Mt. Baker

Iconic Mt Baker is on the tick list of any Southwest BC/Northwest Washington mountain enthusiast, and I am certainly no exception. The “little” brother of Seattle’s overlord Mt Rainer, Baker stands at 3288m, the 3rd highest in Washington state (Ranier rises an impressive 1100m higher to 4400m).

Jem and I were in conversations about tackling this during the Spring prime ski mountaineering season, and the weather looked ideal for a mid April attempt. And a great opportunity to go round two in the Peebles, and test out the heating in:

Jemotorhome Shredventures 2: The Re-thermocoupling

After a gear and passport check in Squamish, we hit the road to cross the border to Washington, with a plan to drive and sleep up the Glacier Creek forest service road with access to the popular Coleman Deming route, hopefully making it reasonably close to the actual trailhead with an unknown snowline in early April.

We stopped at a classic American TexMex joint after we crossed the border to fuel up on a carb explosion. My plan to order a burrito to go as my trail lunch backfired when I discovered that a burrito by definition in this establishment was a completely flat wet mess completely saturated in cheese sauce. The only way this thing was making it in my pack was after a visit to a blender en route to a water bottle, but a) the concept of an alpine burrito smoothie wasn’t sounding particularly appetizing, and b) Jem’s rig was understandably void of most common kitchen appliances, so it looked like my plentiful stash of sugar snacks and RX bars was going to be the menu de jour.

Mt. Baker towers above much of the region, with an enormous prominence. View across Georgia Straight from the Gulf Islands. From this photo I would guess the Coleman-Deming Col is just to the right of the little nub down and left from the summit.

We rolled up the Glacier Creek with the truck camper bouncing around a recently rebuilt and reasonably well maintained single lane road winding through the forest, until we came across the row of vehicles full of like minded folks ready to climb North Washington’s iconic volcano. We had managed to drive only 3-4 kms away from the trailhead, which for early April felt pretty good, as this was early season for Spring ski mountaineering.

After a bit of a gear review, next to the glowing warmth of a beautifully functioning propane heater, we crashed early with a 5am alarm set to get a reasonably early start on the day, unsure how long the climb would take. Unfortunately, a constant stream of even keener snow nerds started rolling in around 330am and so we were regularly woken up by the sound of parking trucks, ripping skins, and tired but excited voices. By the time we crawled out at 5am, there was around 25 vehicles surrounding us.

The walk in started with a slog up the forest services road for the 3.5 kms to the proper trailhead, then another 4 kms of forest shuffling across a mix of snow and dirt. We managed it with skis on the feet in contrast to our Matier march earlier in the season, but a lot of dirt shuffling and exposed creek crossings made travel arduous, and mental preparations were made by the splitboarder of the group (me) that this part of the ski out would be less than enjoyable.

Ascending onto the flank of Baker and the Coleman Glacier at tree line, around 1500m elevation, our massive objective was immediately in clear site. With a mountain the size of Mt. Baker, the distances are deceiving! With a clear view of the summit, it felt like it was reasonably close, but that was definitely not the case. 600 metres of climbing done, another 1800 to go!

As we continued to climb to the upper reached of the Coleman Glacier and the last of the skiis-on skinning, one thing became quite clear: Jem is a beast! We kept a very solid pace and I was working hard just to try to keep up. By the time we reached the Coleman-Deming Col, the hip flexors were screaming, and I was actually relieved to see that we were switching to boot packing for the remainder of the climb, allowing a completely different group of muscles to descend into the pain cave.

There was an elated, communal vibe between all the parties ascending this final push, and terse yet quality conversations were forced out through shortened breath with the other climbers that had linked up through the few choke points in this section. The steepness of the slope was such that you could easily walk upright with ski poles and plod along, one step at a time, for the final 400 metres to the summit plateau. I definitely prefer my solitude in the mountains, but I will say it was enjoyable to connect with another group from Bellingham and share in the stoke.

My energy had returned, as that sweet sweet drug of adrenaline started to seep through the veins, and the proximity of the approaching summit calmed the mind and reduced the number of “how much fucking further is this thing!?” thoughts. The views were stellar, revealing Ranier in the far distance to the South, along with views out to the San Juans and Juan de Fuca Straight, with the Olympic mountains far in the distance.

The walk up the Deming Glacier

On top of the summit plateau, true summit within reach just ahead

Coming up the summit, the San Juans, Juan De Fuca straight, and the Olympics in the distance

Summit Stoke!

One surprise for us was the noticeable sulfur smell that hit us as soon as we were on the summit. At least that’s what I assumed it was, and not Jem processing the bean-heavy tex mex from the night before. We were standing on the top of a volcano, so I took him at his word that he was not the guilty party swamping out the summit.

Beginning the loooong 1800 meter descent back to treeline. The Coleman glacier had some great easy spring glacier skiing!

Monstrous Mt. Ranier off in the distance to the south

Back at Peebles, enjoying a well deserved beer and… ONE DELICIOUS WET BURRITO!

A very satisfying day up an iconic peak, with some decent skiing, and a solid cardio effort getting to the top. Lots of talk about keeping our eyes open for a weather window for the final boss of Washington stratavolcanos: Ranier.

Need to keep pushing my cardio to keep up with Jem on that one, although you do start 1000meters higher, so it isn’t a significantly bigger day vertically, though it comes with increased technicality, and pushes you up into an elevation that can definitely take its toll if not acclimatized.

Will definitely plan my lunch better for that effort!