Trip Report and photos for our Mt. Baker Climb: Day 1 - Bellingham to High Camp Day 2 - Resting at High Camp Day 3 - Summit Day and the Accident Day 4 - High Camp to the Car

And other activities: Orcas Island, Kayaking, B&B Mt. Rainier, Rest Day Olympic Peninsula, Beach Hiking

We returned west to the coastal town of Bellingham, the location of the American Alpine Institute (AAI) mountain guiding office and shop.  We planned to meet our AAI guide the following morning before driving to Mt. Baker.  We found a comfortable hotel, and reviewed our gear and food for the trip.  After discovering a few missing necessary items (i.e. my rain jacket), we made a quick stop at a nearby REI, conveniently located less than a mile from our hotel.  We were asleep by 10:30pm, with the alarm set for 6am.

We planned to climb the Coleman-Upper Deming route on the north side of Mt. Baker - one of the two *normal* routes on the mountain.  The parking lot and trailhead were situated in thick forest at 3700'.  The first high camp was located at "The Hogsback", a rock ridge alongside the Coleman glacier at 6000'.  Most parties attempted to reach the summit in one long day from the Hogsback camp.   A second high camp was situated further up the Coleman glacier, on top of a rock ridge named the "Black Buttes" at an elevation of 7200'.  We intended to climb up the Coleman glacier to the second camp, to save several hours of time and energy on summit day.

We left the trailhead at 12:30pm.  After three hours of climbing through thick rainforest (see image on the left), crossing several rivers, and scrambling up steep rock scree (for the final hour), we reached the Hogsback camp.  We were greeted by another AAI-guided party of three people, who were spending several days at the Hogsback learning basic climbing skills and glacier travel techniques.

After a brief rest at the other party's campsite, we donned our glacier climbing gear (crampons, harness, prusiks, axe, etc.) and stepped onto the Coleman glacier.  John spent the next 90 minutes teaching basic glacier climbing and arrest techniques.  At 6pm, with the clouds rolling in, we began the ascent up the glacier to the second high camp area at the Black Buttes.  90 minutes later we arrived on the rock ridge, and made camp within several rock fortresses that had been assembled by previous climbing parties (see the image of my tent on the right).  Visibility had decreased, and the wind gusts had increased significantly.  We cooked dinner in the tent, and went to sleep at 10pm, ready for the stormy night ahead.

Note - there was running water available (and plenty of it) at the Hogsback camp, and more available at a rock ridge halfway between the Hogsback and our high camp at Black Buttes.  But, there was no water available at our high camp, leaving us no choice but to melt glacier and treat with iodine.  We carried 1 liter of fuel for the two of us, and it was more than enough for the four days that we spent cooking and melting snow.

Cecilia resting in the tent

Our first view of the Coleman-Upper Deming route

We cooked dinner at 5pm, and were in our sleeping bags by 7pm.  We planned to wake at 12:30am, and begin the climb at 1:30am.  The wind remained calm, and the skies were clear.

The wind was blowing on top, and the temperature was still cold despite the daylight.  After several pictures (like the one on the right) and congratulations, we began the descent down the same route.   I led the group, followed by Cecilia and John.  We encountered a second group at the top of the Roman Wall, on the last leg of their ascent. We downclimbed the Roman Wall, rested at the top of a rock ridge (still above the saddle), and climbed down along the snow-and-rock ridge.  During a brief rest stop just above the saddle, Cecilia mentioned that she had just seen two objects slide into a crevasse on the upper section of the Coleman glacier, a little further down the route.  John and I had not seen anything, and paid little attention to Cecilia's observation.  Little did we know, but she had seen the accident that would consume the remainder of our experience on Mount Baker.

