(Happy 28th Birthday Michele!)
We all hop on the 5:20am boat.
In the new Subaru: Tom, Richie, Michele
In the Explorer: Vern, Tim, Michael
We meet Garrett and Ben at Alpine Ascents to grab rental equipment, then hop in the vehicles to Bellingham.
Garrett is a restaurant guru - and knows this great place in Bellingham called The Little Cheerful. Breakfast it is!Most of us know Garrett well enough. He frequents the gym. We've talked his ear off with questions about gear and the climbing experience. And we've listened intently to every word that has ever come from his mouth.
Ben is the new guy (guide). We know nothing of him.
Our summary: He's from Texas, which makes us happy to have a fellow southerner on the mountain with us. Ben's response to this comment: "I'm not from the south, I'm from Texas." heehee... Funny thing is that he is from Nacogdoches!
He's a southerner - and a good guy. :)
We are now full of good food, coffee, water, and nervous energy.
Goodbye Bellingham, hello Highway 542. The group stops at the ranger station to grab permits and the infamous blue bags.
For those of you who don't know what blue bags are... here is a note directly from the U.S. Forest Service website:
Because the mountain is an extremely popular destination, many resource management issues arise. One of the greatest challenges is the matter of human waste. In order to protect the environment and ensure public health and safety, the Forest Service recommends practicing the principles of Leave No Trace such as using a pack-it-out method like "Blue Bags". "Blue Bags" are available at the Ranger Station in Sedro Woolley or the Visitor Center in Glacier. There are no collection facilities at the trailheads or on the routes for blue bags. Climbers are responsible for disposing of the bags (with waste) in proper waste receptacles. Public health officials have determined small amounts of human waste to be acceptable in the solid waste system. Blue bags can be deposited in trash receptacles or the contents can be emptied and flushed down the toilet back home.
We roam around, read signs, take a few photos of the 730 year old tree, Tim takes the "last civilized dump for the next 3 days," and we hop in our vehicles down Glacier Creek Road to the trailhead.
At the trailhead, we organize our personal gear, disperse group gear, take more photos, receive instruction on proper pack placement, and more!
Still waiting on Part III of this series...
And the hiking begins at 3700 feet.
For the next 4.5 miles, we encounter wonderful waterfalls, one very large block of snow, an unusually round rock, and 15 downed trees.
After an hour, we have our first break.
Tim teaches Vern how to properly tie underpants to his head.
Garrett eats a bagel.
And it is back on the trail for us!
Another hour passes... Break No. 2
We hike through Heliotrope Ridge... full of incredibly scented wildflowers!
Up a few hundred feet of snow...
Until we are just below the Coleman Glacier.
At 5500 feet, we put on our harnesses...
Fill up water bottles...
See "Ice Spiders"
Rope up, and start climbing...
On Garrett's Rope (in order): Garrett, Vern, Tim, Michael
On Ben's Rope (again, in order): Ben, Richie, Tom, Michele
Still climbing!
Our guides decide we are strong enough to hike to high camp - and we are all anxious to get higher up, so we make it to high camp at 7300 feet.
The trek is long and up, and our packs are a bit heavier than anticipated - especially with the added group gear.
We set up tents, soak up the sun and view. The sky is so clear, you can see for miles!
Right about now, Michele starts to feel a tad nauseated and has a bad headache. Altitude sickness? Dehydration? We think a bit of both. Just a side note: Michele finds a rock and sees the salmon eggs benedict that she had for breakfast. After a liter of water, some Diamox, and rest - she begins to feel some relief. Thank you, Garrett! (Just for the record, I don't get sick very often, so when I do, I'm miserable!)
Guides tell us that we will summit tomorrow, rather than Sunday, as originally planned. This is mainly due to the weather conditions, but also since we all did such a great job on the first day.
We try to get some much needed sleep, despite the anxiety of summiting TOMORROW, plus the sun is out. It's rare that any of us get to bed before 8pm. :)
Michael Rosenthal sleeps under the stars, and apparently had a small visitor in the night that ran across his inflatable pad, scared the crud out of him. (He thought it was thunder.)
Dinner consists of:
Warm beverage: Your choice of Hot Chocolate, Tea, or Apple Cider (which Michael wished tasted more like Apple Cider than just hot apple-flavored water).
For Dinner: Tortellini and tomatoes.
And a chocolate chip cookie!
Saturday, July 26th - Summit Day
(Happy 30th Birthday Richie!)
We are all awake, or at least out of our tents, before our guides. They sleep like babies in the mountains. We are sure it has a lot to do spending about 200 nights a year on a mountain top.
WOW!
Suggested gear for the day: Soft shell pants and a light top layer.
And the best news: Light Packs - Yippee!!!!!! On Summit day, we left all non-essential gear at camp - tents, stoves, and sleeping bags.
For Breakfast:
Warm beverage: Your choice of Hot Chocolate, Tea, or Apple Cider.
Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal.
We start off in all the technical gear - harness, helmet, gaiters, ice axe, and crampons.
At 8:45am
We're off!
Since we are at high camp, we have to descend first, then ascend. We pass numerous tents staked for folks who departed earlier that morning.
We cross Coleman Glacier - it is all uphill - up, up, and up.
We've been worried about the weather - a cloud over the top of the mountain indicate it's windy up there - but we press on in hopes that it will clear, plus we are climbing in wonderful sunshine.
