Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 207 | TRs | Pics Location: Sammamish, WA
Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:09 pm
Today was the day of changing plans. We had initially set our eyes on 7FJ. But i wanted to go climbing somewhere on Sunday, so something less taxing was needed. Plan B was Kyes. Turns out, that is just as demanding. So plan C was Baring. And at the last moment, my partner for the day had other things that needed to be done, so it would be just me and Zoey.
We left the house at 7am and were at the TH at 8:15. It only took us 5 minutes to get ready and we were on our way. Thankfully, someone has marked the start of the trail with some tape. You really cannot see where the trail is because of all the new growth.
This was my first trip to Baring and I had read that it was a steep trail. The descriptions sure were right. If it gets any steeper, I want to rappel down! Zoey needed a little push to get up to the rock step halfway up, but otherwise loved being out again. It took us an hour to get to the ridge.
I really enjoyed the ridge walk. It's a beautiful place. Then some more insanely steep trail and we're at the basin. Can't see a thing, we're still in a cloud. Zoey is making love to the first snow patch she finds while I try look at the best way to get up the gully. Just go up the remaining snow and see where it takes us. It stops at what looks like the notch with my limited visibility. So I head left off the snow and up what looks like a promising gully. Not a good plan, it ends in class-4 terrain. Explore another one that is just as bad. Now the clouds dissipates a bit and I can see that I'm not at the notch yet. So we get back in the original gully, climb up some exposed rubble and the next snow field.
Now we het to the real notch. Another little helping hand for Zoey and we're doing that last scramble. Little climber's trails everywhere. And a lot of big rocks. Since Zoey doesn't like fields of big rocks, I let her find the best route up. Some guiding about the general direction and a little encouraging gets us to the summit marker. Zoey doesn't like the slab that gets you to the real summit and I quickly go on. No views, no sense of the exposure on the North. So we make a summit shot and head back down.
Finally things clear up a bit and i can see all the way down the gully. Even Index and Persis show themselves on one occasion.
The ascent with micro-spikes went very well. But the descent is a different story. The top layer is soft, but underneath its very hard. So even with the spikes I slide down a lot. And so does Zoey. She's not amused when she slides with all four legs spread wide. I, on the other hand, like the visual a lot. To help her I put her leash back on and hold her back when she starts sliding.
I meet the first people just when I'm descending from the basin. They don't have spikes, not campons, so they'll be having a fun time going up and down.
Going down the steep trail was worse than going up. I lost count how many times I ended up on my butt by slipping. A great hike, and yes, everyone should do Baring. Once.
Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 207 | TRs | Pics Location: Sammamish, WA
Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:36 pm
Fletcher wrote:
What was the condition of the steep snow pitch?
After you come to the notch and head North and towards the summit, you don't encounter any significant snow anymore. There is still a field, but it is not where you're walking. You have to cross it, which took 5 steps. In the picture with the handline, you see this field. But I'm walking on on of the many climbers trails up there and I'm not on the snow itself. It's quite zoomed in.
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