TR: Mt. Baker via Coleman-Deming - Jan. 25-26, 2014

[Neuro]

In search of something other than resort skiing boiler plate, Crazyhorse, Splitz, the Bavarian and I headed to Mt. Baker. A quick trip across the border and we were on route towards Heliotrope ridge.



We opted to test out the winter route via Grouse Creek. The lower section of the route had fairly low snow cover and was easier to hike than to skin. Once we hit Grouse Creek we encountered a 3cm thick melt-freeze crust that was almost impossible to skin but allowed for fast travel with crampons. This area would usually be a concern from an avalanche hazard point of view, but with the conditions we encountered the biggest worry would be a slip and a long slide down the inclined ice rink surface. More on that later...

After a couple of hours slogging we got onto heliotrope ridge. Our hopes for spring corn skiing were dashed as we found more inclined ice rink surface.





We made our way to about 2000 m and found a nice place to set up a camp site.



Part of the plan for the weekend was to brush up on some expedition and glacier travel sills, so we spent some time building a fairly burly wind wall. With the shortage of snowfall it'll probably be there for a while...



And we practiced some anchor building and crevasse rescue skills as the sun was setting...



I made the most of the golden hour to capture this, Not a bad view...



Our camp with the sun setting.


One of the nice things about doing baker as a two day trip is you can get a pretty late start. We got moving from camp around 07300H with the intent of letting the roman wall soak up some sunlight in time for our ski descent.



The Coleman Deming route is still pretty heavily crevassed. It was not that dissimilar to the conditions I encountered when I climbed it in September 2012. The areas above our campsite in the shade at least had some nice wind buff/sastrugi which looked like it would be edgeable for skiing.

On our way towards the Roman Wall.



Unfortunately the roman wall had soaked up just enough sun on previous days to turn into a disgusting textured mess. Alpine temps were low enough that even though it had been in the sun for several hours it was still pretty close to bullet proof when we climbed it.

Topping out the Roman Wall.


We topped out around 1130 and lingered for a little while. We watched one party dropping down the south side of the mountain which appeared to have some nice skiing.

Walking towards the true summit.


After a little waiting we decided it was unlikely the Roman wall would corn-up and discussed whether it was better to ski it or downclimb. Although conditions looked pretty un-enjoyable, we were confident enough to give it a go. We planned to ski with ice axes and if conditions got worse as we descended we'd improvise an anchor and transition to crampons and downclimb. As we dropped in we crossed paths with a party of two who had camped lower on Heliotrop and were on their way to the summit.

The skiing was poor, but do-able. What should have normally been a fun easy 35 degree line ended up being a pretty puckering experience.

Crazyhorse on the way down the Roman Wall.



Splitz



The Bavarian


That's about it for pics from me, but there's a bit more of interest down below for those of you that got this far...

After getting off the Roman wall, we made short work of the lower section of the mountain. About 100 m above our camp Crazyhorse opened up his turns a bit and managed to tear his toepiece out of his dynafit stokes. Somewhat soberring given the condtions we'd skiied up above.

We gathered up the broken pieces and made our way back to camp to gather our gear cache and start down heliotrope ridge with crampons. We crossed paths with the party of two on our way out, and had a quick chat with them. They were striking camp as we passed and were planning to head down Grouse Creek a few minutes behind us.

Cramponing down Grouse Creek was fairly uneventful for our group. We were fairly slow moving and Splitz, CrazyHorse and I were just at treeline with the Bavarian about 100 m behind when we watched a pretty horrifying sight... A short distance up the gulley, the party of two fell, failed to arrest, and accelerated towards highway speeds down the gully. One of them slid through some small trees and stopped before getting too much speed, but the other slid a fair distance and even appeared to catch air on a small rollover before managing to self arrest as the slope angle decreased.

Some parts of the next section don't paint the full picture, but I've done my best to sum things up here... Both of them appeared to be moving but we were sure they'd slid enough to be injured and we quickly climbed up to their position to offer assistance. The one who hit the trees appeared to be slightly banged up but had moved down to her partner while we ascended. The other party member was on his knees and conscious, but had some scrapes on his face and was bleeding from his arm/elbow a fair bit, and appeared to be in shock as we reached him.

After starting to ascertain the extent of his injuries, we got him seated on a pack and did our best to render first aid. The location was less than ideal being on an icy slope. Splitz and Crazyhorse helped the female party member, Sarah, who appeared to have few physical injuries because the trees had been small enough to provide a soft stop and she hadn't got up to high speed on her slide.

The male party member, Patrick, had some minor scrapes on his face, but had no signs of concussion. He did have what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder and a fair bit of bleeding. The Bavarian and I applied pressure and used a cellox gauze bandage followed by a tightly wrapped bandage to get his bleeding under control. Once we'd dealt with the bleeding we rigged a sling for his arm before contemplating the best approach to the situation. Both of them were confident they could move, and we felt that assisting them with a rescue was preferable to trying to bring in outside assistance.

I started downhill spotting Patrick. The rest of the team gathered gear and got moving about 10 minutes after me. Splitz somehow managed to rig a second pack onto his A frame style ski carry by lashing the pack to the upper parts of his splitboard. He looked like a totem pole. The Bavarian kept a watchful eye on Sarah who was shaken but uninjured while Crazyhorse and I moved down slope with Patrick.

