Splitboarding Mt Baker - Solo Summit
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- Standing around 10,780ft, Mt Baker is Washington's 3rd tallest peak and has rather active volcanic vents on the crater side. The summit offers sweet views of neighboring Cascade peaks such as Shuksan, Eldorado, Glacier, and Rainier as well as the Olympics and a Canadian backdrop. Baker may receive more snow than any other US peak and has impressively large glacier fall zones riddled with crevasses and seracs. The Coleman side of the mountain is so awesome that it would be worth hiking from Heliotrope ridge just to camp up around 5,000-6,000ft.
This video documents the mid-May 2021 conditions on the popular Coleman-Deming route. The hike begins on Heliotrope Ridge, then the Coleman glacier offers a rather straight forward path from the tree-line to the roughly 9,000ft saddle area above Colfax peak. From there, climbers transition to the Deming glacier and continue up the Roman Wall to the summit. The summit area is dish shaped and one can walk from the top of the Roman Wall to the actual summit within 10 minutes.
Due to the pre-season snow remaining in lower elevations, I hiked roughly 3/4 mile up the road before arriving at the actual trailhead. I estimate this made for an almost 8,000ft climb and 14 mile round trip. The benefit was that being early in the year resulted in low crevasse activity (I never had to cross a real "snow bridge").
As always, do not do what I do.
For more mountain submitting videos, please check out my Summit Specials playlist by following the link below:
• Summit Specials
Video Contents:
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - Heliotrope Ridge Approach
04:25 - Coleman Glacier
05:34 - The Roman Wall
06:09 - False Summit
06:21 - Summit ~10,780ft
06:45 - Snowboarding Descent
15:20 - Walking Out
17:48 - Sign Off - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Skied it in a day with my 16 yr old a couple of years ago. We had meant to camp up high, but everyone coming down was soaking wet, so we decided to sleep in the car and leave early. Left at 2.00 am, started skiing at 12.30, down at 3.00. One of the best days of skiing ever. 5,500 ft of beautiful corn and sunshine. It was a little later in the year, so we had clear trails from your boots. Thanks for the memories.
That is awesome! I hope to be doing that stuff with some kids of my own some day. Cheers!
She did Baker the right way! One day on a slippery split board. I backpacked up and down. Needless to say it was very slow and long. Still a fantastic mountain and had a blast. It was a week long Alpinism class with AAI.
If I had some friends with me I'd definitely want to spend a night camping in the Glacier View area. Getting it over with in a single day doesn't give you enough time to really soak up the view. I will return!
That looks incredible, hoping to do it myself 🤙
The mountain will be there! 🖖
7.5 hours of intense work for 15 minutes of "fun" on jelly legs...we're a unique bunch :)
I am starting to think it is more humbling than rewarding, but we like going outside and need exercise anyway, right?
Fucking awesome
🤘
great vid, i want to splitoard baker too. just a bit worried of the cravases of baker
No doubt. It would be best to do with friends who have crevasse rescue gear and keep within sight of each other at all times. If you look down at my response to a comment from spencerdoren3405, I described the way I view risks at length. Cheers!
is this how many people normally summit baker to go boarding? or was this a group event?
I was by myself, but it is popular. This may be the most common route, but most people climb in roped teams due to crevasse and fall danger. If you search online it's easy to find companies that do guided tours where basic backcountry and glacier training is included and they typically camp around glacier view and summit on the second day. I am unaware of any guides that do splitboard or skiing from summit. If you were just looking for climbing partners, could try social media apps such as meetups.
Dude thats soo dope I wanna get into Splitboarding i use Snowshoes to hike up but i wanna get a good Splitboard what brand is yours or do you have Recommendations?
Awesome! My board is an OZSym, its good for steep icy conditions and not ideal for deep pow. I just knew somebody with that company and it was just a decent package deal in 2016 which came with Voile pucks and skins and SparkR&D Arc bindings. Spark makes their own pucks now. Its honestly a good ride and I have no complaints other than the silicone based adhesive on my skins. Next skins I plan on trying are voile hyperglide 70%mohair/30%nylon blend with a different glue. Its hard to make recommendations because I've never used other systems and it really depends on snow conditions. If it wasn't about money I'd try out Karakoram bindings and a Jones board, but honestly splitboard gear has come along so fast that larger companies like Burton and Arbor have good options in the $500 range. Bindings never seem to come down in price and when you add up board, bindings, pucks, skins $1200 seems to be the minimum for a full new setup. Of course that doesn't include boots and trekking poles. Hope this helps & Happy Thanksgiving!
@@summitspecials I thought that looked like an OZ.. I think they are no longer in business? I have never heard anything good about Karakorum bindings, despite them being super expensive. To add to this, was literally out yesterday skinning up a mountain and found a broken piece of something on the skin track. I didn't know what it was and we continued up. 2 minutes later, we ran into 2 guys and one of them had Karakorum bindings and that part we saw on the trail was part of one of his bindings: it snapped right off. It was part of the baseplate riser system, I believe. He was on his way down, day ruined due to his binding breaking. I've had Sparks for 8 years and nothing like that has ever happened with them.
It’s April so early in the season, does the curvasses are already solid to cross in?
April is generally early enough such that the crevasses are still largely covered by snow. This makes the snowfields look easier but doesn't remove the risk of falling through unstable snow. It is safest on a clear day when there are a lot of people out and a solid boot track to stay in. You are less likely to randomly fall through once the snow has melted down in later months, but then you have to deal with more crevasse navigation and crossing snow bridges. In either case, it is recommended to be roped up in a team to reduce risk of touching the void. Cheers!
I have to do this. How did you choose your descent route? Was it sketchy dealing with the crevasses without being roped up?
I'm no expert, but the conditions on this day were easier than what's typical. Early in the year before crevasses open up, but not right after a fresh snow that would more likely make cracks hard to see. The sun had been out for a week or so, which sinks the snow down and makes it more dense and solid. Snow line was still well below the trailhead. Started before sunrise to climb before sun softened the snow surface too much. When I was close to crevasses, I stopped and looked around for markers to help myself identify them on the way down, noting where the change in grade would make cracks harder to see from above. Most importantly, I stuck to the boot path the whole way up and avoided riding away from it on the way down. This is especially important if fog rolls in and limits visibility. There were a lot of people and the foot steps were solid. If there was no boot track and I was sinking into the snow, it wouldn't have been worth the risk of randomly falling through. Best to ride with a friend and go slow to not lose sight of eachother. I've read stories about people losing eachother on nice sunny days. On a good day there will be other skiers and its a good idea to make friends at the top. I rode with a helmet and harness with an ATC and cordellete for crevasse rescue. I didnt have a radio, and cell service can be patchy. I had a GPS and altimeter watch, but also knew the route really well so if I did make a call for help I'd be able to provide coordinates, elevation and describe location in relation to the Roman wall, colfax peak, or glacier view. Kind of a long reply, but thinking through what you will do if "x" happens is key. As always it is up to you as an individual to manage your own risk. Its kind of funny how once you're out there, the only thing that really matters is that you make it back home... Hope for peace, but prepare for war 😉✌
@@summitspecials Thank you, this is great info!
How long did it take you to summit?
About 7.5 hr