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Glacier Climb - Mount Baker/Coleman Glacier

Route condition was in great shape. Rain prevented us from continuing to the summit

Craig Taylor Craig Taylor
July 23, 2017
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Good bootpath to camp at 7,000. We built tent platforms and there was one other party near the camping area on the glacier. Many other parties camped lower at the hogsback area where there was running water. Route was great to 7,500 feet where we turned around due to rain. A couple of crevasses were opening up, but they were easily stepped over or we walked to the end to get around.

    We could see a bootpath much of the way to the summit the previous afternoon / evening in between cloud breaks.

    At night a mouse invaded one of our tents and managed to get partially into a food bag while were were sleeping. Recommend not leaving food in tent at camp, even when staying on the glacier.

Predicted weather was initially 40% chance of rain overnight, down to 20% chance of light rain early morning when we were planning on our summit push. The day we met and approached camp, the predictions changed to 30% chance of light rain for our summit push day. We decided to give it a shot and see if the weather would work out in our favor.

Sadly, the rain was much heavier then expected and along with some winds we decided to turn back at about 7,500 shortly after leaving camp that morning. As we got higher, winds increased and rain did not show any sign of slowing down.  We gathered the rope teams together and decided the best course of action would be to descend.