Mt Baker up the Easton Glacier

Spent an awesome three-day weekend with Ron and his daughters Maia, Milan, and Capri climbing Mt Baker.  

Hiking up through wildflowers and heather.

Looking into the crater on our summit day.

Signing the register.

That glacier is gnarly!

Hiking out on the Railroad Grade.

The Big B.

Trips like this are typically custom bookings.  The weather (and the route) are going to be great well into September - so grab a few of your friends and email me or contact Pro Guiding Service to book a Mt Baker trip for yourselves!

June's Smash & Grab

Below is an excerpt from my latest newsletter - Smash & Grab, which comes out monthly (more or less).  If you're interested in joining the cool kids' club, follow this LINK.  Come on, everyone else is doing it! I do know that there are some glaring contradictions between the newsletter and the website, but nothing that keeps us getting outside, so let's ignore those inconsistencies and get going, hmmm?

| sma-sh; and; grab | phrase. 1. A distinct form of burglary. It involves smashing a barrier, grabbing valuables, and making a quick getaway.

Issue 8 - We're back!!
On the first week of May, my plane landed in Sea-Tac on a late, late, drizzly night. I had an incredible trip to Europe - my first time on that side of the Pond. I skied the Haute Route and Mont Blanc, and road tripped to central Italy and back to Switzerland. I hope to go back next spring - want to join me? Since then, I've skied Mt Daniel (near Cle Elum off of I-90) and Mt Shuksan. My Shuksan descent of the White Salmon was likely the last one of the year - it featured steep bushwacking for 1000' from Chair 8 to the valley floor - oy! I've also started rock climbing again and during the rainy days trail running.

 One access note - Glacier Creek Road, which is used to access the northwest side of Mt Baker, is washed out at mile post 3. This adds a 7-mile hike or mountain bike ride up the road. If you want to climb the north ridge in solitude, this is the year to do it but be prepared to earn it!

What's happening next.
So much is starting to happen this month. Smash and Grab is going to turn into a monthly occurrence - I hope to send one out by the 10th of each month (I realize that this conflicts with the notice at the top of website - expect the S&G to come out again on the 20th to a much, much bigger audience! -Chris) It will also be posted on my website. The website is also going through a serious redesign. I'm working with the folks at Squarespace to launch something a little glossier, little less blog-y. I'll still be posting stuff up, but it will be more thoughtful, informational, and less trip reports but still lots of photos.

 I'm working on the logistics for trips to China, Chile, and Antarctica. I hope to have material on the website next month.

What's good?
Its June - the snow is still up high, but the rock has dried out down low. So this month is the best time for some of the big tours and high mountain descents for ski mountaineering, and taking advantage of the sunny days to warm up your rock climbing skills. Here's what I recommend.

For Ski Mountaineering

• Mt Adams, Southwest Chutes - 2 days or "The Express", an extremely long day. 
• Mt Baker, Easton Glacier - 2 days or "The Express", an extremely long day. 
• Mt Baker Circumnavigation - 5 days. Features an ascent of the mountain from the east side via the Boulder-Park Glacier, and a ski descent of the Park Glacier from the summit. Not for the weak of heart! 
• Ptarmigan Traverse - 5-7 days. A tour through the heart of the Cascades, from Cascade Pass to the Suiattle River. Several side day tours possible if we bring a little bit of extra food and fuel. 

For Rock Climbing

• North Bend / Exits 32 & 38 - 1 day. The best thing about the Exits are their convenience to Seattle, and ease of access. Its a great way to spend a day or an afternoon warming up for the season. 
• Index - 1 day. A little bit of a farther drive, but trad climbing and a great intro to multi-pitch climbing. 
• Leavenworth / Icicle Creek - 2 days. The climbing at Icicle Creek is some of the best in the Pacific Northwest. Everything from single pitch to multi-pitch outings are possible. Really, to make the most of the time you should book two days, and either stay in Leavenworth or camp out on the Icicle. 
• What to work on? What do you want to learn? We can have instructional days based on anchor building and top-rope site management, full "what-if" rock rescue clinics, and pushing into lead climbing. 

For Alpine Climbing

• Snoqualmie Pass - 1 day. The Tooth and Chair Peak are dry, and snow coverage allows for quick approaches. 
• Colchuck Peak - 1-2 days. 
• Washington Pass - Early Winter Spires, Le Petite Cheval, Cutthroat Peak. These are awesome day climbs, right now with a thick blanket of snow that makes the approaches really easy. Stay down in Mazama or Winthrop in the evenings!
• Boston Basin and Eldorado Peak - there is still a lot of snow, adding two miles to the approach into Boston Basin. Doesn't mean it can't be done - but you're going to earn every bit of it!

