What better place to try out a new splitboard than the summit of a stratovolcano?
Baker is one of the most recognizable and striking summits in Washington, towering above its surroundings in the northwestern part of the state – only about 30 miles due east of the city of Bellingham. It is home to many glaciers and the Mount Baker Ski area holds the world record for snowfall in a year at 1,140 inches! Needless to say, this one had to be climbed.
Fern and I set off to summit and ski Mount Baker via the Coleman Deming route on the north side of the mountain. Our plan was to ski from the summit – with me using my new splitboard. We loaded up our very heavy packs, filled with all our overnight and glacier travel gear as well as our ski stuff strapped to the outside. Thankfully our excitement propelled us upward on the Heliotrope Ridge trail, despite the heavy loads.
Our goal was to set up camp at Hogsback Camp before reaching glaciated terrain. Eventually, we broke out of the trees and headed up Heliotrope Ridge, getting our first open views of the massive mountain ahead of us. There was just a bit of snow here and there on the trail at this point, but we were able to mostly stay on dirt and rock as we ascended. As we came into the camp area, it became clear that we were certainly not the only people with the same idea this weekend, and we worried about finding a spot. Eventually with some searching away from the crowds, we were able to find a nice site with a small stream running right near it. It would be the perfect place to call home for the night!
The evening was spectacular. We made dinner and then did a brief run through of our crevasse rescue system. Glacier travel with just two people is not ideal, so we agreed that we would make conservative choices in the morning and tie knots in our rope to increase the friction should one of us fall. Feeling good about our review and safety talk, we spent the rest of the night enjoying the incredible sunset from our high camp.
Most volcano climbers in WA will get very early starts in order to make it up and down before snow starts to soften and snow-bridges start to weaken in the midday heat. Since we were planning to ski from the summit, we had to time our ascent in the perfect goldilocks zone before the snow got sloppy and after it had softened. We couldn’t be too late because of the weakening snow bridges and the heightened risk of wet loose avalanches as the day went on, but not too early because we didn’t want to be skiing on icy, bulletproof snow.
We settled on a sort-of alpine 5:15 am and began heading up toward the Black Buttes. We tried skinning for the first few hundred yards, but quickly realized the error in our ways. The snow was much too hard and icy, so we almost immediately put our skis on our back and switched to boots and crampons. We proceeded up on relatively benign slopes, skirting up and over a big, crevassed area on the Coleman Glacier. The entire route was nicely filled in for us, and we barely noticed any signs of crevassing our entire way up. Still, we maintained an ample respect for the glaciers, knowing what could be lurking below our feet. We also kept a wary eye on the large serac overhanging above us as we passed under Colfax Peak.
Eventually we reached the saddle between Colfax and the true summit, with nothing but the Roman Wall between us and the top. The trip had gone very smoothly, except for the weird looks we would get from people due to the ridiculous amounts of zinc-based sunscreen Fern and I were wearing. I forgot I looked like a ghost!
The Roman Wall is the final 1200ish feet up to the summit of Mount Baker via the two most popular routes on the mountain – the Coleman-Deming or the Easton. Because of this, and the fact it was a nice weekend day, it looked like a regular conga line of people above us. Fern and I fell in line and maintained a steady pace up to the summit crater. The Roman Wall is steeper than the rest of the route, but in my opinion isn’t too intimidating if you have your ice axe out and know how to use it.
Before long, we were cresting the summit crater – a wide expanse of snow and ice that is extraordinarily flat, except for a small snowy hill (the true summit) emerging from it. Fern and I reveled in our accomplishment as we made the 5-minute walk across and stood on top of Mount Baker, 5 hours and 15 minutes after we left camp.
The views from the summit were spectacular, with the obvious highlight being the beautiful and rugged Mount Shuksan to our east. It was a weird perspective looking down on it from above! The weather was so nice that we even laid down and took summit “naps.” Hard to beat the view when we opened our eyes and remembered where we were!
The way down presented a whole new experience – it was time to see how my new splitboard fared on some really big terrain. We skinned back across the summit crater and prepared for our descent. Thankfully, it performed remarkably well. I am a more tentative snowboarder than Fern is a skier, so I took my time making conservative turns down the upper part of the Roman Wall. We had timed our descent very well and the snow wasn’t too icy, which was a relief! Before long, the terrain was easing, and I was able to let loose a bit more – savoring the feeling of gliding down a big mountain. I loved the views of the Twin Sisters below us, a reminder that I need to get out and scramble up them some day.
We soon were making the turn back down onto the Coleman Glacier. Here we skied over one small crack in the glacier, but overall, there was almost no sign of crevasse activity yet on our descent route. Beyond this, we had nothing but fun turns back down below the Black Buttes and all the way to our camp. We took plenty of breaks and didn’t ski particularly fast and still made it back shockingly fast – about 45 minutes from the summit.
We took our time back at camp to relax, pack up, and pump water, before departing the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead. Our packs felt just as heavy on the way in, and our legs were sore, but we felt very grateful for such a great day and conditions, and for safe passage on such an iconic mountain.
Final Stats: 11.87 miles / 6,714 feet of gain
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