A note from Michele: I was almost at my breaking point here, when Garrett told me we were halfway to the summit. I couldn't believe it. Halfway? I wasn't going to turn around now - are you kidding me!?!!? Ben was very honest - telling me it was only going to get worse as we get higher. So after a nice break, an attempted bite of an energy bar, one Shot Block, a sip of water, and a deep breath - I pressed on.
Tom does "Downward Dog," as suggested by Greg - The Yoga Guy.
And up we go!
At around 9000 feet we pass by Colfax Peak and head up The Roman Wall (approximately 1000 feet). It is our pathway to the summit. The path is straight up.
About 1 hour from the summit, we experience a "white out."
A note from Michele: In this photo, I'm the one way at the back of the rope. I have to admit that each step was intense. Ben was right - the nausea was getting worse. By this time, I had worn out 2 songs: Pink's "Dear Mr. President," The Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It," and had resorted to counting to 100. The 4th and final barfing was on the 6th time I counted to 100.
55, 56, 57, 58...... Ugh! For fear of revisiting 58... I stopped counting.
I had to stop about 4 more times just to breath and reduce the twisting in my stomach. Each time, I could hear Ben at the lead of the rope cheering: "You are doing great, Michele. Great news - you are almost there!"
My mind just took over and all I could think of was "you've gotta fight through this shit." And I did.
Being on the summit was surreal. The reaction, surprising. No one was jumping for joy or screaming "I'm on top of the world!" It was definitely an internal celebration for most of us. We all hugged and took summit photos. Unfortunately, the view was white. But, heh, we did it!
The 2008 Train to Climb Team on Mt. Baker.
From left to right: Tom, Michele, Richie, Tim, Vern, Garrett (our guide), and Micheal.
The story of the "true summit." Our guides tell us the true summit is another 100 or so feet away, where there is a small "dimple." Michele and Ben stay behind with our backs (making sure no one steals them...), and the rest of us head off with ice axes in hand to search for the summit. We wonder in the white for a few minutes when Garrett stops, "looks" around and figures we already pass it. We zig zag a little and end up back where we started. Garrett's altimiter reads 100' above the summit - truly showing how the Train to Climb group goes above and beyond!
The descent was incredible, mostly clouds with the occassional clearing. A great opportunity to see just how far we traveled. With each step, Michele felt better and better.... Just as Ben had promised.
Descending is a great challenge. For most, probably one of the most difficult parts of the climb. For 3.5 hours, there is constant pressure on your quads, knees, calves, and ankles. Not to mention, your toes! Plus most of your adrenaline has been used up in the ascent and the excitement of summiting.
We saw giant crevasses, waves of snow, and much anticipated sunshine.
Around 6pm, we made it safely to high camp (7300 feet) welcomed by a cold drizzle.
Total hiking time: 9.5 hours. Calories burned: 6600.
For Dinner: Tasty Bites (Indian food). Spinach and cheese soup. Spanish rice. And an oatmeal raisin cookie! No hot drink for Michele.
Say Garrett and Ben... Here are the directions for next time!
It was another early bedtime: 8pm.
Michele slept like a baby. No headache, stomach still a little sensitive, but okay.
Richie, always a johnny-come-lately, decides to get a headache on the descent, which lasted through the next day (hydration is always important).
It drizzled throughout the night, which aided our sleep.
In the morning, we discovered that poor Tim didn't sleep a wink.
The rock that broke Tim's back... That damn rock.
Sunday, July 27th - Heading Home
We woke up around 6am to a light mist. This time, the guides were out and about before us.
Packed up everything (in our tents because it was raining outside).
Just when it was time to break camp, the rain stopped.
We had breakfast: Granola and warm powdered milk.
Mmmmm Mmmmmm!
Disassembled the tents, completed packing up, roped up, put on crampons, helmets, etc. and headed down the mountain.
Left high camp at 8am.
Breaks were few, drizzling water spouts were on, but our spirits were high. The first hour and a half we spent descending in a cloud.
We saw the cars, we flew to them, started shredding layers, ripping off boots - sighs of relief filled the air.
It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to descend.
We hopped in the cars to the Boundry Bay Brewery on Railroad Avenue in Bellingham (another suggestion from the restaurant guru - Garrett.).
Piles of nachos, big burgers, hummus, fish tacos, pizza, and of course - beer!
We decided to take the Kingston ferry home. With thoughts of our trainer, Tom, Richie and Michele decided to take advantage of the 30 minute ferry ride, and walk on the sun deck. Good recovery, indeed!
When we got home, we sent the following email to our fellow Train to Climbers and cadre. We think it says it all.
It's 7pm.
We've taken nice-warm showers, had a bite to eat, put a load of laundry in the wash, "exploded" our packs, and are just now realizing we ALL summited Mt. Baker, just yesterday.
Wow, an incredible experience.
Thanks for being great comrades.
And many thanks to Garrett and Ben for their humor and most importantly, great patience.
Have a wonderful, restful night's sleep in YOUR bed. No worries about crampons, ice spiders, soft snow, or the anxiety of the summit - - - at least not for another 3 weeks.
You guys are the best!
Sweet dreams,
Michele & Richie
Here is an overview of our Mt. Baker adventure...
Yeah for Google Earth!
A quick note of thanks to Michael Rosenthal - the photographer on this trip - Yippee!
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