arm
Well-known member
as if anyone cares, here's yet another fascinating trip report
Giggy tricked a pile of hiking friends into flying out west to climb Mount Adams and Mount Baker in Washington State - seemed cooler than hiking northeast peaks during black fly season
Giggy posted a Mount Adams trip report
the fluff below covers the Mount Baker leg of the trip
ten of us intended to climb Adams and Baker, but weather led to our team of ten going for Adams during best weather days, not leaving enough time to go for Baker before most of us flew home
cbcbd, skimom and i grabbed dinner with the crew in Seattle, then headed north and crashed near Sedro Woolley - checked in at the Ranger station the next morning, then drove to Schreibers Meadow Trailhead and backpacked up snow-covered Baker Pass Trail 603
our approach in to Sunrise Camp on Mount Adams' Mazama Glacier Route a few days before required some creative route finding ... our 603 approach also featured creative route finding, where we missed a left turn due to blowdowns, and ended up "discovering" a waterfall (just as we'd planned)
soon we reached Morovitz Meadow, surrounded by incredible views ... most day hikers stop here ... we hiked up Railroad Grade, a moraine leading up towards Easton Glacier and Baker's Black Buttes
hiking up the Railroad Grade was one of the best parts of the trip, walking among many marmots, with views of Baker's glaciers and Buttes making it feel like we were treking through the Alps
we hiked up past High Camp at 5500' until we reached a higher basecamp at 6500' dropping west off Railroad Grade onto a snow covered plateau, sheltered from winds by Buttes, with nearby views of Cascades - a peaceful camp that offered a convenient water source - fresh glacial melt streaming off a steep snow slope
we talked to a few folks who were planning to start around 4AM, then hit the tents under a Full Moon
woke up, cooked breakfast and hit the glacier at 4:20, a fine time for an "alpine start"
the sun rose a short while later, painting clouds and exposing crevasses as we climbed up Easton Glacier - random winds would stir dirty snow on Lincoln Peak, causing it to look like an active volcano
we spotted over a hundred climbers scampering along the Coleman-Deming Glacier Route, happy that we chose the Easton Glacier Route
views from the Summit Crater rim near Sherman Peak were amazing, even with stinky sulfuric clouds spewing up from Steam Vents
from there, we climbed the steep section along the eastern edge of the Roman Wall until we topped out on Baker's summit cone, where winds picked up - walked over to the summit, among dozens of climbers, and checked out Cascade views in all directions
heading down Roman Wall could have been the sketchiest leg of the Baker trip ... steep, with hungry crevasses waiting below ... wish we had pictures from that steep section, but it didn't seem wise holding up the rope team for the sake of getting cool pictures, risking a slip that could send us into a crevasse ... best to keep those visions in our minds
cbcbd came up with a great idea on our way down ... "let's climb down into those large crevasses!" ... our stunned silence and thousand-mile stares were accepted as "sure, Doug, that sounds like fun!", so down we went
after planting snow picket anchors, cbcbd tied in, and skimom belayed him out over the biggest crevasse we could reach ... he scouted over it until the 60 meters paid out, then grudgingly retreated ... we almost expected him to unrope and climb down into the bowels of the Earth
after skimom and i took turns climbing into CrevasseLand, we all headed back to basecamp, snoozed, then packed up and headed down
spotted a mountain goat high on Survey Point's cliffs on our way out
grabbed tasty mexican dinner in Sedro Woolley on our way back to Seattle
posted a few pics in the Baker and Adams/Hood albums here
http://community.webshots.com/user/armtrips
click on "full size" links next to each pic for better pics
Mount Baker averages about 50 feet of snow each year
thanks to Giggy for setting up this trip, and thanks to the team for a fun trip ! great group of fun friends to hang out with
Giggy tricked a pile of hiking friends into flying out west to climb Mount Adams and Mount Baker in Washington State - seemed cooler than hiking northeast peaks during black fly season
Giggy posted a Mount Adams trip report
the fluff below covers the Mount Baker leg of the trip
ten of us intended to climb Adams and Baker, but weather led to our team of ten going for Adams during best weather days, not leaving enough time to go for Baker before most of us flew home
cbcbd, skimom and i grabbed dinner with the crew in Seattle, then headed north and crashed near Sedro Woolley - checked in at the Ranger station the next morning, then drove to Schreibers Meadow Trailhead and backpacked up snow-covered Baker Pass Trail 603
our approach in to Sunrise Camp on Mount Adams' Mazama Glacier Route a few days before required some creative route finding ... our 603 approach also featured creative route finding, where we missed a left turn due to blowdowns, and ended up "discovering" a waterfall (just as we'd planned)
soon we reached Morovitz Meadow, surrounded by incredible views ... most day hikers stop here ... we hiked up Railroad Grade, a moraine leading up towards Easton Glacier and Baker's Black Buttes
hiking up the Railroad Grade was one of the best parts of the trip, walking among many marmots, with views of Baker's glaciers and Buttes making it feel like we were treking through the Alps
we hiked up past High Camp at 5500' until we reached a higher basecamp at 6500' dropping west off Railroad Grade onto a snow covered plateau, sheltered from winds by Buttes, with nearby views of Cascades - a peaceful camp that offered a convenient water source - fresh glacial melt streaming off a steep snow slope
we talked to a few folks who were planning to start around 4AM, then hit the tents under a Full Moon
woke up, cooked breakfast and hit the glacier at 4:20, a fine time for an "alpine start"
the sun rose a short while later, painting clouds and exposing crevasses as we climbed up Easton Glacier - random winds would stir dirty snow on Lincoln Peak, causing it to look like an active volcano
we spotted over a hundred climbers scampering along the Coleman-Deming Glacier Route, happy that we chose the Easton Glacier Route
views from the Summit Crater rim near Sherman Peak were amazing, even with stinky sulfuric clouds spewing up from Steam Vents
from there, we climbed the steep section along the eastern edge of the Roman Wall until we topped out on Baker's summit cone, where winds picked up - walked over to the summit, among dozens of climbers, and checked out Cascade views in all directions
heading down Roman Wall could have been the sketchiest leg of the Baker trip ... steep, with hungry crevasses waiting below ... wish we had pictures from that steep section, but it didn't seem wise holding up the rope team for the sake of getting cool pictures, risking a slip that could send us into a crevasse ... best to keep those visions in our minds
cbcbd came up with a great idea on our way down ... "let's climb down into those large crevasses!" ... our stunned silence and thousand-mile stares were accepted as "sure, Doug, that sounds like fun!", so down we went
after planting snow picket anchors, cbcbd tied in, and skimom belayed him out over the biggest crevasse we could reach ... he scouted over it until the 60 meters paid out, then grudgingly retreated ... we almost expected him to unrope and climb down into the bowels of the Earth
after skimom and i took turns climbing into CrevasseLand, we all headed back to basecamp, snoozed, then packed up and headed down
spotted a mountain goat high on Survey Point's cliffs on our way out
grabbed tasty mexican dinner in Sedro Woolley on our way back to Seattle
posted a few pics in the Baker and Adams/Hood albums here
http://community.webshots.com/user/armtrips
click on "full size" links next to each pic for better pics
Mount Baker averages about 50 feet of snow each year
thanks to Giggy for setting up this trip, and thanks to the team for a fun trip ! great group of fun friends to hang out with
