Mount Baker, North Ridge  WI2-3 Steep Snow

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Type:  Ice, Snow, Alpine, 3000 feet, Grade III Consensus:  WI2-3 [details] FA:  Fred Beckey, Dick Widrig, Ralph Widrig, August 1948 Season:  April through early August Submitted By:  Kris Gorny on May 29, 2009 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (16) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: Mt. Baker. North Ridge with the overlay topo of ou...

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Description 

The route ascends the broad ridge enclosing the east (left) side of Mount Baker's north face. It is supposed to be a moderately technical route on Mount Baker but we found it to be committing and long. Negotiating the serac wall several hundred feet to the right from its apex, over the north face (see topo picture) required some WI4 ice climbing.

To access North Ridge cross Coleman Glacier laterally until at the base of the ridge. From here ascend the snow slopes to the left of the ridge (crevasse crossings). In the early season and if the snow conditions allow it, the ridge can also be gained from the right (some rockfall danger). Once on the ridge, continue towards the serac walls. Find your way through the ice cliff and proceed on more graduate ice towards the summit cap. The last few hundred feet consisted of climbing in steep poorly consolidated snow. Later in the season this section apparently becomes solidified and a "secret passage" can be found to the left of the steep section and over the crevasses. From the summit cap the true summit is reached by a ~20min walk.

We now believe the serac walls should be climbed around and to the left of the apex of the ice (the passage can't be seen from the ridge unless the traverse left is completed). We chose instead to negotiate the serac walls on the right at a spot where we saw the wall narrow down. The traverse had little reliable pro and took us well onto the north face. Climbing the seracs there involved semi-hanging belay off two screws and ascending a 50ft section of 70-80 degree ice (WI4-?).

Descent via Coleman-Deming route.

Entire climb, including the approach across Coleman glacier and descent back to our tent, took us just under 18 hours.

References:
Cascade Alpine Guide; Climbing & High Routes. Vol. 3: Rainy Pass to Fraser River , Fred Beckey
Climbing the Cascade Volcanoes , Jeff Smoot

Cascade Climbers website is an excellent source of most recent trip reports and route conditions. Here's a trip report
showing climbers ascending the serac wall on the left, near its apex.

Protection 

4 snow pickets
6 ice screws
1 mountaineering axe and 1 technical axe/each

Photos of Mount Baker, North Ridge Slideshow

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Ascending the initial snow slopes towards the ridg...	Climbing towards the serac wall on the lower North...	Mt. Baker. Henning Boldt on the lower slopes of No...
Traverse under the serac wall.	Belay over the north face.	Mt. Baker. Ice slopes just above serac walls. Cole...
Mt. Baker. On the summit cap.	Mt. Baker. Scouting the approach to North Ridge ac...	Mt. Baker. View of the Roman Nose from the North R...
Descending Coleman-Deming route in the late aftern...