Considering his injuries, he moved pretty well, and though it was a long, ugly slog we made it out about an hour after sunset. Everyone stayed pretty positive through the situation. We got them back to their car, and Sarah drove Patrick to the ER. We parted ways at the trailhead, but we've since heard by e-mail that they're both in OK shape though Patrick won't be skiing for a few months while his shoulder heals..

A summit, evac'ing an injured party and we were still driving through glacier in time to grab Pasta at Melino's.

[neufox47]

Wow, that sounds like a crazy end to the day. Glad things worked out.

[LSeed]

Well done, both the skiing and the rescue! Encountered similar conditions on the Ross Peak couloir in rogers pass a few days ago haha, though we opted to ski the powdered slopes off to the side instead of that suffer fest. Keep bringing the stoke!

[totaliboard]

thats a helluva trip report. pic of the camp at sunset is epic (Seattle? visible in background)!

[fiddler]

thats a helluva trip report. pic of the camp at sunset is epic (Seattle? visible in background)!

Thats Canada off in the distance, and maybe some of Whatcom County. You're looking west and north and the lights in the mountains you see just right of the ice wall are the Grouse Mountain ski area. Vancouver is right below Grouse. The horizon on the far left of the picture is Vancouver Island. I haven't been up there but thats what it looks like to me.

Great effort on the rescue.

[klar]

good job helping them. I got myself into a similar accident 3 years ago so this hits close to home. Do you know how exactly they fell? (Seems weird that both slid at the same time?) I am very glad I had competent partners with me who stayed calm and provided moral support until I was flown out. Just having someone there making you feel you are not alone is a great help and it sounds like you did just that, I'm sure it meant a lot to those people.

oh, and nice pictures!

[Neuro]

Thats Canada off in the distance, and maybe some of Whatcom County. You're looking west and north and the lights in the mountains you see just right of the ice wall are the Grouse Mountain ski area. Vancouver is right below Grouse. The horizon on the far left of the picture is Vancouver Island. I haven't been up there but thats what it looks like to me.

Great effort on the rescue.

That sounds about right. It's looking NW from Baker.

good job helping them. I got myself into a similar accident 3 years ago so this hits close to home. Do you know how exactly they fell? (Seems weird that both slid at the same time?)

The person at the back fell, and the person ahead tried to grab them as they slid past.

oh, and nice pictures!

Thanks!

[Meathelmet]

No better way to start a morning that good TRs and a cup of coffee!

[sqikunst]

^^ Whoa that came out of now where! way to get them out.

[Patarero]

TR from the rescued party. Nice work boys.

[AngryBeard]

Good job boys, way to make the most of shit conditions.

[d542east]

Quality stuff. That wind wall is A+. Looks like we missed you at the summit by a couple hours.

The snow was a bit better on the south side that weekend.

[Neuro]

Quality stuff. That wind wall is A+. Looks like we missed you at the summit by a couple hours.

The snow was a bit better on the south side that weekend.

We saw a few skiers dropping into the south side just as we were getting to the top of the Roman Wall. Perhaps that was you and your crew? It definitely looked like a good weekend to be on the sunny side of the mountain.

[SchralphMacchio]

Great trip report!

Really nice composition, what are you shooting with?

No point trying for traction with the shoulder and risking further injury? Was it his dominant or non-dominant arm? Sounds like a great job with the rescue. Did you put the injured party on belay?

Well done.

[d542east]

We saw a few skiers dropping into the south side just as we were getting to the top of the Roman Wall. Perhaps that was you and your crew? It definitely looked like a good weekend to be on the sunny side of the mountain.

I think we left the top around noon, It must have been us. I think there were also a couple splitters that descended the Easton close to sunset.

It was definitely a good weekend to be up high. That's actually the best weather I've ever had on the mountain.

Can't compete with you in the photography arena, but this is what it looked like on the other side: Boulder Glacier Pictures

TAYTRtots

[Shadam]

thanks, a good read ...

[Neuro]

Great trip report!

Really nice composition, what are you shooting with?

No point trying for traction with the shoulder and risking further injury? Was it his dominant or non-dominant arm? Sounds like a great job with the rescue. Did you put the injured party on belay?

Well done.

Thanks! For this trip I was shooting with a 7d, 50mm f1.8 and 70-200mm f2.8. Usually I'd bring a 24-105, but it was in for repairs at the time so I had to zoom with my feet a fair bit. I was fairly happy with the results.

He ended up stabilizing his arm with his good hand a fair bit, but no we didn't consider a more rigid splint set up (I assume that is what you are suggesting?). They had slid down most of the steeper section, so we just spotted Patrick from below and did not opt for a belay. Speed vs. Safety compromise I suppose.

Sent from my XT1032 using TGR Forums

[SchralphMacchio]

Cool, I shoot with a 7D as well but usually I choose before the trip whether I am bringing 10-22 (usually for couloirs), 24-70 f/2.8 (normal go to) or 70-200 f/4 (powder days in the trees).

Regarding the shoulder I was thinking more about the merits and risks if attempting to reduce (relocate) the dislocation. I've self-reduced before with light traction, but thankfully it was before my muscles started to spasm and seize up.

[digitaldeath]

those arctryx backpacks...good god