossing the very broken-up Easton Glacier to get to the Squak route, and then similarly again on the descent getting back to camp via a different variation.

August 1: Three-shot panorama from the Railroad Grade Trail, with the Black Buttes at left, Easton Glacier at center, and Squak Glacier at right below 10160+ ft Sherman Peak. (click for double-size version)

August 1: Enlarged middle section of the previous panorama, with the Deming Glacier below the left skyline, Easton Glacier at center, and Squak Glacier at right. (click for double-size version)

I continued scrambling past the end of the trail up to almost 6100 ft, and walked a bit on the Easton's bare glacial ice just for fun. Then hiked back down and up to 5460 ft Park Butte Lookout to watch the sunset and the near-full moonrise over the Cascades at 9:30pm, before descending back to the trailhead just before 11pm.

August 1: Six-shot panorama from Park Butte Lookout just before sunset at 8:30pm, with the Black Buttes at left (9080+ ft Lincoln Peak and 9440+ ft Colfax Peak above the lower Deming Glacier), 10781 ft Grant Peak and 10160+ ft Sherman Peak at center above the Easton and Squak Glaciers, 9127 ft Mount Shuksan rising just above Baker's right skyline, and the vast sweep of the North Cascades extending to 10541 ft Glacier Peak at far right almost lost in a haze of wildfire smoke. (click for triple-size version)

My partners all arrived from separate locations well after dark Saturday evening, and we car-camped at the trailhead. Around midnight, we were surprised to see a pair of skiers returning to the parking lot, and we had a nice chat with them from our sleeping bags. They reported excellent ski conditions, but a very long day as they had departed at 6am and summited after 5pm. It was nice to have confirmation that the Squak route was still in great shape for skiing.

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Three-shot panorama from just above 6000 ft after we started skinning, with 6513 ft Crag View on the ridge at left, 10160+ ft Sherman Peak at right center, and one of the several termini of Squak Glacier at lower right. (click for double-size version)

We left the trailhead at 6:30am Sunday, started skinning at 9am, and summited just after 2pm.

Weaving through crevasses and across blue glacial ice around 6500 ft, with 6513 ft Crag View just beyond the edge of the glacier.

Crevasse bridge near 8700 ft, looking about half as wide as in the
High cirrus clouds briefly produced a nice 22° solar halo.

The sketchy undercut crevasse bridge near 9300 ft, now with a small 3" gap between the sides compared with
Crevasse zigzag near 9400 ft, looking a bit narrower than in the

View from near 9400 ft showing the path of the bootpack up the Roman Wall. (click for double-size version)

Skinning across a complex crevasse bridge near 10000 ft on the Roman Wall, the crux of the route up the Wall.

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Six-shot panorama from atop 10781 ft Grant Peak, with 722 ft Baker Lake at left far below, 10160+ ft Sherman Peak at center above Sherman Crater and Boulder Glacier, and the 10760+ ft summit dome at right. (click for triple-size version)

Kristy, Sam, and Zdenek atop 10781 ft Grant Peak, the true summit of Mount Baker, with my skis on the highest skiable snow just below and 9127 ft Mount Shuksan in the background.

It was once again cool and windy at the summit, but winds were a bit lighter this time than on July 20, west 20-30 mph atop Grant Peak. The temperature was much warmer this time at 44 °F, about what would be expected given the 14000 ft freezing level, in sharp contrast to the anomalously cold 33 °F on July 20 despite a freezing level over 13000 ft.

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Seven-shot vertical panorama looking down the Park Headwall from beside the summit of Grant Peak, with the Mazama Glacier at far left, Sholes Glacier just above that, Rainbow Glacier just to its right, Park Glacier throughout the center, 9127 ft Mount Shuksan at top center, Boulder Glacier at lower right (with a large streak of rockfall debris), and 722 ft Baker Lake at right far below. (click for triple-size version)

Zoomed view of 9127 ft Mount Shuksan, nice to get a clear view of Shuksan this time since it had been mostly obscured by clouds on July 20.

Skied from the summit at 2:30pm, the uppermost 50 ft on Grant Peak was actually much nicer than on July 20, with new snow covering and smoothing out the rough dirty snow, and nicely corned even on this northwest aspect.

Ski tracks in smooth corn descending from 10781 ft Grant Peak to the summit plateau.

Five-shot multiple exposure of Sam skiing across a complex crevasse bridge near 10000 ft on the Roman Wall, looking a bit narrower than in the
Skiing across the crevasse bridge near 8700 ft.