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- Jul 28, 2014
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North Ridge of Baker
The weekend of July 20th Yoshiko and I guided the North Ridge of Mount Baker. Going into the trip, as we often see in the Cascades, an inch of rain was forecasted for the first day of the trip. When I see rainfall amounts like that I generally try to find an umbrella or a backup plan. Fortunately a backup plan presented itself, and my catlike aversion to wetness was fulfilled. We spent the first day of our trip at Mount Erie reviewing some rock climbing techniques, as well as belaying, rappelling, and multi-pitch transitions.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=d3d4fff52b8eb8a7e010846704243089 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=d59fa8f277ee75ef3daaac4d4c8d30f7 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=eeb9e2a28b55f3e0305ac16f36f6129b 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=0ef8473a207b43909dbc974935a04c48 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=9aaedb5fdce09c77e20e13ddd971e3b9 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=8153f4a25455aa57af05266c86ea7d69 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=899d0db49bafa3a696e46483b2227a27 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=b1a0a744435b44eb4e0b8d33f53dca7b 640w)
Marco and Yoshiko training at Mount Erie. Alan Rousseau photo
After a fun day of climbing in the rain shadow, the crew headed into Anacortes, and we all enjoyed a nice dinner and walk along the coast before returning to our campsite for the night. The next morning, we woke up early and continued our drive to the north side of Baker.
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On approach to the Heliotrope Bridge. Alan Rousseau photo
We still had low-lying clouds on our hike and a bit of rain in the evening. I was beginning to worry that the storm was going to stall out over us. However, we woke up at 2 am to a starry sky. Which means one thing: GO TIME! So we boiled up a big pot of water, and everyone pounded some caffeine and oatmeal and we were off and running (well, walking) on perfect neve to try and find a way through the very broken Coleman glacier.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=36998133ce64fc1888b53352d45596e2 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=ba4453cd611abae488b56b8236689606 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=e58bb120fa18cdc3964e6c79b795345e 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=f7b6b613d0219f068cb795a39ceb9168 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=1573dc2d4f03c3ea877298e703911adf 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=fe7a030272fe8c68e7a6ad6c0b057f16 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=83f0b59c0d855b6e8f4cedab473d3c72 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=dd0df863c1bf31fee67cbd338bfd3b69 1024w)
Early morning departure. Alan Rousseau photo
From some info a friend had sent me I knew there was a passage at the 6600’ contour. So we began an ankle-crushing traverse across the crevasse riddled Coleman glacier. With only one wrong turn that cost us 150 vertical feet we found our way to the base of the North ridge. A few hundred feet of steep (50 degree) front-pointing and a short traverse across loose rock put us on the north ridge and above most of the objective hazard the route presents.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=ce100c11738941ed972a23d20381ab99 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=8e8481d3f3eb6b3dc7c4e483f7f42325 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=7a1878ad695c4a15c31ea9f6db569dbc 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=c73c978f1d16113269afa3a7c7d1dd9b 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=4d6dc452bc49ce5664e6696f09cca478 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=c8f2b6d0c033798ba332f05ed4d4ccaf 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=6d290f21b2b880b6e4e67c06e281fbf5 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=3f408c389d3c328f5ea6019492c2690e 1024w)
Steep ascent. Alan Rousseau photo
The record breaking temps the week before, coupled with a lot of rain and a big drop in freezing levels left us with unusually firm snow on the entire route. We moved together for the most part to the base of the ice cliff, with a couple running belays along the way. The ice cliff offered 3, 30 meter pitches of 60 – 80 degree terrain. Then 2, 70 meter pitches on 50 degree neve. From there we were able to walk together weaving through the upper crevasses and seracs that guard the summit plateau. We reached the summit 10 hours after leaving camp. Everyone was feeling pretty tired, but we still had to muster enough energy to descend to camp, pack up and continue back to Seattle.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=ae44ffcffb3f043eda78c5fb8e33c05b 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=aea833c6faed87ee2dea31d9d48f5ea5 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=a51323ca8c113a30b05f5f994c1609f4 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=6d358940a69dc180d5fa45bbdb41028b 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=b7784edd863f47bf37e367539d985f27 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=2a9061933c4bafaed76e0f74fa72e7a2 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=d405a26acc8231e14e3c763dd51c8a9f 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F0719BAKERNR_1024px-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=dfd092c4014a7213a12760d45158e035 640w)
Getting ready to belay up the ice pitch on the North Ridge. Alan Rousseau photo
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A summit worth ten hours of effort. Alan Rousseau photo
Fortunately the conditions were conducive to glissading, which eased the pain of descending with a few fun sections of sliding on our butts down the mountain. Three hours after leaving the summit we were pounding water, and packing up tents preparing for the trail down to the car. By the time we reached the van, sorted gear and loaded up we were looking at a 2 am arrival into Seattle. Strong work everyone for staying positive on the 24 hour push!
Thanks for a safe and enjoyable couple days. I look forward to sharing a rope with you all again.
~MM Guide Alan Rousseau