1. Mount Baker is so much fun!
Yeah, it takes some grit and endurance, it's a hell of a lot of fun. More type 1 fun than type 2 fun by orders of magnitude.
Mount Baker, also known by its native name, Koma Kulshan, is one of the most breathtaking and accessible mountains in the lower 48. It has a big mountain feel and it is an exhilarating experience to ski it's massive, ice covered slopes. With terrain ranging from mellow "blue square" runs to extreme and exposed steeps, there is terrain that suits almost any experienced ski tourer's ability.
Kulshan is the perfect place to dive into ski mountaineering. It offers significantly less hazard than peaks like Mount Rainier or the Grand Teton and, with an elevation of 10,781', the air is noticeably thicker than that on 13eras and 14ers like Shasta, Rainier and Whitney. At the same time, it offers huge variety and exciting terrain that even the most widely travelled ski mountaineers will appreciate.
2. If you've got the fitness, it's within your grasp.
We love bringing backcountry skiers into the fold of ski mountaineering and Baker is the perfect place to dial in your skills. Huge glaciers, looming seracs, steep slopes and the potential for fierce weather pose serious objective hazards and make this an adventure with significant risk. This makes it the perfect place to hire a guide to learn how the pros tackle big mountain terrain like this. Our guides love teaching the mountaineering skills and will help you learn to identify and manage the hazards of climbing and skiing big, glaciated peaks like Baker, Rainier and others the world over.
We make sure you have a solid foundation of mountaineering skills including rest stepping, cramponing, glaciated rope travel, and ice axe arrest before we begin our summit attempt. Beyond the basics, we can customize any program to include the skills you need to help you achieve your next big objective. Snow anchors, crevasse rescue, rappelling, fixed line travel and rope ascension are all skills that can easily be added to build your proficiency in the mountains.
Beyond our formal skills training, we offer up all of the tips and tricks we've learned over years of climbing and guiding. These little tricks add up to HUGE differences in how efficiently you climb, ski and camp. Instead of learning these techniques through trial and error, come out with us and pick up some new tricks! From packing your backpack to building a tent platform to moving well on summit day, we've got tips that will make you feel more dialed and your experience more fun!
3. It's a trip you'll never forget!
Whether you're a seasoned ski mountaineer or this is your first foray adding an ice axe and crampons to your ski touring habit, Mount Baker delivers. It offers huge relief, incredible views and a massive amount of terrain to ski. You can scale this experience up or down. Make it a massive traverse or a climb and ski of one of the standard routes, the Coleman-Deming or Easton Glacier. It is much more approachable than peaks like Rainier or the Grand Teton, which have considerably higher levels of objective hazard.
The terrain offers a great challenge for any level of ski mountaineering. Whether you're cutting your teeth on glaciated ski mountaineering on the Easton Glacier or pushing your limits on the Thunder Glacier or Watson Traverse, exciting options abound.
If you'd like to climb or ski Mount Baker with a guide, reach out! We'd be happy to share why we can make your trip on Baker an experience you'll never forget!