Jason Hummel on the summit of Mt Baker

In my desperate search for ski partners, the wonderful site Cascade Classics compelled me to contact and pester Ben Manfredi as long as necessary for us to get together for a trip. That still had not happened, but somehow I was directed to the Hummels, who were good enough to come and get me from Seattle's U District on the way to Mt Baker from Tacoma.

Several steps onto the glacier I dropped my ice ax and watched it slide into a crevasse. Oh well, I guess I'll stick with the ski poles. I was struggling to get my crampons fastened most of the way up the mountain. Jason and Josh sure looked like they were stepping light with their tele boots on their feet; I sure felt like a chump with my leather mountaineering boots on my feet and heavy downhill boots on my back. It felt like an off day. I bought my first randonnée boots in a matter of tens of hours after the climb. I was even lucky enough to retrieve the ice ax four days later en route to another Baker summit.

Josh Hummel skis the Roman Wall.

I finally caught Jason and Josh just above the saddle between the Coleman and Deming Glaciers. I ran into Ben Kaufman and Dave Coleman somewhere between losing and regaining Jason and Josh; I didn't consider it at the time, but since then I've been glad to have met them. There is no such thing as too many ski partners. We had a leisurely chat with Dave and Ben just above the saddle while the snow softened, until Josh decided it was time to move.

The Hummels were nice enough to let me stumble to the top ahead of them, since it was my first time to summit Mt Baker. The views were beautiful and I was even more excited about the ski descent.

The corn on the Roman Wall was smooth and creamy;  it was a high-speed lick of the cone down to the saddle. One of the Hummels demonstrated their patented crevasse-launching techniques for me.

It was a fun day and the ride home was over before Jason finished talking. Thanks for the ride guys, let's go skiing again...

[2020 comment] This trip marked an inflection point into a maniacal period for me on Mt Baker. Between July 2002 and Oct 2004, with various partners, I would summit Mt Baker 13 times over 21 trips, including summit ski descents in the months of August, September, October, December, January, May, and June. These trips include ski descents of the Park Headwall in the months of May, June, September and October. There was a time when I wanted to accomplish both of these feats in every month of the year, but at some point my interest waned.