Mount Baker, Elevation 10,778ft
Coleman/Deming, September 15,22, 2002
1 day
Ben
The Coleman/Deming on a dry summer.
During the weekend of the 15th I climbed North Twin Sister that Saturday and thought it would be cool to climb Baker the following day. My boss thought I was crazy but I did just that. It was a great weekend and the route was in surprisingly good shape. It took under 5.5 hours to summit for a roundtrip time of 8 hours. The skiing wasn't bad so I returned the following weekend for another round.
The Hummels and Sky climbed it Saturday the 21st but I had a company picnic to attend so I made a solo climb on Sunday. The snow below the saddle was slightly firmer but the Roman Headwall was prime, having received several inches of new snow the previous week. It took under 4.5 hours to summit for a roundtrip time of 6 hours.
September 15, 2002:
There were quite a few tents at basecamp.
A group of climbers at the top of the rockband above the saddle.
The summit crater looking south.
The Coleman Glacier. My turns can be seen on the left.
September 22, 2002:
There were a few crevasses to watch out for.
Myself on the summit looking east.
The Roman Headwall in prime condition.
A look back.
All that dampened my spirits were the vandals. Both weekends, I noticed several vehicles with their windows broken out. One car had 3 of 4 windows broken and I wondered what kind of thief could be so cruel. I had no valuables in my truck but I nearly turned around at the parking lot fearing their pointless wrath.