The Accident:
At 10:30am we reached the saddle, and began descending the Coleman Glacier (a picture of Cecilia and John navigating crevasses on the Coleman Glacier is illustrated on the left).  After 30 minutes we saw a woman yelling and waving her arms just below us (along the route).  We assumed that her team had fallen into a crevasse, and John consolidated our rescue gear so we would be ready for a rescue procedure.  We climbed down to the woman's location, and as we rounded a turn on the route, we were confronted with the accident scene.  Two men were laying on a flat portion of the glacier, next to the edge of a crevasse.  Their team had been ascending the slope above and had slipped, slid down a 35 degree slope, and off the edge of a crevasse.  The team had bounced off the edge of the flat below, and slid down into the shallow crevasse next to the flat.  The team had gotten everyone out of the crevasse and onto the flat, where we found the team (the accident scene is illustrated in two images below).  The team consisted of three men and one woman.  One man was virtually unharmed by the fall, and had started to climb down the glacier (before we arrived) to find help.  The woman was standing, but was clearly injured and suffering mild shock.  The two other men lied motionless on the glacier.  The elevation of the site was 8600'.

One of the men was unconscious, bleeding badly from his head, and did not appear to be breathing.  The other man was alert, not bleeding, and could speak without difficulty, but was not able to move because of severe pain is his back and leg.  John began CPR on the unconscious man at 11:25am, I called 911 on my cell phone, and Cecilia consoled the woman.  I first reached 911 in Canada, since we were facing north and Canda was less than 50 miles away.  My second attempt got Bellingham Washington 911, and I provided basic information on our situation, and requested mountain rescue.  911 informed me that a rescue had been initiated, and would arrive as soon as possible.  I then helped John perform CPR on the unconscious man for the next hour, during which time the man never breathed or exhibited a pulse.  At approximately 12:30pm we stopped doing CPR, and turned our full attention to the remaining two people from the fallen party.  The second man appeared to have suffered a back and leg injury, and was unable to move from his position on the glacier (we later learned that he had broken his back, leg, and several ribs).  He was shivering uncontrollably, and was well on the way to hypothermia.  The woman was able to stand, walk, and talk, but was clearly suffering pain in several locations (we learned later that she had several broken ribs and a broken ankle).  We tried to warm the man with extra clothes, and managed to slide our packs beneath him.   John and I contacted 911 several additional times, and were able to communicate with the rescue coordinator, who assured us that a helicopter was on the way (and would arrive around 2:30pm).

John and I identified and marked out a safe helicopter landing site on the glacier a few hundred feet below the accident.  Two Vancouver climbers ascended to the scene while we were marking the landing site with our wands - they had been notified of the accident by the man from the fallen party who had climbed down for help.  The Vancouver climbers had borrowed and carried up a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, and a stove.  They began to melt and heat snow to make warm soup and warm water bottles to place in the injured man's jacket.  The eight of us watched as a military helicopter flew around the mountain, and over the accident scene.  The helicopter repeated this procedure several times, then hovered at a distance for almost an hour.  We learned later that the helicopter was too large to land or maneuver around the glacier.  The helicopter vanished into the horizon.

The afternoon progressed in similar fashion....we struggled to warm the immobile man, consoled the woman, and waited for more information from the mountain rescue team.  We had a few snacks and a limited supply of filtered water (not enough to last the group much longer), and were beginning to feel the effects of the cold (sub 30F) temperature, direct sun, and exposure on the mountain.  The large rescue helicopter returned around 4:30pm, and appeared to drop off rescue personnel at a rock ridge just below our high camp at Black Buttes (which we could see from the accident site), at approximately 7000'.  Still, there were no signs of rescue climbers ascending the glacier below, and we had no reason to believe that the helicopter would be able to land near the site.

