May 12, 2007, Mt Baker via Coleman Deming
5/12/07
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
1901
2
Road is still blocked about 3/4 miles from trailhead at the second last creek crossing. From there patchy snow (ski - walk - ski) until the large clearing before the last bridge. We picked up a skin track behind the outhouse, with the exception of first 400 ft it is possible to ski all the way to the summit and claim the coveted "Outhouse to Grant" route.
Frozen snow made for pretty fast ascent to the col, above that we encountered weird glass like ice formations (sideway icicles) that collapsed upon impact shattering into tiny ball bearings. Really fun to skin on. Not. I had ski crampons and they were quite helpful when I was able to stomp and grab some snow below the ice particles. Anybody has a name for this kind of snow?
Made it to the summit just past 1 PM, waited a bit, hoping the sun would melt the icicles into corn but that would require a use of Personal Portable A-bomb or similar device. In the end the skiing was decent all the way to the col and great corn from there.
Not sure what the hiker's trail is like but judging from the snow at the trailhead one will be walking at least half of it.
On the other hand the "behind the outhouse" trail will see more and more walking, the last 1/2 mile might be snow free withing a week.
More pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runningclouds/sets/72157600211356763/
Frozen snow made for pretty fast ascent to the col, above that we encountered weird glass like ice formations (sideway icicles) that collapsed upon impact shattering into tiny ball bearings. Really fun to skin on. Not. I had ski crampons and they were quite helpful when I was able to stomp and grab some snow below the ice particles. Anybody has a name for this kind of snow?
Made it to the summit just past 1 PM, waited a bit, hoping the sun would melt the icicles into corn but that would require a use of Personal Portable A-bomb or similar device. In the end the skiing was decent all the way to the col and great corn from there.
Not sure what the hiker's trail is like but judging from the snow at the trailhead one will be walking at least half of it.
On the other hand the "behind the outhouse" trail will see more and more walking, the last 1/2 mile might be snow free withing a week.
More pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runningclouds/sets/72157600211356763/
Enjoyed your photos...looks like it was a great day.
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