Interested?  Questions?  Email me at chris@chrissimmonsguiding.com.  Hope to see you again in the mountains!

Sunrise on Mt Baker

I came home from rock climbing in Leavenworth, stayed up late packing and looking at the weather forecast for Mt Baker.  In the morning I jumped in the car and headed north, where I met Kim, Fraser, and Renton at the ranger station in Glacier.  This crew picked Mt Baker for their first mountaineering objective, and we had perfect weather and warm temperatures.  We were able to hang out on the summit for over a half-hour!  It was the nicest Baker summit I've had this year.

Statistics:  Pro Guiding Service - Mt Baker, Coleman-Deming Route (III glacier, steep snow).  29-31 July, with Kim, Fraser, and Renton.

Climbing the CD on Mt Baker

The Coleman-Deming Route on Mt Baker crosses two prominent glaciers named - not surprisingly - the Coleman and Deming.  Its a great route to break in the gear, and to gain experience, for a bigger mountaineering objective like the Emmons Glacier or Disappointment Cleaver on Mt Rainier.  That's exactly what Ro and Apoorva, a sister/brother duo from Seattle, did with me last weekend.

Statistics:  Pro Guiding Service.  Coleman-Deming Route (III, glacier, steep snow), on Mt Baker (10,781').  7-8 July, with Ro K. and Apoorva M.

Mt Baker's North Ridge

Kai is one of those unique characters whose climbed for 20+ years, and hires a guide to show him the best climbing available for the weather conditions he arrives in.  That's exactly what he did last week, and tagged two classic routes in the Cascades.

But I've got to admit I was a little bit worried about the weather - the forecast called for 30%-70% chance of rain for all but one day of Kai's visit.  Even though I was confident that we were picking the best routes given this forecast, we were still rolling the dice when we left the car, hoping that the weather would improve or hold out just long enough to let us through.

Wow.

On Sunday we left my car under threatening skies and hiked up to the Hogsback on Mt Baker's Heliotrope Ridge.  We fell asleep to the sound of a light rain beating on the fabric of Kia's ultralite tent.

But at 2:30am, I stuck my head out and saw nothing but stars above, and the snow had refrozen into perfect, stand-on-top neve.  It was time for crampons!  We made quick work of the traverse to the North Ridge, opted for the left-hand start, and climbed the headwall in three and a half long pitches.  A final traverse over to the summit finished off the ascent.  All that wonderfully firm snow from the morning had softened into mid-calf to knee-deep post-holing for the descent of the Coleman-Deming Route, but that meant we could go crampon-free back to camp with a few glissades along the way.  Kia opted to pack up and hike out the same day, which made for a really BIG day, but we were eating burgers at Graham's in Glacier that evening.  It also meant that we'd take a full rest day tomorrow instead of hiking out and driving to our next objective:  Forbidden Peak.

The photo show below:

Threatening skies on Sunday, while on the way to our Hogsback bivy.

Perfect crampon conditions crossing the Coleman Glacier on Monday.

Beautiful Mt Baker.  The North Ridge is the left side, rising up from the foreground.

The lower North Ridge.

Possibly my favorite shot from the climb - Kia climbing the ice pitch of
the North Ridge headwall.  2 1/2 more pitches of steep snow followed.

Summit relief, 8 hours and 45 minutes after leaving camp.

Descending the Coleman-Deming Route, with a post-holing experience.

Statistics:  Pro Guiding Service.  Mt Baker (10,781ft / 3285m), North Ridge, III+ AI 2/3, steep snow, glacier.  24-25 June with Kia L.

Skiing Circles Around Mt Baker

As the take-off date came closer and closer, and the weather forecast became clearly wetter, I spent more and more time peering at the maps, plugging waypoints into my GPS, and peering at John Scurlock's winter time photos of Mt Baker.  Dan and Chrix had asked me to take them on a big tour that would stress glacier travel, and I realized that skiing around Mt Baker would commit us to glacier for all but 6 hours of a 5 day trip.

Another reason I picked this tour was the weather forecast - the probability of precipitation (POP) was starting at 80% and dropping to 40% by the end of the tour on Saturday, with warm temps almost guaranteeing that we were going to get wet.  Not just that, but I was confident that we were going to spend a lot of time in the white room.  Not that white room - its June.  The I-can't-see-more-than-30-feet-in-front-of-me-oh-my-gods-is-that-a-crevasse? white room.  So Dan and Chrix were getting two big experiences, in extensive glacier travel and in for-real white-out navigation.  But at least I was reasonably confident that I could get us around the mountain in a white-out, even if I wasn't confident we'd ever see the summit, let alone stand on it.

So I picked the guys up in Seattle last Tuesday and we started driving towards a big grey wall.  We were already in the clouds when we left the car and started up the Heliotrope Ridge trail.  I'll let the photos and a few captions tell the rest of the story.