At 5:30pm we decided to split the group.  Cecilia, the injured woman and I planned to descend to our high camp and spend the night in our tents.  The Canadian climbers planned to climb down with us to our high camp, and then continue all the way down to their car.  John intended to spend the night with the immobile man on the glacier, or until the rescue team arrived.  We gave John as much of our gear (clothing) as possible, to prepare him for a possible long night on the ice.  We left John with the immobile man at about 6pm.  As we descended the glacier towards our high camp, we saw a new, smaller helicopter fly overhead.  It appeared that this helicopter would be able to maneuver and land on the glacier.  We also met a three-man rescue party, including one doctor, ascending towards the accident site.  They did not provide us with any additional information or direction, so we proceeded down to the high camp.  As we approached the high camp area, we met another AAI member (Paul), who was also part of the rescue team.  He decided that the two Canadian climbers would escort the injured woman to the rock ridge just below our high camp, while Cecilia and I climbed to the high camp.  Paul also planned to climb to our high camp and take John's tent, which he would use to shelter the injured woman (and himself) on the rock ridge for the night.

Cecilia and I moved John's gear to our tent, and awaited his return.  John arrived around 8:30pm, and spent the night with us.  The immobile man had successfully been picked up by the smaller helicopter (via a stretcher on the end of a rope).  But, due to approaching weather and high winds, the chopper was only able to move him down to the Hogsback camp at 6000'.  The injured woman spent the night with Paul and the three-man rescue party on the rock ridge below our high camp.  The immobile man spent the night with a larger rescue team at the Hogsback.  I assume that the two Vancouver climbers made it all the way back to their car (in the dark and stormy night).

During our descent the previous day, Cecilia's two big toes began to swell from the downhill impact against the tips of her plastic boots.  The swelling and accompanying pain had increased overnight, and hindered her significantly during the last few miles of the descent.  But, she did a great job of enduring the pain and continuing to the bottom, and even refused John's offer to cut the toes out of the plastic boots.

We removed our gear at the edge of the glacier, and began the 3 mile hike back through the forest to the car.  We encountered a reporter about 1 mile from the trailhead, and many more as we reached the car.  The trailhead parking lot was filled with people - reporters, trauma personnel, rescue support, etc.  We ate and drank from a buffet that had been set up in a support tent, and debriefed with the trauma crew, the park ranger, and rescue support staff.  We also took the time to answers questions from the media, and provide limited information on what had happened the past 30 hours.  It was a media zoo.

We returned to the AAI office in Bellingham with John, returned our rented gear, and organized all of our climbing gear - so much clothing and gear had been swapped and loaned over the past 30 hours, and much of it still remained on the mountain.  We intended to meet Vic in Seattle that night, but we were not well prepared for a night of partying in downtown Seattle.  Instead, we decided to stay in Bellingham, get a hotel, and spend the night at a restaurant with John, Paul, and the other AAI staff that had assisted with the rescue, rehashing all of the details of the past two days.

We were in the TV news across the northwest, including Seattle, Vancouver, and various small towns in between.  I never saw my interview on TV, but I was told that I looked and sounded good.  The hotel gave us the 'hero' discount, which amounted to $10 off the normal room rate - it was still worth something.  We were also in many newspapers, including the front page of several local papers.  Most of the articles and news broadcasts were very inaccurate, and had mixed up most of the major details.  The best article I found was by the Bellingham Herald, called "2 safely guided off Baker", other articles were located in the Vancouver Sun, the Seattle Times, and a short article on CNN.

Cecilia and our kayak

Eating lunch on top of Orcas Island

We drove to Olympia, and spent the night in a Best Western.  The not-so highlights of the evening were the rib-special dinners that we ordered at a local Olympia restaurant called Nickleby's.  We should have known better when we noticed that we were the only people in a restaurant that had over 200 entrees to choose from its menu.  Several people showed up as we were finishing dinner, to prepare for a night of karaoke in the restaurant lounge.

We returned to the car by 2pm, and started the three-hour drive to a family-friend's house in Poulsbo, a town across the sound from Seattle.  We arrived in Poulsbo at 5pm, and spent the evening touring the coast in our friend's new boat, dining at a local seaside cafe, and walking through the quaint downtown of Poulsbo.  We were able to get a great view of Mt. Rainier from the boat harbor (see the image to the right). It was the perfect ending to our vacation.