Mount Baker // Summer Alpine Climbing in The Cascades

Throughout this past year, I set a few goals to keep me active and outside. Some of those goals included getting back on my bicycle, walking to class everyday instead of taking the bus, learning how to fly fish (someone teach me, please!!!), hiking once a week, and introducing myself to the world of alpine climbing. While I was (and still am) quite ignorant as to know what it takes to be a mountaineer, I desired to try something different and keep my feet on snow and ice during the summer months. I was also looking for a challenge and knew that this type of mountaineering would be "next level". However, in retrospect, I am surprised how easy it was! Granted, I wasn't going up Everest or Denali or even Rainier. However, it was a lot more manageable than I initially assumed for it to be.

I started at Mount Baker- a mountain that has grown on my heart over the past two years of living in Bellingham, since it's beauty lurks over the eastern horizon. WWU has an amazing outdoor center which provides awesome classes, quality rentals, terrific workshops, you name it. I saw that they were leading a intro to mountaineering class which included a hopeful summit bid up Mount Baker. I signed up automatically and began training to get in decent physical shape. Thankfully, I already knew that I wanted to go up Adams later in the summer, so I had already started working out consistently and hiking 1-2 times a week with a weighted pack. However, I really needed to work on my stamina and strength if I wanted to be as efficient and as quick as possible. I set a workout schedule, maintained healthy eating habits (aka not eating ice cream EVERY DAY, but more like every other day...), and tried to get at high elevations as often as possible. While some may be able to complete a climb like this with zero training, I really wanted to make it as easy as possible for me not to get fatigued and injured. I also worked on strengthening my bad knee and am so thrilled I did that. During the climb, I was able to keep a steady pace with short stops every hour to ingest some calories, but didn’t feel wiped out until near the end of our 15 hour day

The climb itself began on a Saturday morning and started off at the Heliotrope ridge trail off the edge of Baker. We maintained a steady pace up the trail and took off for camp. The weather was misty, cold, and very cloudy, which created a little hesitancy as we were hoping for a summit attempt the following morning. The ominous weather was also a concern for where to camp, since the weather was only going to get worse and we did not want to be attacked with wind and rain. Initially, we were planning on going up another route but because of the weather (we changed out route from the Easton Glacier route to the Coleman Deming route) we ultimately landed on the Coleman Deming route. It was a goal to get as high up as possible, so that it would make our summit day a little less treacherous and long. Thankfully, we were able to find suitable campsites up at Hogsback Ridge, a popular place for climbers to lay their head before they start their ascent up the mountain.

**side note: if you ever have time, hike up to the Heliotrope Ridge Trail or Hogs Back Ridge!! You feel like you could reach out and touch Baker- it’s so close. And so amazing. AND you get a terrific view of the Coleman glacier lateral moraine. Super cool. Please go.**

view from heliotrop ridge

With our remaining time, we learned various self-arrest skills, more crevasse rescue information, practiced knot tying, etc.

One of the specific differences between a climb on Baker and on Adams is that all routes on Baker are “technical” routes. So what does that mean? Essentially, when you travel on a glacier, you are required to know technical skills such as crevasse rescue (crevasse’s are where the glacier splits and creates a deep opening into the ice) as well as other rope skills. On Baker, it is common to be “roped up” in a harness and then tied into a longer rope with other team members. This way, if someone slips and falls, it is easier to help/save them when traveling on a glacier. However, you do not need to be roped in on *some* routes up Adams, because you’re traveling on rock and a snow field, with a slight ascent over a small glacier and with little crevasse interfearance.

After we learned hard skills, we made dinner and nuzzled away in our tents around 8pm. My new buddy Chris and I stayed up to watch the gorgeous sunset, as the skies magically cleared up right before the sun went down. Fantastic news! The clouds were still hanging out over Bellingham, so we couldn’t see home, but we could see the sky light up with various colors.

view from our camp

our humble abode

The next morning, at 2am to be exact, we got an early start to our climb. We woke up, made coffee and breakfast, slipped in our harnesses, checked out knots, stepped onto the snowfield, were divided up into 3 rope teams, and we took off. We stopped every hour and a half or so to eat a quick granola bar or energy gu and sip some water, then we were off yet again to reach the top.