Tuesday, Day 1.
Snow blocked the road less than a 1/4 mile from the trail head.

The wet, intimidating log crossing 10 minutes later. 

We booted as far as the old Kulshan cabin site. 

Then started skinning from there. 

The day was fully in the clouds, with occasional breaks like this to show us what was there.
We were at our campsite on the Hogsback less than an hour from here. 

The guys got a kick out of my glacier demonstration with my favorite candy bar. 

Wednesday, Day 2.
The morning weather was wet and in the clouds, so we spent some time discussing the finer
points of crevasse rescue.  First, we build an anchor taking advantage of skis and ice axes. 

Then build a haul system - something that would make a great posting later. 

Finally we headed out and started climbing the Coleman Glacier,
and the weather began to steadily improve. 

One of our first views of Mt Baker. 

Crusty snow at the Baker-Colfax Col.   This is the direct circumnav (no summits)
highpoint, at 9010'.

Looking up at Colfax Peak, which we had originally hoped to ski, but the late start and
ugly snow conditions convinced us to do other things. 

Crossing the Deming Glacier required roped downhill travel to thread the needle. 

Descending into the sunset and into the clouds on the Easton Glacier. 

Originally, we had planned to ski down to 6200' below the Easton Glacier,
but clouds and really poor light convinced us to stop and camp at the foot of
this rock at 6500'. 

Thursday, Day 3.
More whiteout navigating with 30'-100' of visibility, across the Squak and Talum Glaciers.
We had hoped to climb and ski the southern summit, Sherman Peak, but had to cancel those
plans in these conditions.

Crossing the Boulder-Talum divide at 7300'. 

The white-out fun continues across the Boulder Glacier, where I'm sure we traversed more
than we needed to simply because we couldn't see, and couldn't take advantage of the slopes
to have gentle descending ski traverses and easy uphill climbs. 

Digging out camp.  The slope was inclined enough that we had to dig twice - once to
make a flat platform for the tent itself, and second for our lower floor inside the tent. 

Right at sunset, the clouds suddenly vanished, and Mt Shuksan started to
come into view... 

Friday, Day 4.
...and welcomed us in the morning. 

Dropping camp at 6am, with Mt Baker in the background.  Chrix takes
his sun protection very seriously, and is thinking of busking in San
Francisco as a mime. 

Looking up the Boulder-Park Cleaver to the summit.  This was our climbing
route, and in the best conditions possible.  Really jaw-dropping to think that
we couldn't have done this on any other day of the tour.  

Dan's skinin' and grinin' through one of the steeper sections.  That's because this is better than
the post-holing we experienced for about 200' below him. 

At the top of the Cleaver, with about 1600' of elevation to the summit. 

Now we really have something to grin about - less than 500' to go.
That's Mt Baker's crater to the left of Dan. 

Summit shots. 

"Let's go shred the gnar-gnar!!" 

Having shredded the gnar-gnar as Chrix demanded, we pause to look up
and admire our work.  Mt Baker's summit is the high point on the left.
We skied the ridge to the rock tower - the Cockscomb - then entered the headwall. 

Finding a skiable route across the bergschrund proved to be the biggest challenge. 

Once we did that, we still had 3000' of skiing on the Park Glacier to reach camp. 

Looking back up the Park Glacier at our turns.  We were pretty stoked. 

A great view of our floor-less tent, a Black Diamond Megamid, with Mt Baker
and the entire ski run down from the summit to the Cockscomb and down the
Park Glacier completely in view. 

Right after dinner, we started to notice the clouds building up. 

And at 9:30pm, we saw this team of 10.  We could only presume that it was the same
team of 10 that we saw crossing the Boulder Glacier earlier that day.  Amazingly,
they kept walking past our camp, heading towards the Ptarmigan Arm and into the clouds,
not stopping to set up a camp.  Who knows?

Saturday, Day 5.

We woke up to pounding rain on our tent at 5:30am, had breakfast in bed, then tried to stall for time in the vain hope that the rain and wind would let up.  Finally we left the tent and made it up to the Baker-Bastille Col at 11am.  We skied through the rain, down the Roosevelt and Coleman Glaciers with a few incidences and issues, but finally made it back out to the car completely soaked.  The lack of photos may demonstrate how wet everything was.  But we were out and we were stoked.

Statistics | Mt Baker Circumnavigation and Summit via the Boulder-Park Cleaver, summit descent via the Park Glacier.  24 miles, 12,040' climbed and skied, up to 45 degree slopes.  12-16 June, with Chrix F. and Dan S.  Pro Guiding Service.

Photos | Chrix forgot his and mine died a noble death on Day 1, so all the photos here were taken with Dan's camera, and are now in my own collection.  Thanks Dan!