Mount Baker, Railroad Grade & Park Butte — Friday, Aug. 7, 2020

I originally signed up as part of a Coleman-Deming trip, but due to potential hazards on the route (rockfall, from what I remember), our group collectively decided to do the Easton Glacier route instead.

Disclaimer: summiting Baker is a technical climb. You will need glacier travel skills, glacier travel gear, and it's highly recommended to not travel alone but instead in a rope team.

Day 1 (Ascent to Base Camp)

Our group got into the Schreiber's Meadow TH parking lot around 10:00, ascended up the Park Butte/Railroad Grade Trail to the junction with Park Butte/Railroad Grade, then took Railroad Grade up to Sandy Camp. We were moving at an ok clip and didn't encounter a large number of other climbers/hikers until we got on to the moraine up Railroad Grade Trail. Be very careful and don't go too far off towards the moraine (the right side/east side of the trial when ascending) as it's starting to decay. A fall off the trail into the moraine will result in painful injury or potentially death.

We got up to Sandy Camp around 14:00, setup camp, and did some basic snow travel and self-arrest drills. Around 18:00 it started to rain, so we quickly got back to camp, made dinner, and called it a night.

The night was a bit windy (5-10mph gusts) and rainy.

Day 2 (Summit Day)

When we got up in the morning Sandy Camp was incredibly obscured and wet (reminiscent of my Glacier Mountaineering Course in late June/early July). We hung out for a bit, then decided to push up the mountain, given that the forecast was set to clear up. Several teams were doing snow school exercises (glacier mountaineering rescue drills, snow/glacier climbing drills, etc) and some teams decided to descend due to weather.

Around 09:45 our group started pushing up through the Portals towards the Easton Glacier through the fog. We roped up at the bottom of the glacier, put on crampons, then moved as 2 four person teams led by a guide up through the glacier towards the Roman Wall, zig zagging through and around crevasses (where possible) and over snow bridges where not absolutely possible.

Around 7k'~8k' we got above the clouds and eyed our intermediate objective: the Roman Wall/crater. We ascended towards the objectives, took a break, then pushed up to the summit. The last 1k' towards the traverse was the most technical/risky; it wasn't as steep as ascending up to Piker's Peak from Lunch Counter at Adams was, but the risk was higher since there wasn't any good runout below due to the crevasses.

Around 9.5k' we hit wind scoured snow and the spikes on our glacier ice axes were punching through several inches of snow, making their potential utility (in my mind) more questionable. Our crampons and the collective skill/determination of our team was what kept us on the right path. It didn't help that there were 30~40mph SW winds as we approached the summit :D. I personally would not have wanted to ascend up that route by myself in those conditions.

We did the final traverse up to the true summit around 16:45, looked at/signed the summit register, couldn't spot anything due to obscurity with the clouds (minus Colfax and Sherman), then started our descent around 17:15.

I led one of the rope teams down (since I was in the back ascending) and it was ok going for the most part for me (I'm used to sloppy snow), but some of my team had difficulty descending in crampons (the snow was a bit chunky up high and the top layer was like corn snow when we got down further).

The walkout from the Roman Wall/Crater wasn't that bad, but it was a bit soft and as we got further down the view became incredibly obscured (around 7k'). The sun was breaking through the clouds in sections, but didn't really get up until we got down to Portals (where we unroped) and finally to Sandy Camp.

The clouds started clearing up around sunset and we got some views up the Easton Glacier towards Lincoln Rock, Colfax Peak, and Sherman Peak.

Day 3 (Descent from Base Camp)

I was rudely woken up this morning by some loud climbers with headlamps who were taking pictures and roping up near the campsite at the bottom of Sandy Camp (why...?!). They were around for 30 minutes and I was able to go back to sleep.

Bottom line:

• (mostly for me) Bring ear plugs (this isn't the first time I've been woken up by boisterous hikers when camping).
• Don't be a dick. BE QUIET AROUND CAMP BETWEEN 19:30-6:00 (some people wake up early for summit pushes; other people are sleeping in the early hours)!

Woke up around 07:00 and saw that there were some folks trying to push up to the Portals ill-prepared (why do you only bring trekking poles and have 2 off-leash dogs not <6' running around chasing wildlife and not under voice command...? *sigh*).

Our group packed up quickly and started the push down Railroad Grade around  09:30. We ran into some folks near the bottom of Railroad Grade in spurts, but we ran into a ton more folks heading up later on. We ran into probably about 100+ people: some heading up Park Butte, some heading up to the meadow, some camping along the way to Railroad Grade on the established camping areas.

It took quite a bit longer to get down because of the crowds. When we got down to the parking lot, it was full and overflowing 3/4 of a mile past the trailhead. Ergo, it's probably best to get in and out early, pick a weekday, or a different trail.

Gear/Skill Requirements (for summit climb)

• Glacier travel experience or leading by guide with glacier travel/rescue experience (I went through Mountain Madness both this trip and the Glacier Mountaineering Course trip).
• Climbing helmet.
• Crampons.
• Ice axe and self-arrest skills.
• Appropriate clothing layering system (it was notably colder/windier at the top than base camp).
• A willingness to do steep climbs (45+ degrees) over potentially questionable snowpack.

Gear/Skill Recommendations

• Team (with similar glacier traveling/rescue skills)
• Proper length rope.