If you climb in washington you may have heard of June-uary a time of year when winter weather persists into June. This year we seem to be experiencing the even rarer July-uary, an unprecedented continuation of winter weather into July. We can still hold out hope that summer will come in August.
Despite the poor weather we spent the day at high camp doing a very thorough snow school where climbers leaned the skills necessary to climb Mount Baker safely. Climbers learned how to self arrest as they slid down snow slopes, how to travel on a rope team and how to walk efficiently in the snow. Though we didn't summit, I think everyone learned a great deal.
Mount Baker lived up to its reputation as the wettest place in the world as the team spent 3 days in the rain at high camp on mount baker. We gave the summit a go, climbing into a cloud cap and dropping temperatures. unfortunately it wasn't cold enough and the precipitation was very wet. along with a stiff wind the conditions were perfect for hypothermia as we all got soaked and cold. The only reasonable thing to do was turn around.
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