I've had "Summit Mount Baker" on my list of things to accomplish for a few years.
This is the summer we stopped talking about it and went for it.
It started with a pretty big group of possible hikers, but in the end it was
me Jim Das Dane and Dan.
Roxanne and her family hiked with us to base camp.
Dane was our guide. He had the gear and the know how.
We rented crampons and boots and ice axe.
Spoiler: it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Top five hardest.
One contributing reason is because our packs were heavier than normal to carry all the gear and winter clothes.
Stats: In 24 hours we hiked 15 HARD miles, and gained 7,000 feet elevation.
Also spoiler: we didn't make it to summit because of a STORM. We made it to the volcano crater hole.
Roxanne was so nice to sherpa the rope for us since she didn't have an overnight pack. They turned around at base camp.
For future (IF I try it again), I would definitely bring people to help sherpa stuff. The hike to base camp is a hard 4-5 miles depending on where the snow starts at the base of the glacier.
The first few miles are a lark.
Of course Roxanne is fun to have on the trail. We talk and talk and she takes all the pictures of me without me knowing. haha
In the future: I insist she comes with us all the way.
There is the mountain! To the top!
Things start getting real once you get to the ridge line.
This is a steep drop to your right where the glacier has cut out the land.
Sometimes it's a drop off on both sides.
It goes UP HILL forever and ever leading to the glacier. Longest ridge line in the world.
Theaden and Vance also Sherpa that rope. It's about 8 pounds when it's dry.
The trail gets more and more rocky, leaving the trees and the marmots behind.
Soon it was time for the Lochridges to leave and time for us to find a base camp.
Here is when it took another notch up in difficulty.
You can't totally tell why it would be so hard, but it was super technical, big rocks to pick our way over. No set trail, somewhat sketchy terrain. This last hour of finding the right spot was one of the most difficult parts physically. It wouldn't have been so bad, but with 30+ pounds on your back, it was so hard.
We had to find a good "boat launch" where we could go from tent to snow easily considering the rope and crampons.
For future: this winter there wasn't a lot of snow pack for Baker ski resort and the mountains in general. So it was extra tricky picking over these technical rocks looking for a good spot. I would need a winter with more snow so that we could have an easier base camp and boat launch. That hour of hard terrain killed me.
We eventually had to swap to boots and walk through snow, but then the boots were not good on the rocks again. It's hard to explain but weirdly the hardest thing.
Finally we found a good place to camp!
Phew, I was so happy to take off that pack.
Another hard thing is you have to get up in the middle of the night to start the hike to ensure the snow is hard enough, not slushy.
Slushy is like hiking through sand and wears you out faster.
So we set up camp pretty quickly and ate a hot dinner, then tried to go to sleep by 8pm.
I brought a mask because by the way the sky is so bright until about 10:30.
If you think I could get actual sleep, you are wrong. I lay there and rested and tried, but couldn't quite make it to sleep.
Base camp was so so pretty.
It was warm and the sky was blue and you could see all the peaks around us.
Dan brought his crazy drone and they flew it up and over Baker to scout the route.
There's Das's tent,
Right here by our tent is where we would launch in the middle of the night.
There are some other campers down mountain from us,
and up mountain from us is the Baker.
See those amazing scraggly mountains? When you look at Baker from our house, you can see those peaks. And here we are, right in the shadow of them. It was so so pretty.
Example:
See those scraggy peaks to the right? We camped behind those.
So we ate some chicken alfredo and set our alarm for 12am...
