North Ridge of Mt. Baker. July 10,11th 1999.

The goal was to climb the North Ridge of Mt. Baker, a supposedly very aesthetic, moderately technical route on, duh, the north side of Baker. It would be the first time I give my ice tools a workout, and, more importantly, probably the last time I'd see Matt before he heads off to Switzerland!

Chris and I drove up from Seattle and met Matt (who had arrived from Victoria via expensive ferry) late Friday night at the trailhead. Hiking in early on Saturday would give us a chance to 1) scope out the route, and most importantly, the 2-mile glacier traverse to the base of the ridge, and 2) hopefully practice some ice climbing, as Chris and I were neophytes.

We left the trailhead mid-morning on Saturday, and were in camp before noon. We picked a spot amongst the rock outcroppings that was above most others, had running water nearby, and was closer to our intended route. We had a view over the hoards of other campers lower down who would be attempting the standard route (Coleman-Deming). We were the only party on our rock outcropping, and so we became fierce patriots of it.

Matt and Chris at camp

After some food, we decided to gear up and head across the Coleman and Roosevelt glaciers to the base of the ridge. We wanted to scope out the start of the route because, chances were we'd be crossing it in the dark Sunday morning, and route-finding through the crevasses could be impossible then. At least this way we'd have some tracks (our own) to follow.

The view from somewhere on the Coleman/Roosevelt glacier. The north ridge is the broad ridge beginning at the lower left, extending through the ice cliff halfway up, and then to the summit. Vertical relief in this picture is about 3000ft.

Icefall on the Coleman glacier.

The traverse proved pretty straightforward and direct, and we only ran into one dead end. Upon reaching the base of the ridge, we looked for the best way onto it. The "standard" way wasn't steep, but it looked very broken up, and it wasn't clear we'd be able to get onto the ridge. The other variation reported in the guidebook (a steep, supposedly rock-fall prone snow slope) looked ok, but had some crevasse problems at its base. Chris spotted a much better-looking ramp, and we decided that was the best bet.

There was a strong sulfur stench where we were. Odd, I thought the only steam vents were in the summit crater. I suppose wind could have blown the smell down the mountain.

From our vantage, the crux of the route, the summit cap ice cliff, looked high and vertical. Reports from book and other people varied. Some said it was no problem, just a pitch of moderately steep ice. Others said it was 2 pitches of 70degree ice, and that the route was harder than the adjacent Coleman Headwall (grade IV). Obviously the route changes a lot.

View up the east side of the North Ridge, towards the ice cliff (on top).

Upon returning to camp late that afternoon, we found another party on our rock outcropping. They turned out to be cool people, and were also attempting the north ridge. In all, there were five other parties trying this route the next day, camped in various spots. We'd talked to all but one group. Each group had very different ideas of when to start. Our time was the latest, but the group camped beside us was going to leave extremely early, about five hours before us (11pm vs 4am). After talking with them, our times averaged out (as often happens), and we ended up leaving only about a half hour apart the next morning. Before leaving, I took a dump, and used a blue bag for the first time. Matt was proud of me (thanks Matt!), but it was really the only choice in an over-crowded area such as this (no smearing, Lukas).

Matt getting ready for bed Saturday evening. Brush those teeth!

We traversed the glacier in good time, and, upon reaching the base of the ridge, we caught up to and passed another party of four.

At about 8500ft on the North Ridge.

View of the North Cascades near the Canadian/American border.

View of one of the Black Buttes from the North Ridge.

We made good time up the steep ramp to the ridge-crest. From here it was easy going, except for portions where the snow was very loose and unconsolidated. Rather odd. Eventually, we caught up to another party, the guys that were camped beside us. From this vantage, the ice cliff looked very doable. At the far left end, it didn't look that steep, and the party of three said they were going to try and simulclimb it. There was a party of two already on the cliff, on the far right, at more vertical, but much shorter, section. I was excited!

Okay, so then we turned around.

It was about the lamest reason I've ever had to turn around from a climb, and was very disappointing. I won't get into details of who or what, but I'll just say it involved a water bottle and sunglasses. We were only about 100 meters from the base of the ice cliff.

View of the ice cliff from our turn-around point. Our next-door neighbours are on the ridge, making the final ascent up to the base of the cliff.

Close-up of the ice cliff. There's a person on top of the rock on the right. Close up.

Roosevelt glacier Badlands!... Funny seracs on the way down.

Matt jealously watching the other North Ridge parties successfully summit.

Phil and crevasse.

Matt and crevasse.

After spending a while "discussing" ex-girlfriends at 9200ft, we descended the ridge to its base without too much incident, and continued back across the glacier to camp. Before leaving the last patch of crevasses, we took a break and practiced some crevasse rescue. I took some pictures in the crevasse while playing 'victim', but I haven't got those ones back yet!

Back at camp, we sipped fine port that Matt had brought, and then discovered my blue bag had turned quite brown. Blue Bag tip #23: Try to include as little snow as possible in the bag, or else your poo turns very very soft, and it even grosser to carry out.