Ice Climbing - Mt Baker 10.16.10

Every fall Boealps hosts an ice climbing seminar one weekend up at Mt Baker. I jumped at the opportunity to get out in the mountains and learn some new skills. I signed up for the Saturday outing and we were to meet at 7:30 AM at the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead on the northwest side of Mt Baker. I met my carpool at the trusty park and ride in Greenlake at 4:30 AM and we were on our way. It had been months since I met at that park and ride for a mountain adventure early in the morning - it was kind of nice. I had packed up everything the night before so that I could maximize my sleep time. We arrived at the trailhead just after 7:00 AM and started gearing up. The trailhead was cold and I immediately put on another long sleeve shirt, my down jacket, hat and gloves - and after some time passed I finally stopped shivering. For the outing I needed steel crampons and Rose was awesome enough to lend me hers - I only have an aluminum pair myself. Aaron also lent me his ice tools so I was ready to go. We divided up the gear at the trailhead - ropes and ice tools, and took to the trail. The guys took off like mad down the trail but a spring of Boealps finally hit home - I went at my nice, steady, slow pace. I didn't have to take extra breaks and I felt kind of proud of myself. Now I just need to get in shape so I can go a bit faster and keep up with friends.

It was a pretty easy stroll through the trees along the trail. The trailhead was packed but we only passed a couple of people, who I think were doing some ice climbing with another group. All the climbers I'm sure left a lot earlier from the trailhead to get up Baker. Our first challenges of the day were the creek crossings. There had been some ice and snow on the trail but not much. It was cold out and the rocks in the creek had thick layers of ice on them with rushing water running over them. A couple of the guys got across the first creek and a few others tried chipping ice away from the rocks so we'd have somewhere to step. I unfortunately didn't bring my trekking poles with me. I watched several people go across to try and figure out some technique of where to step. I had made it mostly across the creek and on the last step or two, Brandon helped by grabbing my hipbelt and pulling me onto the other side. There were a couple more creek crossings I successfully crossed, and then I got to another one. Trying to step across I fell on my butt in the creek. Luckily Joe was right behind me and pulled me up quickly. I was going to wear my new rain pants with full length zippers but Aaron convinced me to go with my old plastic pants since I had a good chance of tearing something with the crampons and ice tools - thank goodness for plastic pants! Despite falling in the creek, I only had half of a wet arm.

Just past the creeks we reached the base of the glacier - we just had to find our way down the ridge a ways to get on the glacier. We put our crampons on and headed towards some slight ice hills on the glacier near the seracs. The first part of the day was spent learning different techniques for walking in crampons. We spent time going up and down the moderately sloped hill practicing the French technique, the German technique, the American technique, the duck walk, using our ice ax as a banister, traversing with an ice ax, and the rest step. We learned how to use the ice ax for both the low and high dagger as well. Next we got to try out the ice tools and just practiced setting those in the small hill as well. As we were learning and practicing, Dana and Brandon went up a nearby hill and set some ropes so we could do our first climbs with the ice tools. The ice was really cold and brittle and kept dinner plating (small sheets breaking off), so it was hard to set the tools sometimes. We each got the opportunity to climb the moderate hill - part of which we could just walk along. Next we walked back down the glacier to a crevasse - and thankfully out into the sun. Even though it was after noon, Mt Baker and the Black Buttes had hidden the sun for the entire morning and it was nice to get a little warmth from its rays.

At the crevasse we learned how to set anchors using ice screws and creating v-threads. It's amazing how useful the ice can be and how solid the anchors are. We created a V in the ice with the ice screws and threaded cord through it. We had two V threads and one ice screw for each anchor, and set ropes. The next couple of hours were spent getting lowered into the crevasse and climbing out. By my third climb I felt like I had established a pretty decent technique and I was really enjoying myself. I learned how to front point into the ice so I didn't keep shearing out, how to look for those pockets/dimples to sink the ice tools, and how to use the straps to my advantage. Sometimes as I was getting lowered and I neared the dark abyss of the crevasse, I would think how only a rope kept me from falling down there and I immediately questioned my figure 8 - it was also when I decided I should stop lowering and start climbing. It was 3:30 and time for us to pack up, so we broke down all of the anchors and divided up the gear again. I left one of Aaron's ice tools with Dana and Brandon since they were climbing the rest of the way up Baker the next day. The creek crossings went a little better in the afternoon, although still very icy. We all made it back to the cars and were glad to change into some nice, warm, cotton clothing. After the debrief we headed home, with Mo's car (the one I was in) stopping for some dinner at the Skagit River Brewery, an excellent choice. It was a great day - learning how to ice climb and getting back out into the mountains.

View Mt Baker Ice Climbing in a larger map Map for this adventure

Mt Baker area

Heliotrope Ridge trail to the Coleman glacier

Coleman Glacier where we spent most of the day working on skills - you can see Mt Baker's peak and the Black Buttes which kept us in the shadows until afternoon