June 7, 2003, Mt. Baker, Squak/Easton Glaciers
6/7/03
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2857
3
Started at 7 am at Schreiber's Meadow TH after a 4:30 am Seattle departure. Hiked the Scott Paul trail to 4000', put on skins, and continued up the Squak and Easton glaciers. Summited just after 1 pm. The Roman Wall was skinable. Orange skies over the Puget Sound (but we made our contribution to the pollution). Ski down was not as good as it would have been had the temperatures not been so unseasonably hot, but it was OK. Visible crevasses were easily avoided; invisible crevasses -- who knows? About 10 other skiers on the Easton/Squak and two rope teams of postholers. No apparent instability. 7500vf.
Looks like you guys all nailed it.
Nice viddy, Kam.
Nice viddy, Kam.
Allow me to expound on Kam's message with an emphasis on 'perfect snow'. Starting down at noon, the top 4,500 feet held incredible, mostly untouched corn; outside of the area between the caldera and the bridge over Easton's bergschrund, which was highly trafficked, the snow was virtually unsullied by post-holers beyond the primary climber's track. It was turn after turn after turn. Beautiful.
A quick note on the trek up: If approaching at night, the trail is rather easy to lose for the patchwork of snow still in the meadows. Also, the creeks in the early sections of the climb remain somewhat swollen, and care is needed to make one's way safely across. We were able to don skins ~1000 ft. above the TH, and although we moved to booting it up the final 2000 ft,we could have kept skins on to the top.
A quick note on the trek up: If approaching at night, the trail is rather easy to lose for the patchwork of snow still in the meadows. Also, the creeks in the early sections of the climb remain somewhat swollen, and care is needed to make one's way safely across. We were able to don skins ~1000 ft. above the TH, and although we moved to booting it up the final 2000 ft,we could have kept skins on to the top.
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