[Matt]

Dates: February 22-23, 2015 Destination: Lasiocarpa Ridge 6521 (541P), West Portal 6920 (420P), Coleman Pinnacle 6403 (243P) (USGS Mt. Baker) Party: Matt, cartman Credit cartman for proposing this trip. It was his idea to camp near Coleman Pinnacle and run side trips from there out to the high points of Lasiocarpa Ridge and The Portals. It made a beautiful opportunity to roam across miles of snowy terrain on the east side of Baker. In striking contrast to the crowds around Artist Point, we had this entire expanse of mountain all to ourselves once we went past Coleman Pinnacle. All of the travel was on firm crampon-crusty snow.

GPS Track (yellow line is approach, green line is exit, red lines are summit trips)

Sunday Heather Meadows to Coleman Col Camp 5180 (10:00am – 3:15pm) The Heather Meadows parking lot showed a shocking lack of snow. The pavement was completely bare, without even a remnant of snow along the edges, where usually there are huge berms of plowed snow. We hiked the road to the Artist Point parking lot, and followed the summer trail line traversing the south side of Table Mountain and then the north side of Ptarmigan Ridge. Where the trail goes uphill to cross Ptarmigan Ridge, we turned aside and continued traversing on the northwest side all the way out the col between Coleman Pinnacle and Lasiocarpa Ridge. There were a few old ski tracks in the area, but from the time we left the trail line, ours were the only fresh tracks across the snow, and we had the entire area to ourselves. A steady wind blew across the col, but on the back side of a small knoll, we found a perfectly sheltered campsite on a west-facing balcony under a sun-warmed rock wall.

The appallingly bare parking lot at Heather Meadows

Battalion encamped below Artist Point (WAC alpine course)

Looking up the valley to our camp and Lasiocarpa Point

Hordes of tracks on the early part of our trip

All by ourselves now

3 labels

View of our track below Ptarmigan Ridge, taken later from Lasiocarpa

Campsite on The Balcony at Coleman Col

Heather Meadows to Coleman Camp, 5.7 miles, 2750 gain, 830 loss, 5:15 hours Lasiocarpa Point 6521 (4:00-7:10pm, sunset 5:36pm) For Lasiocarpa, we simply ran the ridge crest northward slightly over a mile to its high point. When Fay did this trip on skis, she had to drop below the crest several times to bypass corniced rocky outcrops, but we had no significant cornices, so we could scramble over everything.

Crossing the very windblown col

Crossing a snowy point and a rocky point

More tracks along the crest

We arrived at the summit near sunset. I'd brought along my stove so that I could make dinner and tea while I watched the changing light.

Sunset summit tea (with much of our approach route running along Ptarmigan Ridge below Shuksan)

Eric on the summit at sunset

Looking back along the ridge at our route from camp in the distant col

With the low light this time of year, Baker shaded all but a corner of Shuksan from the sunset.

Shuksan, 5:26pm

Shuksan, 5:40pm

Northeast of us, shifting clouds played the light sometimes across Mt. Sefrit and Nooksack Ridge in the foreground, and sometimes across Redoubt and the Chillwack Peaks standing farther beyond. Late light highlighted the summits of more distant peaks, such Blum, Hagan, and Bacon.

Sefrit & Nooksack Ridge sunlit, Chilliwack peaks in shadow, 5:23pm

Nooksack Ridge shadowed, Redoubt & Chilliwack peaks sunlit, 5:27pm

Light lifting above all of them, 5:37pm

Summit light on Blum, Hagan, and Bacon (with Coleman Pinnacle unlit in the center, and our camp at far right)

Then it was time to hike back along the ridge in the gloaming. Eric decided to try Fay's lower route to avoid the steepest piece of the crest, but concluded afterward that the extra effort wasn't worth it. We made it back to camp in the last faint reflected light from the twilight sky, as the snow shaded from lavender to gray, and the sky darkened from deep blue to black.

Twilight tracks on Lasiocarpa

Last faint afterglow on Shuksan

Hiking home in the twilight

After dark, the sky cleared and wind calmed, leaving brilliant stars sparkling in the night sky above us. The moon was only about a third full, but still bright enough to wander around the snow near camp without needing a light.

Sparkling stars and snow around Coleman Pinnacle

Partial moon over the snowfields of Baker

Lasiocarpa round trip, 2.2 miles, 570 gain, 570 loss, 3:10 hours Monday Sunrise at Coleman Col Camp (sunrise 7:03am) High up on Baker, the first hint of light touched the summit long before official sunrise at our elevation, then faded behind clouds, and then lit up a display on the clouds above the peaks.

First hint of light on Baker summit, 6:30am

Sunrise clouds above Baker, 6:50am

Sunrise clouds above Coleman Pinnacle

Sunrise clouds above the border peaks (Tomyhoi, Canadian Border, American Border, Larrabee, Slesse)

Then the light marched down the face of Baker, brightening and spreading as it advanced.

