Lower Coleman Glacier icefall (Oct 17 & 23).
Dave, Greg and I left Seattle just past 7am for a day of playing around with ice tools on Mt. Baker. For Greg and me, it was our first time (almost) ice climbing.The lower Coleman Glacier on Mt. Baker... ice cragging paradise
View down from top of ice wall
In not quite two and a half hours, we arrived at the trailhead. The skies had cleared, though there was a serious chill in the air. An hour and a half of hiking led us onto the glacier, which was actually quite crowded with other people doing the same thing. This is a great place for this... easy access, and lots of room.
Dave on our practise wall
We found our own little spot amongst the cracks and seracs, and Dave led up the 20ft wall, and we set up some top-ropes. Unfortunately there was a little ice-covered "lake" at the bottom of our wall. It looked sketchy to walk across it (what was beneath?!) , but Greg did anyway, and promptly got his foot soaked testing the edge. We learned to keep away from the slushy edges onto the more supportable ice in the middle. Later, we tried draining the lake by hacking at the outlet with our tools.
Dave climbing down into the hole.
Success! In the hole.
It was so much fun, the following Saturday, we went back! We found some higher walls, and experienced some pretty serious wind. Dave unveiled his homemade wooden ice tool to us, and we tried out my 5 cent regular-ice-screw-to-black-diamond-express-ice-screw conversion. Next iteration in the design will be an addition of a plastic bead, as per Dave's suggestion.
Dave inventing new ways to scratch himself
Greg attempts to solo a 50-foot overhanging wall his first time out.
We set up a top-rope on a high wall, but most of the day was spent bouldering up and down shorter cliffs, trying not to succumb to the occasional terrific gusts of wind.
On the way back off the glacier, Dave worked on his dry-tooling skills by climbing some loose rock on the moraine.
On the way back to the trailhead, an evil stream tried to attack Greg by making him slip and fall on his ass. Dave then proceded to kick some serious stream ass, by throwing a rock at it!
We also met a pair from Everett who had bailed from a Baker climb because the wind flattened their tent. One of the guys said he used to volunteer for Everett Mountain Rescue, but not anymore. Now they occasionally call him, and he'll volunteer himself to help rescue someone, only if they are stuck on interesting totally vertical technical rock with easy access. "No brush!". He also makes his kids carry the climbing ropes.
Some attractive chunks of ice.
Phil's first lead (500ft off the deck, he finally gets a breather from the sustained WI7 climbing)
Wind erosion in action along the moraine
