Mount Baker Crevasse Rescue (& subsequent summit)

[Rob]

I spent the weekend on Mount Baker at our final Mountaineers Basic Climbing Class field trip.

Had spectacular weather and an outstanding trip.

Day one we climbed up to our base camp (had to start about 1/2 a mile from the trail head due to snow that was blocking the roads). Once in camp we roped up immediately and hit the glacier. The teams set up a crevasse rescue scenario and one by one we were lowered into crevasses. We had to self rescue and allow our team to rescue us using Z pulley systems. This took the rest of the day. We went back to camp, had dinner and slept.

Up again and on the ropes by 7 AM we proceeded to practice roped travel techniques. We did some snow belays, team fall arrests, and lots of ice axe self arrests. Some also did additional Z pulley practice (in snow, not glaciers)

Some photos

[Rob]

And here are some photos of me in the crevasse

[longrangekiller]

looks like alot of fun 

[elkboy]

Nice!  I got to do the Easton-Deming route on Baker 10 years ago- was a great climb.  The crater fumaroles were really roaring.

[denali]

very cool, thanks for posting

[Special T]

Cool Pics! It great that you spent the time to learn safty. When i was comming off Rainer from summiting I ran into a couple of guys that were Ice climbers and wanted to get the 30 second rund down on how to do crevasse rescue.  He thought you just ice climbed out... I told him to follow the group closely that was a little farther up the hill....

[Rob]

I told him to follow the group closely that was a little farther up the hill....

Great advice!

The class has been great.  I don't object to using guides, but I would rather spend money on training and equipment and take a little extra time to figure out how to do it without guides.  Teach me to fish so to speak.

The class has been most excellent.  It is like a college level class with robust graduation requirements:
-5 months of classroom work (started in late January, ends mid-June)
-A mid-term and final exam with written and practical's portions
-6 field trips
-three post-class required climbs (one glacier, one rock, one dealers choice or alpine)
-1 day of volunteer work.
-complete a 2 day wilderness first aid class
-complete a 1 day first aid scenario class with SAR
-complete a full day navigation course (1/2 classroom work, 1/2 field work)

I really like that it is taught with a text book, but the instructors are all volunteer.  So it is more of a structured mentoring program.  It has also been nice that the folks I have interacted with in the Everett branch have been supportive of the hunting and shooting sports.  I am not ashamed of my hunting heritage and if this had been a group like Sierra club, well, I am not sure I would have stuck it out.  Made some great friends and learned some outstanding skills.

I am shooting to climb Little Tahoma, Baker, Mt Schuksan, Icy peak/Ruth Peak traverse, and Glacier Peak in the next 2/3 months.  And I now have a solid network of skilled people to climb other challenging peaks with.  I got hooked up with a group to do Mt Shasta last month.  We will do Rainer this year or next too.  Maybe I'll do Denali in 5 years or so, who knows.

Highly recommend!

[pope]

One of your photos seems to show TWO ropes as you prusik out of that hole. Were you belayed from above (on a second rope) as you climbed the rope to get out of that crevasse? Just curious.

[Rob]

Correct.  This was a rescue scenario training session and our first time in crevasses so we had a climbing rope rigged for the crevasse fall scenario, and we were belayed down on a second rope that was tied into a different anchor system.  Additonally there was a safety line anchored in so we could safely maneuver around the glacier without being roped together.   The set up was complicated, but given we had 12 rope teams and around 58 people between students, instructors and assistants, I was impressed with how smoothly they operated. 

We left cars around 7 am, and by 11:45 am this large group had all hiked in 3.5 miles to base camp, dropped gear, roped up, climbed another mile onto the glacier, set up 6 of the complicated crevasse stations in the diagram below, and were dropping folks into the crevasses.  Pretty impressive to get close to 60 people to accomplish all that in under 5 hours...

[pope]

I used to be employed by a local college as a rope leader/instructor. Let's just say you guys processed a similar number of students in roughly the same amount of time.....but you did it with far more attention to student safety. I also completed the basic course (1985) in Tacoma and I remember a set up similar to your diagram. The clowns instructing the college class I mentioned had NO CLUE about safe protocol. After three summers and several close calls, I couldn't tolerate their practices any longer. I did save the college an expensive day in court when, due to poor leadership, a female student had a very close call when she was unsupervised and slid out of control. She went on for two hours about calling her attorney immediately when she returned home. I bought her a Pepsi and talked her out of it.

[Rob]

I have been impressed with the way the Mountaineers run their show.  They are well organized and have a good balance of risk mitigation and safety.

I'm a fan of the DIY approach to getting these climbs done.

I hope the college paid you back for the pepsi.  sounds like a good investment.

[swanny]

Looks like a great time, and way to get out and learn the skills! I'll be heading to Baker this weekend for a climb.

But were there no wilderness ethics with the Mountaineers? That looks like way more than 12 people in one group.

[Rob]

We were in 6 groups that happen to all be in the same area!  (I was told that Mt Baker does not have size limits like some other places.  I did not check the facts on that though)

And not that it matters from an impact perspective, but we were training, not summiting.  So our mob did not all try to cram onto the summit.  We went to an "off the beaten path" part of the glacier so we were out of the way.

I found out that club sponsored climbs on priority destinations like Baker are coordinated by the chapters.  They limit the club sponsored climbs to one chapter per day per climb.  For example, this coming weekend, only one chapter can plan a Mountaineers sponsored climb on Baker.  Once it hits the calendar, no other chapter can plan one for the same window.  additionally they keep the groups size to 6-9 overall.

I hope to summit Baker on the 22nd if the Wx cooperates.

[swanny]

Interesting...

Good luck on your climb! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for weather this weekend, it's not looking great right now. Oh well, you can't always have the views

[Knocker of rocks]

Looks like a great time, and way to get out and learn the skills! I'll be heading to Baker this weekend for a climb.

But were there no wilderness ethics with the Mountaineers? That looks like way more than 12 people in one group.

They were probably out of the Wilderness proper, and in an area where snowmobiles are allowed.  And they carried out their poo