Trip Report
Basic Glacier Climb - Colfax Peak
A long, windy day on the Coleman-Deming glacier followed by a spicy summit push to a Mount Baker sub-peak. Gusts and crevasses were in no shortage.
Joshua Walther
- Fri, May 30, 2025
- Basic Glacier Climb - Colfax Peak
- Mount Baker/Coleman Glacier
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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Note that the road up is typical volcano shenanigans, but if you have a low clearance sedan, you need to be careful to not bottom out on some of the huge potholes.
The route begins at Heliotrope Ridge TH and is mostly dirt and rock with 3 stream crossings for the first few miles. Use caution and make sure you stay on target. Just a few hundred feet below the treeline, the route became nearly 100% snow-covered until the Coleman glacier. The glacier was heavily crevassed, and the snow conditions were firm all morning. Snow loosened in the afternoon for some excellent plunge stepping and glissading (mind the moats).
Overcast morning conditions set a glorious sunrise and kept temps cool on the ascent There is an obvious boot-pack on the glacier that will take you up to the saddle between Colfax and Baker. From here, you will likely be breaking trail to summit unless our tracks are still out there.
Josh rope team traversing around the false summit moving towards camera (traverse is around climber's left)
- Route: Colfax Peak via Heliotrope Ridge Trail & Coleman-Deming Glacier
- Distance: 12 mi (19 km) roundtrip
- Gain: 6,900 ft (2103 m)
- Time: 14 hrs
- Team: Peter (TL), Dave, Dan (RL), Limor, Steven, Josh (RL), Jaewha, Mark - (8)
- Recommended gear:
- 2x 40m dry ropes
- 4x pickets minimum
- Extra ice axe for summit push would help (petzl gully)
- Parking: Northwest Forest Pass/National Parks pass required at TH
The team briefed at 0230 and hit the trail by 0245. The main issue that slowed progress were the stream crossings in the dark. One has a waterfall with a few deep spots, and the one after the big waterfall is a formidable stream. We crossed slowly and with caution and easily found the trail again after referencing a gpx on Caltopo.
A few hundred feet below treeline, we could see nothing but snow. We opted to put on our crampons here, and assumed this would be our last opportunity for running water. After a short break, we ascended towards the glacier. We were greeted with a spectacular sunrise on this morning, a warm welcome from ever-observing Koma Kulshan.
Upon seeing several open crevasses, we approached the Coleman-Deming glacier with caution and found a nice flat spot to rope up. The Mount Baker subpeaks were in full view. There is a very obvious boot-pack on the glacier that will lead you directly up to the saddle. Take strong caution near the saddle, there is a very large crevasse opening up that has been punched through several times, and one member of my rope team (3rd position) fell in waist deep on our descent.
We broke trail from here and the wind picked up at the saddle. We experienced consisted gusts that felt to be around 30+ mph. Some of these would hold consistently for minutes. Rope team leads placed two pickets on the false summit approach to provide protection. Note the massive crevasse opening on climbers right. It is opening through the entire width, which our 4th rope team member punched through on the descent. Upon reaching the false summit, we were filled with glee, and then somewhat despair. There was a sheer ice cliff that was impassible other than rappelling off the boulder on the false summit. We continued this with an attempt to traverse the steep snow around the climber's left side of the false summit. This was successful, and the team made it to a ditch in the snow that shielded from the unforgiving wind. Note that there is a crevasse beginning to open here before the resting spot. I punched through up to my groin several times. Use extreme caution in the following weeks on this section.
After some rest, the rope teams made our final push up a very steep and crevassed true summit ascent. Another picket was placed for protection by a rope lead above the steepest section, and the summit was easily gained after this along a skinny snow traverse to the top. Winds were blistering at this point. Rope teams quickly took their pictures and videos and began the descent.
Blue: climber's route we took // Yellow: crevasses in our path // Orange: epic serac
The descent was uneventful. We pushed hard to make good time and get out of the high winds. We eventually reached the base of the glacier. The crevasse falls were minor and didn't require rescue. They will most likely open up a lot in the next couple weeks and be a much higher risk. They are already too deep to see the bottom, just not wide enough to swallow us whole yet.
The team reached the right valley back to the trail and glissaded or plunge stepped a couple thousand feet back to the snowy dirt trails. It was smooth cruising from there back to the TH. A fantastic trip with some really strong climbers. Worth noting this was two students' first glacier climb.
