Mount Baker

Mount Baker
3286 m
Primary factor 2707 m
Location: North 48:46.606, West 121:48.873 (GPS on the summit)
Washington, USA
Climbed June 21. 2006.

Information:

How to get there: This mountain is located in northern Washington. From Seattle, drive Interstate 5 north and locate Hwy. 20 going east (exit 230). Drive 34 km (approx. 21 miles) along Hwy. 20 and look for Baker Lake/Grandy Road going left. This is a pretty wide, paved road. Drive another 20 km (12.5 miles) along this road and locate Forest Road number 12, turning left off Baker Lake/Grandy Road. Head up this road 5.5 km (3.5 miles) and look for Forest Road number 13 going right. Drive this road to its end or as far you can get before the road is blocked by snow remaining from the winter. The distamce to the trailhead is approximately 9 km (5.5 miles).
Will be posted soon.
Route description: Will be posted soon.
Comments: I did this climb with Helge Larsen, one of the participants on our successful Denali expedition. In fact, we stood on the summit of Mount Baker exactly one week after our summit day on Denali.
We started from the trailhead shortly before 1600 on June 20th. After a few hours of skiing in steep and somewhat complex hillsides with only a vague idea of where Mount Baker might be (to the north somewhere!), we finally reached a col from where we could see a route to the mountain. We camped at elevation 1875 m (N48:44.408, W121:48.756) around 2000 in the evening.
The next morning, we skied in bright sunshine with a dense carpet of clouds below us. As we gained elevation towards Sherman Peak, the clouds also came upwards, however, this rise never caught up with us.
We started around 0800 on June 21st. and reached the summit at 1315. The descent was nice until reaching the treeline, from there, we again struggled down complicated terrain in order to reach the trailhead around 1730.

Resources:

Images
- At the trailhead, our H3 from Avis is parked off the road.
- Olav, ready to climb?
- Helge, definitely getting ready.
- Off route? We have finally emerged out in a col from where we could see the mountain.
- Mount Baker, from here the route seemed clear.
- Our camp, a beautiful morning with a blanket of clouds below us.
- Our camp, the mountain view.
- First a long gentle slope.
- Yes, this is a glacier.
- Steeper terrain up to the crater rim just left of Sherman Peak.
- View from the crater rim.
- Helge on the broad summit. The highest point is in the background.
- Sherman Peak, as seen from the summit. We arrived at the shallow saddle just to the right of the peak. Our backpacks are visible as small dots. The narrow passage is between the rock and the (active) crater further right.
- Helge on the Baker HP.
- Snow detail near the summit.
- A narrow passage between the rock and the quite active crater. Note our skis and backpacks that we left in the crater.
- Interesting route, another view of the crater passage. One has a bergschrund near the rock and a roaring crater on the other side, neither option being attractive. The crater may soon melt away this precarious passage.
- Crater details.
- Descending into clouds, skiing high on Mount Baker.
- Complicated terrain. Steep forest gullies with waterfalls.