Trip Report
Intermediate Alpine Climb - Mount Baker/North Ridge
A one day, Independence Day climb of a North Cascades classic.
Krissy Fagan
- Fri, Jul 4, 2025
- Intermediate Alpine Climb - Mount Baker/North Ridge
- Mount Baker/North Ridge
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The Heliotrope Trail is in perfect condition, minimal mud. Creek crossings were easy to navigate both going into the climb and out of it. The Hogsback trail is melted out. There is snow at Hogsback camp and plenty of running water options. From there the snow on the football field and the lower Coleman glacier was firm summer snow. There are crevasses opening up on the lower Coleman glacier en route to the climb but all were fairly easy to navigate around or through via bridges. Snow on the lower ridge was steep and firm but had some positive foot steps from previous climbers. Above the first steep snowfield is a brief area of pumice and rock to traverse, which was loose but OK for walking with mindful feet. The rest of the approach to the ice pitches was also firm snow. Watch out for falling rock as you near the ice band as a fall here could be very bad. The ice on route was aerated snice (snow/ice) with low confidence screws. Above the ice step there were places for screws dispersed throughout more aerated snice, while higher on the ridge pickets were appropriate. The bergschrund at the top was easily passible. Descending the Roman Wall was very sun affected postholing (sometimes up to the thigh). Below the CD col the snow on the glacier was much better for walking. There is a large crevasse on the CD at approximately 2650 meters that is opening up. It is a cathedral style crevasse and we were able to cross it on the descending left side of the crevasse. I expect this to open quickly as temps continue to warm up.
Alicia, Doug, Jason and I decided that we all wanted to climb the North Ridge of Mount Baker during time off around the Fourth of July. Because of Jason and my work schedule we decided that a one day climb would be best on the holiday, Friday the 4th. We all left Bellingham at midnight and were at the Heliotrope trailhead by 1:45 AM Friday. We gathered our things and blinked our sleepy eyes. The night was warm and the stars were out. We walked the Heliotrope trail to the Hogsback camp, chatting about usual middle of the night, we are in the mountains kinds of topics. At camp we filled up on water and donned our boots (except Alicia who spent all day in hers), harnesses, crampons, glacier gear, and ropes. Other teams were departing camp with the start of dawn as well.
The snow on route was firm summer snow, still covering the glacial ice. We walked as two rope teams of two as we navigated opening crevasses on the lower Coleman glacier. A few crevasses required walking skinny snow bridges to get across, and that was a lot of fun.
Just before the base of the ridge we took a break. The first climb on the ridge was a fairly steep snow slope with a large crevasse at the bottom. Above this snowfield required traversing steep pumice above cliffs to climber's right of a rock buttress. We then regained snow on the ridge and continued upwards, taking a break at the first flat spot we came to. We saw other climbers at the ice cliff, so we moved slowly hoping they would be beyond the climbing by the time we were arriving. 
We took one more break before the last steep snow section below the ice band, giving the other climbing teams more time to climb through the ice and onto the lower angle terrain.
At the ice band, Jason and I decided to take a climber's left line while Doug and Alicia went for a line in the center of the wall. I made an ice anchor and brought Jason up to me. It took a lot of work to find solid ice, as the bulk of what was there was aerated, sun affected ice. I started up the left side, excavating the top layer as I went. Despite excavating, the ice I was finding was still aerated and did not inspire much confidence in screw placement. In weighing the consequences of a mishap on crummy ice screws, I asked Jason to belay me as I down climbed and pulled the screws. We radioed over to Doug and Alicia and joined them on their pitch, teaming up to piggy back on their rope and get up over the ice. I felt ridiculous for not wanting to continue my lead, but Doug agreed that the ice was not how he expected it and that he also didn't feel his ice screws were as good as he had hoped. 
At the top of the first pitch we combined forces to running belay the rest of the ice climbing, which happened to be a smattering of snice, sunwarmed slush on snice, bits of ice, and finally at the top, softening summer snow. Given the length of the technical pitches, a running belay seemed to be a fairly efficient way to move four people uphill. We took a break and looked at the final uphill, wondering if the bergschrund would be challenging. Luckily the upper glacier was filled in and the walking was steep but continuous. We placed pickets as we went to protect the steep climbs.
On the summit we stowed away ice screws and draws and started down the Coleman-Deming Route. Snow on the Roman Wall was incredibly soft, sometimes postholing up to our thighs. We made our way down to the CD col where we melted snow for water (we were all so thirsty!) and we descended down the Coleman-Deming into the clouds that began to roll in. At the top of the clouds it became incredibly hot before finally cooling off as we got below the cloud ceiling. There was a thick fog and it made seeing each other difficult. To be silly we yelled Marco-Polo to each other as we quickly made our way down the glacier. We took a brief break at the top of the football field before the final descent back into the Hogsback camp.
At camp we drank a lot of water and stowed the rest of our gear. Doug, Jason and I switched back to our shoes and we all made our way out via the Heliotrope trail encountering many, many climbers and tents along the way. It was about to be an action packed weekend up there!
We were back at the cars at 8PM, a mere 18 hours after we had left. What surprised me about this route was how fantastic the steep glacier travel was on the ridge below and above the ice pitches. This was, by far, my favorite part of this route and worth mentioning. I went for the ice but loved the rest of the route much more. The views of the Roosevelt Glacier were phenomenal and it was enjoyable to see a different side of the mountain.