Baker, 6:59am

Baker, 7:03am

Baker, 7:06am

Baker, 7:10am

The West Portal 6920 (7:15am – 2:20pm) Time to depart for the Portals! From camp, we curved eastward to the 5980-foot col between Lasiocarpa Ridge and the East Portal. Our original plan was to aim for the col between the Portals, then curve up onto the West Portal. However, at the base of East Portal, we found a steep descent on a very hard crust, so we decided to backtrack and take an easier line across the base of the Sholes Glacier and up the northeast ridge of the West Portal. (Since this consumed extra time, we skipped ascending the lesser-prominence East Portal). Others have skied through this section, perhaps on a bit softer snow.

Departing camp

You can see why they're called The Portals

Crossing to the other side made an easy line, but did require dropping an extra 500 feet down onto the foot of the Sholes Glacier. We roped up since we had the gear with us. The ridge up to West Portal was moderate but long. It's midsection is one of those slightly convex crests where the top seems to be just above you, but then keeps retreating endlessly as you ascend. Then the ridge broadens into a huge almost-flat plateau, and finally the small summit. We were alone here for today, but there were occasional traces of one ski track all the way up to the summit.

Ascending the north ridge of West Portal after crossing the foot of the Sholes Glacier

Endless retreating horizon on the slightly convex ridge crest

Eric crossing the wide plateau below the summit

Me on West Portal summit

The view back from West Portal

West Portal's summit gives a dramatic view up the northeast face of Mt. Baker, down to the crevasse fields of the Rainbow Glacier, and back out across all the ridges we'd traversed for our approach. The two stitched panoramas below are larger images, so worth clicking to view at full resolution.

Some seracs on the Rainbow Glacier (I thought the one just above and left of center looked like a dinosaur holding a large egg, but it's actually a snow bridge)

Baker (Rainbow Glacier at left, Park Glacier above, Mazama Glacier & Hadley Peak at right)

Countless peaks north and east of us (look at the totally bare slopes on Barometer at far left!)

Then we retraced our path back to camp, which did leave fine curving tracks across the snow.

Hiking back to camp

West Portal round trip (including detour toward East Portal), 6 miles, 2540 gain, 2540 loss, 7:05 hours Exit & Coleman Pinnacle (3:40-8:40pm) For our exit hike, I decided to traverse across to the col just below Coleman Pinnacle, see if I could scramble up it, and then return along the summer trail route that traverses on the far side of Ptarmigan Ridge. Eric decided to return along the more direct route of our approach.

Peek-a-boo view of Coleman Pinnacle from our camp

Eric departing

The lack of cornices allowed me to cut across the slope to the col directly south of the pinnacle, which might be blocked by larger cornices in an normal winter. I dropped my pack there, and scrambled up the Pinnacle, traversing below it for a couple hundred feet, and then just going up the crest. I had to shed my crampons halfway up, because it was melted out to bare rock and heather on the upper parts. From the top, I could look through a gap in the cornices and see Eric far below.

Looking up at Coleman Pinnacle from the col at its base

Looking back down the crest of the Pinnacle, and out to the Portals & Baker

My shadow on the summit cornice

More of my shadow on the summit cornice

Eric crossing the snowfields 800 feet below

Tracks left by a little animal on the very top of the cornice

For my exit, I dropped down to about 5900 feet on the west side of Coleman, where a single old ski track traversed along the trail line. The track held a fine line along the side of the ridge, but it was a tiresome half mile of constant traversing. Crossing back over the ridge at Point 5831, I rejoined the main line of tracks from other groups.

Rejoining the tracks on Ptarmigan Ridge, looking back at the traverse from Coleman Pinnacle

Approaching the Table-Ptarmigan Col, 5:45pm

I had hoped to get back to the road before needing my headlamp, but ran out of usable light and met Eric both around 6:30pm, about two thirds of the way through the traverse below Table Mountain. We somehow managed to miss the giant Artist Point parking lot, but then found the road for the remainder of our exit. The ski-slicked road was the most hazardous terrain of the whole trip, causing each of us to fall a couple times.

Star coming out above Shuksan

Looking back from the traverse below Table, 6:20pm

Stars above the Heather Meadows parking lot, 8:40pm

Return from Coleman Camp, 5.8 miles, 630 gain, 2570 loss Side trip to Coleman Pinnacle, 0.3 miles, 160 gain, 160 loss Thanks again to Eric for suggesting this trip and accompanying me on it.

[Justus S.]

Lovely pics Matt! I've often thought about walking that ridge out to the Portals.

[RichP]

Beautuful! That cartman always has some good ideas.

