Mount Baker: North Ridge

If you have ever looked up at Mount Baker's North Ridge it practically screams 'Climb Me!' Dwight from CT heeded the call and he and I set out up this spectacular ridge climb. The wild exposure and a few pitches of technical ice climbing, in addition to perfect weather made for an unforgettable day.

Dwight and I set out at 3:30 am up the steep slopes that gain the North Ridge at around 8,800' we weaved our way through a few high crevasses and traversed to the base of the ice headwall. A couple pitches of ice led us to some more steep snow, and finally the summit plateau.

We made our way to the summit and descended the Colmen-Demming, the standard route of ascent on the north side of Mont Baker. As we arrived at camp it started to feel like a big day of climbing. We packed up and hiked out feeling quite satisfied with our accomplishment. Down at the car, we looked through a break in the trees up at the mountain and saw the graceful North Ridge looking down on us, 'nice work boys'.