We Did It!

This photo was taken near the summit of Mount Baker. The photos shows our guide, Troy, in front, then son Edward, followed by a friend, Nate, with myself at the end of the rope taking the picture, all of us approaching the summit. The actual summit is the bare cone on the right known as Grant's Peak. Grant's Peak is at 10778 feet (3285 meters), the highest point in the Cascades north of Mount Rainier. The climb up to this point was one of the hardest things I've ever done and one of the most amazing and unforgettable.

We started our trek at about 10:00 am on Friday, hiked nearly to the end of the Heliotrope Ridge trail, and then took a side trail up the Hogsback, a steep ridge, to the edge of Coleman Glacier at about 5200 feet of elevation. There we practiced the use of ice axes and crampons for about an hour before starting up the glacier. We had planned on camping at the top of the Hogsback but made such good time that we decided to spend the night on the glacier and made it to about 8000 feet, with our packs, before we stopped.

We made camp, setting up tents on the glacier and cooking our evening meal there. We watched the sunset from camp before settling in for the night, a comfortable night for Edward and I and a not-so-comfortable night for Nate and Troy. We woke at 4:00 am the following morning and after breakfast started up the last 2700 feet to the summit at about 5:00 am. This was the steepest and most difficult part of the climb, up across the top of the glacier, and then up the Roman Slope and the top of Deming Glacier to the summit.

We made the summit at about 11:00 am and after spending some time there for pictures and for something to eat started back down, arriving back at our vehicles at 4:00 pm. Edward and I were home about 6:00 pm, for a cheeseburger, a hot shower, a beer and bed. The climb pushed me to my limits and a bit beyond (there were times when I wondered if I would make it) but was truly an incredible experience and something I would do again in the next few years if I had opportunity (Edward is already talking about doing it again).

There were just the four of us on this climb and the guide was wonderful. We would never have found the best route without him and he did everything at a pace we were comfortable with. The weather was spectacular and the view from the summit unbelievable. We could see the whole of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands to the west, with the Olympics in the distance, the Cascades with Mount Rainier dominating to the south, the Canadian Range and Vancouver to the north and northwest, and below us many other familiar peaks.

I'm going to try to get a blog post together tomorrow and will be posting other pictures from the climb along with the blog post. This is by no means the best picture from the climb, but was, I thought, a good way to celebrate our accomplishment. I certainly felt my age and was the slowest of the group, but am proud of myself for actually making it to the top though it all seems just a bit surreal yet. There are others, too, now that want to try, including my wife, but we shall see if that is possible. Now I'm off to bed and will catch everyone up with commenting tomorrow.