Summit Dreams Realized

We left our camp at 5,400 feet at 9 PM Friday night. As we started climbing, we saw the sun set over the Olympic mountains far off on the coast. The beautiful sunset was proof that the weather was going to hold off and we were going to have the weather that had been predicted!

As the sun went down we started to see the city lights of Bellingham, WA. Throughout the entire night, we could see a faint orange glow of the sun shining over far off places and mountains much grander than our own quest. 

As we got onto the ghostly glacier I immediately became intimidated. Although my crampons were gripping great, the thought of the icy hell of a crevasse still weighed heavily in my mind. As we came to our first crevasse to cross, our guide found a snow bridge, tested it and crossed it. Carol crossed just fine as well. Then came James. Mid-way across the

 3 foot long link between sections of his leg punched through the snow bridge. He caught himself by the time he was up to his thigh and got out and across. 

My turn was next. As I got close I thought of the John Gill quote "Think hard enough and you'll levitate". As hard as I tried to think lightly, I punched through the snow bridge up to my ankle. Instinctively I fell forward onto the solid section of ice and escaped the cold jaws of the deep chasm. 

Next came Matt and Roy, who both crossed just fine. As we hiked on, the sun started to rise behind the mountain. As we came to the top of the glacier, we cl

imbed up onto the ridge. As soon as I set foot on the ridge, the wind increased a lot. I estimate it was blowing about 20-30 mile

s sustained. I didn't know wind could blow so hard for so long. This was the most tricky section of the entire trek to Baker's summit, because of the poor snow quality and rock. 

We were out of the wind soon enough and took a break. Off to my right I could see Baker's massive shadow on the cloud cover lower down. 

After a short rest break, we continued onwards towards the steepest part of the climb. The snow quality was poor and although our guide had kicked good steps, every few steps would be broken by the larger climbers among us, myself included. The amount of frustration poor snow quality can bring is surprising, especially when you need it for steps. 

300 feet from the summit, James dropped his ice axe. My first instincts were to go for it, and I probably would have been able to get it, had I not been roped up. My first instincts were crushed by an inner voice telling me that I could quite possibly take out the entire rope team in the process. Matt later told me he had similar thoughts. As the ice axe slid down the snowy, icy slope all we heard was the clinging of it as it hit bumps. 

We all watched it slide down the hill, wondering when it would stop, hoping it would get caught and stop. We watched it until it slid out of sight, eventually onto a glacier and into a crevasse. Our guide's first words were "Well shit son!", followed by a thoughtful silence

. 

My own first thoughts were that we were probably going to turn around, because the loss of this vital life-line could be quite deadly. Surprisingly, our guide opted to continue onto the summit, because we could either climb the additional 300 feet and descend, or just descend, and it didn't make sense to turn around so close. 

As we trudged on, the slope got steeper, and when the summit felt like it would never be reached, I felt the warm sunshine hit me, and I knew that I was almost there! The slope slowly flattened out and soon we stood upon the summit of Mt. Baker at 7.08 AM Saturday morning. 

After a short snack, we descended. Upon getting off the glacier, we sat down in a snowfield and unroped. My feet were hurting and I knew blisters were imminent. I taped my feet up with some duct tape. 

Glissading, basically sledding on your body is much quicker then walking down a big snow field and is much more fun. Our guide suggested I go set a track down the last few hills. I took off and started a sitting glissade. As I picked up speed and got farther down the hill, I noticed a large gaping moat, an area were the warmer rock has melted the surrounding snow. As soon as I realized this, I arrested well within a safe area from the moat. I started climbing back up the hill and saw the group sliding down a different slope, not near the moat. 

I hiked across the slope and when I met up with our guide, I realized I had misunderstood and went down the wrong slope! I was fine so I went and started glissading down a safe slope. Moving quickly we returned to camp around 11.30 AM. We packed up camp and started hiking out. By the time we made it to the trailhead, I was exhausted. I had packed my pack wrong, and it felt much heavier then it did when we came in. I started trudging down the road and was the second to last person to make it to the van. 

We packed into the van, and headed down to Glacier to get some food because we were all very hungry! This terrific sandwich shop was my intended stop. As I was greeted I placed my order and was told they stopped making sandwiches. I had missed it by 22 minutes! 

As luck would have it, one of the owners was nearby and offered to make a sandwich anyway! I was so appreciative, words can't really describe it. The turkey, lettuce, mayo and tomato on wheat tasted terrific. 

We headed back to Bellingham. We went to a tavern for our guides birthday, and we figured that although I'm not 21, I could sit and eat anyway. Washington law says that if you're under 21 you can't. James tried as hard as possible to get them to let me to stay, but alas. I came up with the brilliant idea that I would go and make us a reservation at the Big Fat Fish Co. several blocks away while everyone had a drink and we'd meet for dinner. 

At the restaurant, the food was terrific. After talking and eating for hours we departed, Roy, James and Carol for other endeavors and our guide Mary, Matt and myself, for the next section of our trip. We headed to Marblemount campground about an hour away. After nearly 30 hours I fell asleep to the sounds of Bob Marley, Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews on the ride over.