Mt. Baker Climb

Mt. Baker has been on my to-do list for a long time, and Chris and I finally got down to it this past weekend.  At an elevation of 10,781 ft, it is the 4th highest peak in Washington* and the second most-glaciated after Mt. Rainier.  For me, it was the last of the five Washington volcanoes to summit, and the first in six years.

1. Mt. Rainier – 14,410 feet – June 1998
2. Mt. St. Helens – 8,365 feet – October 1999
3. Mt. Adams – 12,277 feet – August 2001
4. Glacier Peak – 10,541 feet – July 2003
5. Mt. Baker – 10,781 feet – June 2009

The climb had a lot of ups and downs –pun intended.  Things didn’t start out well.  First, our desired route was inaccessible due to a washed out Forest Service road.  Second, the third member of our climbing party bailed at the last minute, leaving just the two of us. A two-man rope team can travel faster but is decidedly less safe than a three-man team.  Third, our backup route appeared to be empty of any other climbers.  Again, safety in numbers.

But then a series of positive happenings brightened our spirits.  As we came over a ridge Saturday afternoon we were surprised and excited to see four tents and three rope teams descending toward the camp.  They explained that this was the best place to set-up a high camp, and that they had just made a successful summit climb.  They added that it had poured rain the night before, which would have washed away their tracks on the snowfields up to that point and explained why we didn’t see any evidence of other climbers.

Chris working on some dinner

Weather was good, no wind, good visibility — at least in between the clouds and fog, and no precip.

Looking West at dusk

We got up at 3am to start our summit ascent.  After grabbing some food, lightening our packs, and crampon-ing and harnessing up, we hit the hill around 4:00.  Luckily it hadn’t rained or snowed overnight so the tracks from the other party were still visible and easy to follow.  In fact, we followed them all the way to the top, reaching the peak at 9:00am.  The weather and visibility had taken a turn for the worse at around 9500 feet, so we didn’t hang out long in the wind and snow-storm at the summit.  Here’s our summit victory shot:

We made it!

And we made great time getting back to camp, about four hours ahead of the pace of the other climbing party the day before.  While it was definitely a physically demanding climb, the route was relatively crevasse-free and really had no technical elements.  The fog had rolled in as had some mixed rain and snow, so we quickly broke camp and continued our descent.

And that’s when the fun started.

After about a half an hour down a foggy ridge, we realized we didn’t recognize where we were.  No sign of our footprints from yesterday, and no sign of tracks from the other party who left earlier that day either.  And our map only showed the original route we planned to take, not this Plan B route.  So no map, no GPS, no cell signal, no visibility to get our bearings.  Thankfully Chris had remembered to pack his trusty compass.

So we walked South.  Then East.  Then South.  Then West.  Then South again.  Then down a steep-ass hill.  Then along a creek.  Bushwhacking with full packs through some pretty thick and sketchy terrain for 3 hours.  So dumb in so many ways.

I’d never been that lost before for that long.  We had all the gear and supplies to survive much worse conditions than we faced, and we had at least educated guesses of where we were.  But the stuff that starts going through your head.  Mostly what kept us going was, “Mom and Bryn are going to kill us.”

Reasoning that we knew of another climbing route to our West that we were confident we hadn’t crossed, we finally had the smarts to decide on one plan and stick to it: walk West.  After that it wasn’t long before we found something that looked like a trail — we were skeptical since it was disguised as a creekbed, which had burned us before.  But upon closer examination, this was a legitimate trail, a trail with fresh bootprints!  And they’re going that way!  And 100 yards later, there were kids on the trail!  We can’t be far from the parking lot if there are kids on the trail!  After being so lost, it truly was an amazing feeling.

Sure enough, about a mile down that trail we got to the car, found the keys, put on some dry clothes, and headed home.  Quite an adventure.  We’ll just say we took the scenic route.  Lessons learned.

*I’m not counting Little Tahoma, a sub-peak of Mt. Rainier that at 11,138 feet would rank 3rd if it stood alone.

-Nick

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Tags: climbing, photos, success