Mount Baring — Friday, Jun. 7, 2024

Went for a solo day trip to Mt. Baring. There is no snow until you hit the notch, where you descend a little bit and then ascend the snow-filled couloir between the North (true) and South Summits of Baring. Once you get on snow, you can basically continue on snow all the way to the summit, which is what I did. I got by with trail runners (hoka speedboats) with universal crampons (Petzl vasak). Microspikes would be insufficient. There are steep snow slopes, and I would consider an ice axe mandatory unless you have an extreme level of comfort and skill navigating snow slopes (and even then, you're running a risk). Realistically, if you're not super comfortable on snow, I would recommend boots, crampons, and ice axes. This will give you the most tools and precision for managing your safety and exposure. 

The crux of the route, for me, was the approach. Navigating it is not bad, it is generally flagged for the first section as you ascend to the ridge, and the GPS track on CalTopo was totally fine for navigation. The issue was that both in the forest on the first section and once you gain the ridge and drop down to the right slightly to avoid the cliffs as you approach the notch (in the now burned section of forest), the hill is steep and the ground is unstable. The soil is extremely loose or slippery on all sections, and I found myself uncomfortable slipping and falling constantly. I took a pretty bad fall on the descent, and I'm lucky I only had some minor scrapes to show for it. Can all this be done? Absolutely. Is it any fun? No. Is it difficult to manage your risk in a low feedback and basically random environment? Yes. Would I rather a free solo 5.7 on good rock than deal with some of the sections of loose side-hilling? Yes. While the consequences would be higher in that case, I would feel more comfortable because I know that I can control my movement and risk exposure. Dealing with the sliding ground on the approach and descent was something out of my control. I should have recognized this sooner and not continued. Ultimately, I got out with almost no injury, not due to my skill, but to luck, which is not something you can rely on in the mountains. If you want to go, then that's your prerogative. However, there are a lot more fun climbs that I would recommend soloing instead. Things like the North Buttress Couloir on Colchuck, The main gulley on North Early Winter Spire, Mt. Adams South Side, the Standard Route up Dragontail, or others can get you the same level of snow climbing for much less awful approaches. Anyway, I summitted the mountain. I won't be coming back.