North Ridge of Mount Baker

Climb of the North Ridge of Mount Baker.

[@icejunki]

Great content, thanks for not playing unnecessary hard rock over the footage. There's something satisfying about solid axe placements and hearing you work hard for your summit reward.

[@IanLauder]

Yea, my biggest pet peeve watching other climbing videos is having to mute the volume on annoying soundtracks.

[@tacul9333]

@@IanLauder AMEN! Nice work.

[@JLeeper84]

Great video! I realized I had seen a few of your other videos after hearing your signature “Woohoo!” Hahahaha Great content! Keep it up! Following.

[@alexsakon]

Nicely done. I did this 3 years ago and it was one of the more memorable climbs I’ve done.

[@jwil425]

Awesome video 🙏 thanks for sharing!

[@PinayAdventures]

awesome video!!!

[@telestix6606]

Love that route it's the home screen on my phone

[@Fun_in_retrospect]

God there are few things more satisfying than the thud of bomber tool placements. What would you consider the grade of that technical section?

[@IanLauder]

I'd say an easy AI3.

[@IanLauder]

@@JG-od3xy AI3 is "A"lpine "I"ce 3. AI stands for alpine ice vs WI which is what most people refer to in ice climbing as Water Ice (like frozen waterfalls). Alpine ice is more glacier or just higher alpine terrain. The #s are about the same. AI1 is basically flat terrain, AI2 is easy lower angle ice, AI3 is when you get to real climbing but its not dead verticle. When you get into steeper sections, verticle then its more like AI4 or WI4 and so on up to AI/WI5 or 6 which gets into overhanging, lots of pitches, overnight, etc. Just take the WI water ice system you know and just think of it as a different type of ice (alpine/glacier vs waterfall).

[@bms9144]

Did you guys cross the sketchy snow bridge on the big crevasse on the way down, or did you go around it? I went up CD on 6-14-19 and it looked dicey from below, we opted for a lengthy bypass.

[@IanLauder]

Looks like we did it 2 days after you. As we hiked in people were bailing out of the standard route and telling us the basic route was out and the snowbridge had collapsed. Some people we know told us they saw someone rappel into the crevasse and walk out so we knew there would be a way around the problem one way or another. So next day people had already rerouted to do a long end run, but even that was looking like it wouldn't last much longer.

[@williamdesro]

Great video. Did you guys pack up your tent on your summit push or did you make a loop on the way down to your camp?

[@IanLauder]

We did a loop and camped up higher around 6800ft on the Coleman Glacier, its in the basin on the way to the start of the route. That way you can do a loop and drop back down to camp on the descent pretty easily.

[@murraypendergrass8077]

Your rope diameter seems small. Do you know what size that is? Seems like its a double rope maybe

[@IanLauder]

Beal Opera 8.5mm, single strand rated climbing rope. At the time it was the lightest rope we used for alpine climbs.

[@murraypendergrass8077]

@@IanLauder thanks, when you were digging out that T slot were you unable to find a place to place protection to belay up your partner?

[@IanLauder]

@@murraypendergrass8077 It's been over 2 years since that climb, but if I recall I use t-slots like that if the snow conditions are not good for a vertical picket. And that is the only option for making an anchor (i.e. we're past the ice pitches and its just hardpack snow or softer snow that's been in the sun awhile). I would have tried a vertical picket first and if it just easily tapped in I would make a horizontal placement instead. Especially if the runnout was more exposed. Other places where the snow was more solid and it took a fair amount of pounding for a solid placement I used vertical placements.

[@ashtonwhitcomb3217]

what was the date of the climb

[@IanLauder]

Ashton Whitcomb June 14-15, 2019.

[@TommyMacMXClimber]

Uhhh... did you realize you pounded in your Yates picket BACKWARDS???? The open side of the "v" should be facing down-hill, not up hill!

[@IanLauder]

I remember a time when the recommendation was one way, then they changed it the other way. The idea is that the V the other way would push against the snow or something like that. So it was good enough for people to use both ways depending on when you were climbing. But yea, I'd say that's the current thinking these days.

[@TommyMacMXClimber]

@@IanLauder Yeah, for sure Yates says to have the point of the V uphill (as does Marc Chauvin and Rob Coppolillo's "The Mountain Guide Manual". Be safe, and congrats on the climb. It's on my bucket list and looks like a real challenge. Cheers!

[@IanLauder]

@@TommyMacMXClimber Thanks, and yea its a great one. Definitely recommend it. And yea, the current recommendations are as you mentioned. I started climbing 10 years ago and it was the other way back then before they did more testing. Also, there is the textbook way and "is it good enough" depending on the situation. In this case I didn't feel the need for the picket in the first place and only put it in because my follower requested. We had good runout and a solid boot path at that point with a very short section. And it was so solid of a picket it would have held in any direction. Good point though, shooting videos probably should make sure to button up the fine details more carefully.