June 8, 2013 - Baker North Ridge

Our overall route up the Glacier Creek Rd and up the summer trail

Our climbing route across the Coleman Glacier, up the North Ridge and back down the Coleman-Deming route

The north ridge of Baker had been on my list for a while as a moderate ice climbing route on a big volcano. I was excited enough about the route to not blink an eye at the 7 mile, 2500' gain bike approach to the trailhead over the now closed Glacier Creek Rd. Actually the closure probably made our climb more enjoyable by keeping the masses off the Coleman-Deming route.

On Saturday we took off from town with all our gear packed up in panniers and bikes strapped to the roof of the Subaru. After turning off onto Glacier Creek Rd we drove the 2 miles to the road closure and then started the process of attaching all those heavy bags to the back of our rides.

All geared up ready for the bike approach

The road was certainly more steep than I remember from driving it, but my 39x27 was enough to get me all the way to the trailhead. I certainly cut my fair share of switchbacks up the steep sections of pavement, but the road is in great condition given some of the other forest service roads out there. We were crawling along, though, as the 7 miles of road took about 2 hours to cover.

Resorting gear for the approach to camp

The hike into camp went fairly smoothly and we found ourselves with much of the afternoon to relax, enjoy the "mostly sunny" weather that was rolling in and out, and practice some crevasse rescue. As the light slowly faded, we all passed out with an early morning wake up in order.

Camp at 6200'

Slopes above camp

Bryan enjoying the views from camp, which were great when the clouds actually opened up

Clouds billowed in and out throughout the evening, only clearing overnight.

Bryan and Garrett passed out well before sunset, but owing to the fact that I brought up a tripod, I didn't have that luxury. I set up my bivy, dialed up a little fire in my buddy burner, and hung out and watched the light show. The sea of clouds provided some excellent sunset conditions, but the clouds rolled in thick once it got dark. I got a little bit of shut-eye, but was awoken by the sensation of clear sky above, and indeed a few hours into the night it had cleared up and the stars were out in full force. I did my best to setup a composition including the BD tent Bryan and Garrett were in, and fell back asleep to the sound of shutter clicks.


Sunset clouds and Koma Kulshan stars from Erik Turner on Vimeo.


We got up and moving by 5:30, behind a group of two going up the Coleman and a group of 4 going up towards North ridge. The group of four started out as small dots, but as we worked our way through the crevasses of the glacier and up towards the ramp taking us up to the ridge, we found ourselves right behind them. A bit of jockeying took place, and they picked up their pace just enough to get to the ice pitches before us, so we made an anchor of sorts and hung out for about an hour as they started up the first pitch.

Early morning light on the glacier

Refrozen wet slides - probably from the Memorial Day storm cycle

Four dots ahead starting up the ramp

Large crevasse, thankfully well bridged

Looking up at the ice pitches left skyline is "left option" whereas climbing up near the rocks in the center of frame is the "right option"

Checking out the view to the north from the ridge

We made a short pitch out of getting into position behind the first group, and waited as long as our patience would allow. Finally Bryan went up hoping to find a line next to theirs and get us moving again. After pulling over the lip, though, it was clear the most straightforward path lead right up through the group, and we had to wait behind as they all finished up and gained the hard snow pitches above the ice.

Bryan setting up the first anchor after trying to climb around the group in front of us

Garrett pulling the crux of the second pitch

Several pitches of hard snow ended when we got tired of moving at "pitch it out" speed

The final difficulties involved weaving through this serac garden, and then stepping across a few cracks to gain the final snow slope. The seracs were even more beautiful around the corner, but I felt that lingering for too long was a bit risky...

Sketchy snowbridge high up on the ridge

Alpenglow was gorgeous, but it was getting a bit late to still be on the glacier...

Beautiful sunset on the Coleman glacier

With all the delays on the ice pitches, and our slow progress on the snow slopes above, we found ourselves on the summit at around 6:30. The only other time I had descended the Coleman-Deming was on skis, so the long flat stretches on the lower glacier seemed to last forever as we postholed along. After a while the top surface of the snow started to freeze over and postholing in soft snow yielded to postholing through breakable crust. We finally got down to camp, packed up and hustled out the summer trail with headlamps. The bike ride downhill wasn't as sketchy as I had feared - only the first gravel patch caught me by surprised and caused me to crash. My former bike handling skills came in handy as I dispatched the fall with a somersault and was off again down the dark road.