Trip Report
Koma Kulshan/Mt Baker Skimo Trip via Squak Glacier
One day ski mountaineering climb of Koma Kulshan/Mt Baker via Squak Glacier for a team of three climbers
Sohaib Haider
- Sat, Jun 7, 2025
- Sherman Peak/Squak Glacier (Mount Baker)
- Backcountry Skiing & Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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As of Saturday afternoon, there is no snow to the TH and road is accessible for all vehicles.
We were expecting to start skinning on the Scott Paul Trail in 1-1.5 miles based on last week's trip reports, however, the snow has been melting out fast. There was an easy narrow stream crossing at 3700 ft on the Scott Paul Trail. We put on our skis 2.4 miles in at around 4800 ft, just where the Scott Paul Trail veers left and the climbing trail goes straight up to the Squak Glacier.
Snow and skinning conditions were really good above 4800 ft. We observed some old cornice debris around 6000 ft on the right side of the trail. Other than that, we observed no hazards on the trail. There were no open or visible crevasses on the skin track and on the glacier in general (with the exception of bottom of the Roman Wall). Skinning up became a little challenging around 10 AM in softer wet snow as it got warmer around 7500-8500 ft.
We took skis off at the summit crater and booted up the Roman Wall to gain the summit. Roman wall was very well booted. However, the boot pack soft mushy snow as it was getting warm.
On the way down, we decided to ski back from the summit proper. Roman Wall was in great conditions in around 40F temp when we started the descent. Below the Roman Wall from 8000 ft to 5000 ft we skied heavier wet snow as early summer conditions would dictate. Traverses which were in shaded slopes skied well.Below the tree-line, Chris led the ski through the trees using an older track he had, which was a great recommendation to avoid post holing. We cut through the trees, until we had no option but to jump over the downed trees at around 4000 ft close to the Scott Paul Trail. Then we walked back to the TH, at round 4 PM.
Team Members: Chris Haenisch, Dasha Shcherbyna, Sohaib Haider
Total trip time : 13 hrs, approximately 9 hrs to the summit, 4 hrs descent back to TH. Moving time would be around 11 hrs (but couldn't track it).
We arrived at the TH at around 8:30 PM Friday evening June 6th. Surprisingly, there were only a handful of vehicles on the TH on Friday evening, so we parked very close to the TH. We were all in our 'beds' by 9:15 PM.
We started hiking out at 3:15 AM in great spirits. It was quite warm and pretty soon all of us are down to our base layers on the hike up. We didn't put on our skis until we had hiked in 2.4 miles just getting out of the forest onto the mountain. At this point, we were greeted with a spectacular sunrise over the iconic Mt Shuksan.
Once the skis were on, the stoke was higher. And as we gained elevation, views got better and better and stoke got even higher.
This flatter terrain was a popular break spot on the trail and shows the number of parties on the route. There were 3-4 parties close to us on the route, and similar number of parties behind us as we topped out.
Even though the forecast predicted 40+ temp and winds around 5 mph, the winds picked up to 10+ mph around 8000 ft around 9:30 AM. This worked to our advantage to keep the snow firm for later in the day. Also a good reminder that mountain weather isn't always as predicted.
We took a break by the summit crater, had a snack, took our skis off, then started to boot up the Roman Wall around 10:30 Am.
We summited around noon and stopped at the summit for few minutes. We took phots, high fived each other, and then plan the descent. We decided to keep the less experienced skier (i.e. me) in the middle on the Roman Wall on the way down.
The initial plan was to walk down from the true summit and then put our skis on, but Dasha convinced us all to ski from the true summit, because the terrain was mellow and it's a lot more satisfying to ski straight from the true summit. I don't know about you but when I hear a technically sound and strong climber like Dasha present such compelling points, I can only find myself nodding in affirmative. So we all decided to ski straight from the summit.
Chris is an experienced skier and made those turns look real easy on the Roman Wall.
Sohaib 'skis' the Roman Wall with occasional 'breaks'
The temps were higher than 45+ on the way down, which meant skiing down wet and heavy snow as is expected in early summer conditions. The rest of the descent went well, with occasional breaks for snacks and navigation.
Finally, on terra firma, Chris and Dasha weren't too stoked to take their skis off, but after such a wonderful and fun day, it was time to get back to the TH and start the drive home.
All pictures and videos were taken by the team members.