Mount Baker offers pleasant surprises when you least expect them. Snow through the summer, steeps when everywhere else has melted out, and powder in Rock-tober.

My e arly morning wake-up call was just after mid-night and after an hour I was meeting a group of folks I hadn't met before. Pete and Dave I knew from trip reports online but hadn't, until then, met in person. After introductions we drove to Bellingham where we met two others. Later, at the parking lot, we met Baldwin.

At the bottom of the Coleman Deming the snow was gloppy until we began working our way up the glacier. Here the snow quickly changed to powder and only improved until we topped out at the col, ~9500-ft where the wind picked up. Beyond which, on the Roman Wall, the snow became slabbly. With fading light and swarming clouds, we decided to stop.

*Press on small photos to see LARGER!