Intermediate Alpine Climb - Mount Baker/North Ridge

Trip Report

Distance:  12.3 miles
Elevation Gain:  ~7,100 feet
Map:  https://caltopo.com/m/C2HPT31

Minda and I met up at her place Saturday morning to organize group gear and head towards to Heliotrope Ridge Trailhead.  Glacier Greek Road was in ok shape with several larger potholes to avoid with a lot of traffic coming down the.  There were numerous cars at the trailhead but we were able to get a spot fairly close to the trailhead.  We did one last gear check and started up the trail at around 1:50 PM towards Gargoyle Rocks to camp for the night.

The trail was in good shape and the creek crossings were manageable.  While crossing Kulshan Creek at ~1.5 miles due to the higher levels we did have to get our feet a little wet, but they dried off quickly. Having poles made the crossing easier. 

We arrived at snow near the top of the climber’s trail at around 3:30 PM.  At this point we decided to switch from our trail runners to boots and grab our ice axes since we expected to be climbing snow on our way up to the Gargoyle Rocks camping spot above the Hogsback.  We reached camp at ~6,370 feet around an hour later and began to setup camp.  The area thankfully had running water and dry tent pads.  We saw several other parties spread out across the dozen or so tent pads, but thankfully were able to spread-out and have our own space.  We ate dinner, filtered water, and got our gear ready for the next day before trying to get a small amount of sleep.

Getting an alpine start, we roped up and left camp at 3 AM Sunday morning.  Initially we made our own way across the Coleman seeing a faint off and on boot-pack from the days before.  There were a few crevasses to navigate around, but nothing challenging.  After a little over 2 hours, we had reached the toe of the ridge and got out our second ice axes and prepared to ascend the stepper portion of the route.  

 
There was a crack forming near the base of the slope, but we were able to navigate over it with ease.  We continued up the steep snow, crossing a ~50 foot section of rock, and then kept course towards the ice step.  Closer to the step there was a few smaller cracks we had to navigate around, but nothing of challenge.  As the slope steepened around a few hundred yards from the ice step the snow required us to have more finesse with our footwork, but we made steady progress up until we setup a picket anchor at the base of the ice around 8:30 AM.

 
We choose to do a fun looking line on the left side of the step, just to the right of the ice arete. A separate boot pack also went towards the right side of the step, right of some rock, and appeared to be an option. I took the lead and headed up. The ice took screws well and once the slope mellowed out there were some ok picket placements which thankfully decreased the need to dig for good ice. After around 50 m up I built a two-screw anchor. Minda quickly followed and then took the lead. Once the full 60 m rope was out we decided we were comfortable with simul-climbing for a while, placing a few pickets on the way.

  
Once things mellowed out at ~10,300 feet we took a quick break and swapped leads.  The top portion of the ridge’s terrain was complex, and the way people had been going the last few weeks (straight up and over) was now a massive open crevasse. We received a tip from a party we met the day before to not go straight up, so we decided to follow the boot pack and traverse to the left.  Once things steepened, I began placing pickets.  The snow was great for kicking steps in, but we felt the hazards below warranted the running belay since a fall would be catastrophic. 

After sneaking left around the corner, we had to do an awkward down climb over a bulge with a massive bergschrund below us.  To make sure Minda was protected on the way down I built a quick anchor and belayed her in after which we swapped leads and she took us the rest of the way up to the summit, reaching to top at around noon.

 

 

 
We took a quick break on the summit and then started heading down the Coleman-Deming route back towards camp.  The Roman Wall had some interesting snow conditions leading to random post holing.  The top foot of snow was consolidated and sometimes held your weight, but on ever few steps it would hold you for a few seconds and then you would punch down to your knee or even hip through an unconsolidated layer. 

Once we were down to around 8,000 feet the snow was more consolidated and made for significantly better plunge steps and faster travel.  We ended up back at camp a little before 4 PM, packed up, and then headed back down the car.  We reached the trailhead around 6 PM, packed up the car, and headed back to town. 

Overall, it was a fun climb and was great to get on a different route up Baker.

Gear:

• 60 m triple rated rope
• 10 ice screws of various sizes between 13 and 22 cm + Minda’s IMC graduation ice screw
• Ice tools (2 x Petzl Quarks + 2 x Petzl Sum’Tecs)
• 4 x pickets

Map