January 18, 2003, Mt. Baker (Coleman-Deming)

With the assumption that last weekend's snowfall (of which most fell in and around Mt. Baker) would provide for some good skiing, and my goal to ski the 40+ degree serac chute along the Roman Nose, Sky and I decided to hit Mt. Baker once again.  Began skinning at 7:20am, reached high point along Marmot Ridge at 10:15am.  The skin up to this point was packed powder over the rain crust from a couple of weeks ago.  

Skinning up the Coleman Glacier was easier in terms of holding an edge as compared to a week ago thanks to last week's snowfall.  Sky broke trail the entire way, and we decided to take a higher route along the Black Buttes, what we believed to be a more direct line to the saddle.  After a break for lunch, we decided to attempt skinning up the Roman Wall.  However, we decided to drop down onto the Deming from the saddle thinking it would make for an easier skin...bad assumption.  It was here where the temperature felt like it was in the mid 60's (sun was pounding) and the snow was heavy concrete, bonding to our skins badly (adding a few extra pounds).  Unfortunately neither of us had any globstopper with us.  Continued up, straddling the main Coleman-Deming saddle.  Eventually the globbing was so bad, I had to deski and walk up because my edges were not meeting the slope (causing one notable slide on my part).  Decided to crampon for a few hundred feet, but once we reached approx. 10,200', we decided to call it a day and ski the chute I've been wanting for so long.  :D

The entry below the Roman Nose was fairly windpacked, after descending a few hundred feet we ended up traversing too far east and missed the true entry of the chute.  This forced us to traverse a steep and icy section above a serac/crevasse combo, once we wrapped around the crux, we were in proper location for the descent.  In the chute we found a softer, but more forgiving breakable crust over powder.  Ironically, the steepest portion of the entire ski descent requiring the most caution in terms of crevasse/serac exposure provided the best snow (at least for me).  Once below 9,000' came the true trapcrust.  Although breakable, it did not hesitate in taking over one's skis.  The conditions had changed from our ascent.  After a few action shots, we found ourselves back down along Marmot Ridge where we encountered 2 climbers preparing basecamp for a climb the following day.  We warned them of the change in the weather, and it seemed as if they hadn't even checked any forecasts by their responses.  Below Heliotrope the breakable crust continued, providing me with a challenging ski.  After grabbing some bones for the pouch, we found ourselves deskiing the woods once again.  A good day of skiing in terms of variation from the normal Coleman-Deming route that is climbed/skied, with roughly 7,400 vertical covered.  I would say that conditions certainly were not what we had expected, and were changing ever so quickly.  The entire week of high pressure certainly caused conditions to stabilize and crust over, particularly where exposed, much like the Coleman Glacier.