As we climbed and climbed, the hymn Come Thou Fount kept streaming through my mind,

Specifically:

Oh, to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be,

Let that grace now like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

What a place to worship, am I right?!?! Creation is so cool.

right as the sun was about to peak up over the clouds

Our teams kept a steady pace, only increasing our speed to nearly a run when we were crossing a debris field where giant ice chunks were falling from a warm cirques and moving towards us at a raging pace. Wowzers. That was a little frightening, but got my adrenaline going and kept me adequately alert to finish the rest of the climb and to reach our next stoping point. Its fascinating how often my stomach would growl for food and energy. I mean, I can like, eat alllllll day. But this was like, next level.

Let me tell ya... Being in a rope team is both amazing and awful. Awful, because you can't talk well. Amazing, because you can't talk. As someone who teeters between an introvert and extrovert, i felt both sides of the spectrum. BUT. The serenity that comes from hiking through the soft snow as dawn comes and the wind is making the sweetest sounds across the snow... That, THAT, is pure magic. That is a special, special moment and is so rare. A moment that I will never forget!

We kept climbing to the top. A couple people had to turn back around 9,000 feet due to altitude sickness and general un-easiness. Because of this change, we had to change the rope teams up quite a bit. I was put on a new rope team, and we took a long(er) break before our final push up the Roman Wall to crest the top and make our way across the plateau to the official summit. Unfortunately, two thirds up the Roman Wall, some people in our team felt quite ill, so we had to turn around, only minutes from the top. While climbing is widely individual, when you’re in a team or with a group, it becomes about the team as a whole instead about the individual climber.

I would be lying if I said I was not super duper bummed about it. I was feeling so alive and well and ready to push on towards the tippy top of the peak. I had been spending almost everyday working out (something that is RARE) to prepare for this climb, and I had been saying positive affirmations to myself the whole way up, such as “ you got this, you are strong, you are capable, you are powerful, you can do this”. While it’s physically intense, its also very mentally intense, too. I had to really talk myself into going through the pain and agony of a climb, but by the time we were near the top, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my cold n rosey face. I was singing hymns in my head and rooting myself on with a fierce positivity that is rare for me to give myself. I was in it to win it, and to prove to myself that I could accomplish this task. But, alas, we had to turn around. With all that being said, it was also a safety concern to keep moving toward the top. It would have been ignorant to think we could move on with members who were feeling less than hot. The risk of having one of them faint from dehydrating and pull our rope team down with them, would be too risky. In the end, I feel content about our awesome leader’s decision to turn around and make the safest decision for everyone.

holding my Skookum Kids flag near the top!

In fact, the other rope team that made it to the very top, got stuck in a gnarly white out and ended up getting lost for over an hour. So, really, I am counting my blessings that our ascent was relatively safe weather wise. When we were heading down, the weather started to take a turn for the worse. It got warmer, started to thunder and it hailed, snowed, rained, etc. We tried to move as quickly down the mountain, but when you’re in a rope team it is hard to keep a fast pace when the person behind you or in from of you is going slower or faster than you. It’s like, synchronized walking… And for a fast walker like myself, it was roughhhhhh. We had a slow descent as we waited for the other team to come off the top, and then met up with the other team that turned back. At about 4:30 pm, we reached camp. FINALLY. We had an hour to get everything packed up, get a snack, take a deep breath, and head down to the cars. We got to the trailhead at 8 ish, and arrived in Bham around 10. It was a long long lonnnnng day, but so worth it. On the hike down, Chris and I kept talking about all the delicious food we were going to eat. And you better believe we made a b-line for pizza ASAP.

Lessons learned on the mountain and off: Just keep going. Be more positive. Tell yourself you are capable, then believe it. Set goals, reach them, or at least try your best to get there. Challenge yourself. Be kind- to your body, to your soul, to others, to the Earth. Get on snow more often. Cashew Cookie Larabars are not good, Apple Pie is where its at. Always stay up “late” for the sunset.

Cheers, Baker. My first of five cascade volcanoes. Next up, Mount Adams!

Details of the climb:

MILES

Day1: 4(ish)

Day 2: 5(ish)

ELEVATION GAIN

Day1: 2,300

Day 2: 4,800

HOURS *hiking* ON THE MOUNTAIN

Day1: 3-4

Day 2: 14 (without hiccups and waiting it would have been closer to 10)

When it came to training, being "in shape" was the biggest key. If you're interested in alpine climbing, I highly recommend it! I believe in you!!! I have asthma, which was another concern 'cause when you get to a higher elevation, you receive much less oxygen which can pose a problem to people, especially asthmatics.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions!