November 11-12, 2018, Mt Baker and Sherman Peak

On Sunday November 11 we were able to drive all the way to the Schriebers Meadow trailhead on the south side of Baker. Snowline started around 2,800ft and was a few inches deep at the trailhead, but passable for cars. Amazingly we could start skinning directly from the car. We skinned up the Scott Paul trail to treeline at 5,000ft, only removing skis a few times to cross creeks or brief bare sections. We left the trail and skinned up to the edge of the Squak Glacier at 6,800ft and set up camp.

Sunday morning we left camp at 4am and skinned up the Squak Glacier, which was mostly crevasse free until 8,700ft. There the terrain turned icier and more crevassed, and we weaved through the maze in crampons, then up to the saddle below the Roman Wall. We ditched the skis there and climbed up to tag Sherman Peak, which was very icy.

Back at the saddle, we put the skis on and skinned partway up the Roman Wall, then kicked steps up when it got steep. Surprisingly the wall was not icy. We put skis back on at the crest and skinned to the summit. There was no wind, the sun was out, and it was around freezing. It felt like spring, not November.

We skied directly from the summit. Skiing the Roman Wall was my favorite part of the day. Back at the saddle we had to change to crampons to descend the icy bit and cross the crevasse maze, but we skied from 9,000ft down to camp at 6,800ft, then packed up and skied all the way to the trail at 5,000ft. There was enough snow left to ski the trail down to 4,600ft, but below there too much had melted and we booted back to the car.

Link to full report and more pictures: www.countryhighpoints.com/mt-baker-and-sherman-peak/