Mountaineering

Mt. Baker North Ridge

Dan Kay
3 min readJun 3, 2023
Glaciated mountain at golden hour, shot from near the summit looking down. A boot track is visible in the snow, descending down and out of sight in a long curving fashion. The sky is clear and the sun is approaching the horizon, casting all in a golden light

Mount Baker is the third-highest mountain in Washington, with an elevation of 10,781 feet (3,287 meters). It’s also a stratovolacano and the second most-glaciated peak in the lower 48 US states (behind nearby Mount Rainier).

These photos were taken during an ascent of the North Ridge route on Mount Baker this past Memorial Day weekend (May 27–29, 2023).

Let us celebrate the return of full-bleed images on Medium with some beautiful mountain imagery! But first, a few quick words on the logistics:

Road damage before the Mount Baker Trailhead.

Mount Baker North Ridge

Difficulty: One pitch of AI2/AI3, glacier travel
Approach: The road is currently (summer 2023) washed out 4.5 miles short of the trailhead, so climbers must tackle an additional 4.5 miles and 1,800 feet of elevation gain each way.
Experience Level: Intermediate
GPX Track: Our track on Gaia
Climbers: Mark Hensley, Isaac Boger, Meg Kies, Dan Kay
More Info: The Mountaineers, SummitPost

Mount Baker from our campsite. The North Ridge route climbs the left ridge of the mountain visible here, starting from the ice cliff. After the ice cliff it traverses to the summit, and then descends back to camp via a fairly easy path a bit out of view behind the right ridge, which is the standard Coleman-Denning glacier route.
Camp at the base of the glacier. Just us and about 40 of our closest friends, courtesy of the many guided groups on the mountain. Despite the crowds, we were the only party on the North Ridge on Sunday. Tent is the North Face VE-25.
Approaching the ice cliff which constitutes the technical crux of the route. Although no one else was climbing the North Ridge on Sunday, a helpful party had put in a bootpack on Saturday, which significantly eased our climbing and routefinding.
A section of steep snow climbing below the ice cliff
Leading the technical ice climbing section. The line we took involved 25 feet or so of vertical ice before the angle eased off into the sunny notch visible to the right of the climber.
On the ridge proper, looking left at a steep jumble of seracs. It doesn’t come across in this photo, but the ridge drops off pretty precipitously just to the left. The feeling as you ascend this section is powerful. The glacier behind you, the chaos to your left, the mountain above and your teammates climbing along below you… this is mountaineering at its purest. The best moment of the climb, for me.
Quick stop on the flat, windy summit. I had been told tales of a summit register but if it does exist, it was buried under a lot of snow. We threw on our jackets and began our descent.
Descending the glacier at sunset
Looking longingly at those ski tracks.

Enough has been written about this route that I see no need for a full trip report. A few quick bullets:

  • The glacier is mostly filled in with few visible crevasses.
  • We were slow, which is why we were able to capture some of these stunning sunset images. Goody style would be to climb faster and be off the mountain earlier.
  • We did not encounter the summit seracs as described in many other trip reports — from the end of the North ridge, we tackled steep but straightforward snow climbing trending right and up.
  • Bikes or e-bikes seemed to be the best beta for tackling the current road closure — bike up and leave it chained to a tree at the trailhead proper.
  • Toilets are open at the trailhead but you’ll need to bring your own toilet paper. Blue bags/wag bags are best for on the mountain.
  • A local acquaintance tells me: “No one takes you seriously as a mountaineer in the PNW unless you ski off the summits.” I suppose we are not serious people.
  • This climb is a long day but nothing crazy under current conditions.

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Dan Kay
Dan Kay

Written by Dan Kay

Always adventurous. Occasionally political. I write creative stories about life, love, climbing and travel. thisisyouth.org

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