A Descent of Baker, via the Easton Glacier

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went up the Easton Glacier on Baker, to ski the mountain. Suzanne and I were going to do this in late June, so I decided to honor her memory and do it as scheduled. I have guided this route over a dozen times, so I felt comfortable going up alone. I know where the cracks are and how big they can be, and have gone up and down in total whiteout conditions. There is a well-established climbers path, and I took a GPS and punched in a bunch of new waypoints as a backup.

First day was all up, from about 1/4 mile below the trailhead at 3200' to a bivy site at 6200'. The next day, after a restful night out under the stars and a leisurely morning, I left the bivy at 10:45 and was on the 10770' summit at 2:30. I like this ski mountaineering stuff. You don't have to get up so early!

At 6200', Sisters Range in the background:

This is why I prefer the south side, even though it's a longer drive from Bellingham:

Marmots are hungry this time of year:

Seracs at about 9200':

Roman Wall on the left (see four climbers?), Sherman Peak on the right. Crater in the center, with sulphury steam. True summit is visible inside the crater:

On the Roman Wall proper. Slope angle about 33 degrees:

Once on top, I wrote down some things that I wanted to say to Suzanne, took out a small bottle of her ashes, stood up with my back to the wind, and let them fly. It was so windy that nothing touched down, then for a brief moment the wind stopped.


Cold on top, wind about 30-40 mph:

By the time I got back across the summit plateau I had regained my composure, and prepared to do something new: ski down! This being the first time I've taken on such a large ski descent, I was a little concerned about the way down. The steepest face is the Roman Wall, with crevasses below. After a few turns I was in my element and felt really comfortable. The snow was perfect, there was a few inches of softness above a firm base, nice and smooth, like an enormous blank canvas. I made four big turns at a time and then would stop and rest, and then do it again. I've come down this face on foot so many times, it was a real treat to ski it in such great conditions. I used my favorite skis in the quiver, Suzanne's Atomic Janak 183s, 99mm under foot. They are so predictable and stable at speed, I made parallel turns the whole way down. This is good when there is 7500' of descent to make turns in!

Funny to have such a powerfully painful experience on the summit, followed by such a joyful ride down. Such is life, I suppose.

Happy camper on the descent:

Only an hour after leaving the summit I'm back at the bivy. Legs are pumped! Time for a cup of sugary tea:

Another hour of skiing brought the truck into view. It's amazing how quickly one can descend on skis. I wasn't even trying hard.


So, a great success for the first time up Baker on skis. Suz and I were really looking forward to this trip since skiing was the thing we did together more than any other mountain activity. The last time I tried was in April of '08, and I tore my ACL because I didn't know what I was doing. With some time on the boards it's a whole different story!


"Dog's gotta run!"