Mt Baker Double Play (Park & Coleman Headwalls)

5/31/24

WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)

2566

6

Posted by timgibson11 on 6/2/24 8:42am

The parade of storms marching through the Cascades this spring has been a blessing and a curse. Week after week a Baker plan was hatched and then tossed out due to the lack of a suitable weather window. But confidence remained high that conditions on the big, steep north faces would be good once it cleared. On the very last day of May we finally got the day we were waiting for. Lucas, John and I headed up to Baker with a plan to follow the sun, skiing Park Headwall in the morning and Coleman Headwall in the afternoon.

Travel conditions on the Coleman-Deming made for a fast and easy climb to the summit, which we shared with several other parties. All of the main routes up Baker seemed to have tracks on them. We transitioned and dropped straight into the Park Headwall, where we found soft, stable snow that skied well down through the first bergshrund. While looking for a passage through the second shrund the snow became wet and heavy from sun exposure and we started to worry about wet slides. Instead of exiting onto the Park Glacier we skipped the bottom section of the headwall, climbed directly back up to the ridgeline and made an ascending traverse over to the North Ridge and the top of the Coleman Headwall. John had been battling cramps all morning and wisely decided that skiing this type of no-fall terrain in less than perfect health was a bad idea. He headed back up to the summit, skied the Roman Wall and rejoined Lucas and I lower on the mountain.

The Coleman Headwall is pretty awesome. If it were in the Alps it would have been a strong contender for La Liste. Here in the lower 48 there's not much to compare it to - the only other line I've skied that rivals it in both size and steepness is the Edmunds Headwall on Rainier. The Coleman actually felt steeper and more intimidating to me, perhaps due to the snow conditions we encountered. The steepest section of the headwall had just a couple inches of fresh on top of an ice layer, with thousands of feet of exposure. We skied with extra caution as it wasn't hard to imagine a blown turn leading to terminal velocity. The headwall is massive, and there are a few variations that can make sense depending on how the snowpack has set up in a given year. On our way up the Coleman-Deming we were happy to see that the central line looked filled in and skiable top to bottom, and that's the line we ended up taking. The schrunds were filled in and we were able to stick to mostly fall line skiing without making a hard leftward traverse at the bottom. As we worked our way down the ice layer disappeared and the slope angle backed off a little. As a result, the skiing became more enjoyable and we were able to fully appreciate the time spent in this unique spot.

***Access to the Coleman Headwall is relatively safe, easy and quick, which makes it tempting. On top of that, it's been skied by a large number of people this year, which could make it seem casual. But it's not any safer than it was in previous years when it was considered to be more of an aspirational line. If you're thinking about giving it a rip, know that there are no safe spots once you drop in, and that snow conditions can change for the worse as you descend. The entire line is no-fall terrain. I feel like Lucas and I have been building up to this for years, and handled the curveballs pretty well. Not recommended in anything other than perfect conditions, which rarely materialize and can never be counted on.

I filmed both of the headwall descents in their entirety - the Mt Baker Double Play. HD version at https://youtu.be/I5X0Qrj7Ks8.There was really only one option for the soundtrack here. Enjoy!

6/2/24 12:16pm

bigeo

Wow, that's one helluva twofer! Well played. I appreciate your cautionary words on attempting the CH. Three of us climbed the N Ridge several years ago with the idea of skiing down the Headwall. By the time we reached the summit plateau we were in a total whiteout. We diverted to the Roman Wall because there was a bootrack to follow and booted halfway down to the divide before we could see and ski. Every time I have looked at the Headwall since, I have thought that our bad luck with the weather was actually good fortune. Thanks for letting me ski it vicariously.