Volcanic Orbit
The Mount Baker High Orbit & Summit in the North Cascades
by/por Sonja Saxe
The last strong gust just ended, but I know another cold blast will arrive within moments. With each burst, all forward progress is stalled, leaving us like frozen statues in the boot pack.
I brace myself, stomping my crampons into the snow to get a solid purchase and lean forward, willing this gust to be merciful and brief. The wind slices through all six of my warmest layers and threatens to blow me off my feet. My skis are strapped to my pack and act like metal sails, turning me this way and that against my will. It feels like a miracle I can stay on my feet at all.
All around us snow is being ripped from ridges; it spirals into white eddies that tear through our group like tiny tornados. Far above us and its wind-ravaged ridges, glaciated slopes, and rocky buttresses, Mt. Baker’s summit looms like an impenetrable fortress.
I glance behind me. My guide, Trevor, is patiently waiting for me to unroot myself from the spot I have been standing. He estimates the sustained winds are about 20mph, with 40+mph gusts that just keep coming. I know I can’t stay glued to mountain forever. We still have over 1,700’ of climbing to do before we will find ourselves atop the summit, and that will only be the halfway point.
When I signed up for this trip and saw its April dates I had dreamt of glorious spring skiing conditions and bluebird days. Instead, the Cascade Range remains in the icy grips of a winter that will not relinquish its grasp because of something as arbitrary as the words “Spring Equinox” on a calendar.
The main goal of this trip is to learn glacier travel. My partner and I have enjoyed a few seasons of backcountry skiing, but we were feeling increasingly limited by our lack of glacier travel skills. We signed up with Pro Guiding Service to learn the ropes and hopefully open up new terrain for us, but as we ascend, I begin to doubt my decision. Negative thoughts creep in and whisper, maybe this sport isn’t for me.
This was day two of our four day Mt. Baker Orbit. Instead of ascending and descending the well-trodden Coleman-Deming route, our group planned to ascend to the summit, and then ski down the Boulder Glacier on the east face so we could complete a high full circuit around the mountaintop. This route would take us over ten glaciers, two cols, and would allow us to enjoy a fully immersive four-day experience in the Mt. Baker Wilderness. It also meant that we had to bring our fully loaded overnight packs to the summit (and everywhere else), something I was all too aware of as my pack dug into my shoulders with every step.
Finally, we take our first steps on the summit plateau and begin the push to the true summit—a small knob sitting on the northeast corner of the mountain. By the time we make it to 10,781’ my hands are frozen even in my warmest gloves. I don’t dare expose my fingers to the cold and wind for a photo so my partner points his GoPro towards us and snaps a photo. On first glance, you might look at the photo and assume we are smiling, but in reality it is closer to a grimace.
We transition our skis and boots into ski mode on the summit plateau, all of us are eager to descend to the more sheltered confines of the lower slopes.
After a few icy turns our group reconvenes above the Park glacier. For the first time in hours, the wind is no longer howling into my ears. I can finally hear myself think, and in that welcome quiet I begin to truly appreciate the landscape surrounding me. As far as I can see in every direction is a sea of snow covered peaks. The Cascade Range is known as the “American Alps” and from the depths of the Mt. Baker Wilderness it is easy to see how these mountains earned that moniker.
Our camp for the evening is on a wide open expanse of snow at the convergence of three glaciers—the Mazama, Park, and Rainbow glaciers. The sun is setting fast, but as we click tent poles into place and inflate our sleeping pads I smile a genuine smile. The reality of the summit and the previous nine hours begin to hit me. Although the day was tough, I persevered. I did it.
Maybe this sport IS for me.