[cartman]

I've been wanting to get out here for years in winter or spring, but the timing was never quite right. This terrain has miles of serious avalanche potential in normal snow conditions, and by the time it would normally firm up we'd be climbing other objectives in the North Cascades. But this most unusual winter provided ideal conditions for a winter ascent of this rarely traveled inner gateway to Baker. Credit where credit is due: I got the idea from the amazing Fay Pullen--as I have so many others--who soloed the area twice in winter several years ago. We traveled up via the normal route past Artist Point,

Vista

Tomyhoi

American Border, Larrabee

Goat Mtn

then as the sidehilling got steep we put on crampons--which we would wear the entire trip when not in camp. Matt and I had both brought steel 'pons, and were quite happy we did as they gave more confident traction on some very firm slopes. As we rounded Ptarmigan Ridge the partly sunny skies clouded over from the west,

Cloudy Baker

Approach

while remaining more sunny to the east.

Shuksan

Table Mtn

As we crossed under Ptarmigan, we ran into a WAC backcountry ski class led by Charlie Hagedorn. These would be the last people we'd see the entire trip. After an hour or so the sun returned,

Clearing up

providing some interesting lighting for photos.

The Heavens Await

Nearing camp, we had a good look at our first objective.

Lasiocarpa Ridge

After setting up the tent, off we went!

Running the ridge

Shuksan afternoon

Lasiocarpa Ridge can be scrambled its entire length if not corniced, with a few class 3 moves and perhaps a little class 4 in two places. From the summit, the evening light provided a lovely glow on the Prettiest Peak In The State.

Shuksan evening

Shuksan alpenglow

Last light on Shuksan

For the return I wanted to see if Fay's route, which she did to avoid cornices, was an improvement. Easily dropping down ~150' from a saddle near Lasiocarpa, the traverse back to the ridge on the other side of the spicier ridgetop area was fairly steep, and probably more effort than just running the ridge back. Last light gifted us with a fine sunset:

Sunset

Evening glow

Air outside at camp was cold, but not much noticeable inside the tent. Looking back, this is the first time I'd winter camped in almost a decade--good to know I brought the right gear for a comfortable winter night. The morning dawned clear and not that cold; about 32 degrees at 7am.

Morning light on Baker

Portals

West Portal

However, the snow was quite frozen and would remain that way all day. Easy terrain provided good access to the Sholes Glacier--after our off-route shenanigans.

East Portal

Portal to Baker

Sholes Glacier

Just in case you might think the Sholes doesn't have crevasses...

Big crevasse on the Sholes

The access point for the higher Portal is a small saddle up on the end of the NE ridge, easily booted up to. The lower part of the broad ridge is the steepest, then it's an undulating set of benches and more laid back slopes to the upper plateau.

Up Portal

Views were outstanding the entire way:

Shuksan

Lasiocarpa

From the upper plateau I had a good vantage point to watch Matt head up to the top.

Matt approaches the top

Matt at the summit

The summit was a bit windy, but not enough to chase us off before we took our photo galleries.

Baker

Baker closeup

Bastile and Hadley

Lava Divide

The Rainbow Glacier

Rainbow Glacier

Then we reversed our route back to camp.

Matt approaches camp

We took our time packing and rehydrating, which gave us a chance to reenergize before heading out. In retrospect, I would have accompanied Matt to Coleman Pinnacle, as I'd always envisioned doing it with the Portals. However, I thought the shallow snowpack and mixed conditions would make it much more difficult (Fay had a tough time with it with more snow), so I chose to head on out. Turns out it was easier than it might otherwise had been with almost no snow on the upper pinnacle. Well, that gives me additional incentive to return in fall for Coleman and Ptarmigan... Thanks to Matt for the fine trip and company and for the driving. This is a great area to boot around in. Eric J. Johnson

[joker]

Nice. I haven't been out that way in many years, and then only as long day tours on skis, which always made me ponder pushing camp out that way in moderate avalanche hazard conditions. But in any case, my memories are of it getting very quiet and special once getting out past Table Mountain and onto Ptarmigan ridge. Your photos rekindle great memories - thanks for that!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Great pictures. I love that area by the Portals. Shuksan is stunning, hard to beat that for a mountain profile. Looks like a great trip.

[Stefan]

beautiful stuff!!

[Magellan]

The full meal deal. Nice work fellas.

[raising3hikers]

your first light on baker picture is awesome! nice that you guys went over to lasiocarpa, i've wanted to go there for some time

[BlameTheDogz]

Awesome! Seems like every time Matt posts a report, I add a new destination to my list- and ponder getting a new camera. Cheers!

[Michael Lewis]

Gorgeous views!

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Nice-looking trip Matt (and cartman).

[trumpetsailor]

Neat to see you guys out there! Such beautiful weather, and a great position. Sorry we were in such a hurry . Susan gets all the credit for running the class; I just help out sometimes... -- Charlie

[puzzlr]

Great report, made me feel like I was along. Way to take advantage of the snow conditions.