Mount Baker via Easton Glacier
A two day climb of Mount Baker in Washington, USA. This is a mountaineering route with glacier travel. We climbed this route with boots and crampons, leaving our skis at home.
Trip members: Krysta and Brian Norwick
Objective: Mount Baker summit 3,286 m (10,781 ft) via Easton Glacier
Number of days: 2 days, 1 night
This was our second attempt climbing Mount Baker. We attempted once in June and had to turn back due to weather. This time, we were on our summer volcano climbing trip for two weeks, so we planned around the weather a bit better. We hunkered down in Seattle during the rainstorm and enjoyed some microbreweries and riding e-bikes around the city.
When a weather window appeared, we loaded up our compact car and headed to the Schreiber’s Meadow trailhead. There is a great little parking lot there and we enjoyed a nice evening sheltered from the intermittent rain.
On the morning of July 11 we set out along the well maintained Railroad Grade trail at 9:00 a.m. After crossing over a wooden bridge over a large stream ~100m along the trail we passed through some beautiful meadows. After another 10-15 minutes of walking we arrived at a river valley where we traversed through some small boulders. The trail then led us to a small metal bridge crossing the water feature. After this bridge, the trail went back into the forest and started to gently and steadily climb.
As the trail reached tree line we were rewarded with rich swathes of wildflowers sprinkled along the alpine ridges. Our first glimpses of the glacier as we gained the final ridge took our breath away. Ribbons of clouds shrouded our view of the summit, but the large crevasses below were spectacular.
The trail became more of a route as we arrived at the boulder field where many parties were camping at the same elevation at the line of the glacier. We continued upwards another 150 meters of elevation gain to find a more secluded spot just below the end of the rocky ridge. Our camp was at 1,991 m elevation, where we had a stunning view of the glacier on the other side of the ridge. We set up around 4 p.m. next to a small tarn providing us water which we sanitized using our UV purification wand.
Various other climbing groups were camped along the ridge below us.
A climbing group of five negotiating the ridge with the Easton glacier in the background.
Our home for the night.
This was our fourth summit attempt over the course of two weeks. We had most of our gear and systems dialled in. It didn’t take long to purify water, eat and settle in for a short night’s sleep. This was our third time using our Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 tent and we finally figured out how tight we needed to make the guylines. We had a very cozy sleep.
Inside our Trango 2 tent.
Our alarm went off at 2 a.m., much to my dismay. I am NOT a morning person and this being the fourth early morning over the span of two weeks made it extra difficult to get going. Thankfully Brian is a superstar in the morning and gets our food and coffee going. After a quick bite, we put on our harnesses and roped ourselves together. The final step was the crampons and we were off by 3 a.m. Headlamps on and GPS led, we stumbled our way to the top of the ridge. Once we reached the glacier, navigating became easier as we simply had to follow the footprints of climbers before us. Brian was leading and keeping a close eye out for crevasses as we moved our aching bodies closer to the summit.
The sun had yet to rise. We both felt comfortable with the cold and firm snow as we traversed our way up. Brian was exclaiming how thankful he was to have the opportunity to attempt this summit again. I was starting to hit a wall and was feeling nauseous. As we neared the caldera, I confided that I needed a snack and morale boosting break. The sun was just starting to illuminate the mountain. Just the magic I needed to push on.
Brian leading us with lots of motivation! We could start to smell sulphur here.
We traversed to the left around the west side of the Sherman Crater, hugging close to the rock. We were then ready to make the final approach to the summit. A large climbing group was just ahead of us. There was an essential snow bridge about halfway up the final slope that we all needed to wait for in single file for. Once over the snow bridge, we snaked our way up to the final ridge to the summit.
Two climbing groups ahead of us clustered just below the true Baker summit.
The final ridge was easy walking on a broad ridge. Nothing technical. We were in awe of the clear day and no wind. It started to become apparent that we would reach the summit this time and we were both giddy with excitement!
Mount Baker summit 3,286 meters.
It almost feels like walking on the moon.
We reached the summit at 7:30 a.m. Our total time to climb from 1,991 m to 3,286 m (1,295 m elevation gain) was 4.5 hours. As groups began to cluster at the summit and the sun warmed the snow, Brian and I knew we should start our descent before the other groups. We snapped a few celebratory pictures, devoured a bar and started to make our way down exactly the way we came. The views were even more spectacular as we walked away from the summit.
We were glad we started our climb so early as it was apparent the snow bridges were starting to soften. Fatigue and neck soreness were starting to set in. We took as many snack breaks as we needed, but tried to keep moving at a good pace. There were many climbing groups still on their way up. The terrain didn’t lend itself well to glissading, so we kept our crampons on the entire time. We only had to cross 2-3 visible snow bridges while we were on the glacier, but we didn’t feel they warranted adding additional protection.
We were back at camp by 11 a.m., so we had a short rest and then packed up our gear for the walk back to the car. We were moved by the stunning beauty of the alpine meadows.
We relished in our accomplishment as we walked down the trail together. By the time we made it down to the section of small rocks and boulders, our legs were feeling very heavy. We had a final snack break. Then took our time following the trail back to the car. We arrived at our car at 5 p.m.
Our attempt up Baker in June via the Coleman glacier felt so much more challenging and treacherous. It really goes to show that the same mountain with different weather conditions can change the entire experience! With no wind and clear skies it felt so much easier. This mountain in particular made us realize how important a weather window is and how a Monday-Friday 9-5 schedule isn’t conducive to capitalizing on weather windows. It was time to re-think our life plans.
