North Side of Mt. Baker

Our final choice for pre-exam preparation was some recon. on the north side of Mt. Baker. Baker has a number of routes on the north side, including the North Ridge and the Coleman Headwall, and we wanted to have a good handle on glacier and route conditions prior to the start of the exam. We'd heard some discouraging reports prior to heading out but wanted to see for ourselves. Mt. Baker is a glaciated volcano similar to Mt. Rainier, but much lower in altitude with it's summit at just over 10,716 ft.

(View of the North side of Mt. Baker. The Coleman Headwall is the glaciated route in the center of the photo. The N. Ridge comes in on the left.)

After a day of rain on Wednesday we loaded up and left the parking lot early Thursday morning. A nice and relatively short approach took us to camp Mirkwood, a popular camp which affords great access to the ice on the lower Coleman Glacier. This is a popular area for ice cragging in the summer and will likely be the site for some of our exam.

(Checking out crevasses for our practice sessions)


We crossed the Coleman and after a some healthy slogging on a moraine between the Coleman and Roosevelt Glaciers, finally reached the point where we decided to rope up and head out on the glacier. Our goal on this day was to scope conditions on the glacier and practice our crevasse rescue scenarios. As we crested a roll on the Roosevelt we ran into fellow examinees Adam George and David Valet. We all decided to team up for the crack rescue practice.

(Pat ascending back out of the crevasse and getting ready to haul)

After a couple of scenarios, Justin, Pat, and I went for a walk up the Roosevelt with the intention of scoping access to Mt. Baker's North Ridge. We made it to about 8100' before we decided to turn around and head back to camp before we ran out of light. With our route to 8100' well kicked in we planned to return the following day and climb the North Ridge.

(On the Roosevelt looking for a way through the maze)

Waking early (4 am) we retraced our steps back to 8100' with Jusin in the lead. As we trudged upwards, it became increasingly clear that the route was not going to go. Large crevasses, moats, and bergschrunds guarded access to the ridge, making path both impassable and potentially dangerous. After a couple of hours of poking around looking for other, safer alternatives to access the N. Ridge, we tucked our tails and headed back.

As I've said before, safety is of the utmost importance on climbs like this, and we all felt that pushing it was not warranted in this situation. Other routes like the Coleman/Deming and the Coleman Headwall looked to be in better condition. We'll have to wait and see if we get this as an exam objective!

(Pat climbing up an ice wall to look for a way through, only to be stuffed by a large crevasse on the other side)

The exam starts in a few days and I'll be taking a few days off to rest and get all my gear ready. Thinking about doing a day of cragging at Index, a popular rock climbing area about an hour from Seattle. I will try to do a couple of posts in between days on the exam, but depending upon the schedule, it may be a tall order to do so. At the very least I'll post how things went at the end of the exam!