Climbing — Blog — Seattle Bred

Climbing Mount Baker via the Easton Glacier Route

Mount Baker rises 10,781 feet above sea level in the North Cascade Mountains in Washington State. The Lummi Tribe call it Koma Kulshan which means, “white sentinel” Many people choose this mountain for their first technical climb before going on to climb bigger peaks like Rainier and beyond. That doesn’t make this climb easy. There are crevasses the size of school busses and the Roman Wall is a steep and exposed 1000 foot final push before you reach the summit. You need to have appropriate snow travel skills and know crevasse rescue before attempting this climb. Many guide services will teach you these things on a long weekend ending with a climb of Mount Baker, my friends and I learned with a group of women being mentored that I mentioned in my post about climbing Mount Saint Helens.

Overcoming Anxiety Outside: Lessons Learned from Climbing Mount Saint Helens

Mount Saint Helens isn’t a difficult mountain. Don’t get me wrong, people have been seriously injured and died here, but this is usually from getting too close to the cornice and falling into the crater below or not controlling their speed while glissading down and hitting an obstacle. There aren’t crevasses to potentially fall into and it’s nowhere near as steep as other volcanos and mountains in the Cascades. It’s considered a good place to start if you are interested in mountaineering.