Mount Baring - Summit Camp
June 4-5, 2016
Mount Baring (6125′)
On this very hot weekend, Eileen and I decided it was time for another summit bivy. We ended up choosing Mt. Baring for such a purpose.
The climbers’ path heading up from Barclay Creek was as steep and hot as ever, especially because we didn’t get going until noon. We followed the path along the ridge crest to the crossover point, where we got a first view of the objective peak and approach couloir.
Snow conditions were good all the way up the couloir. It was firm, but we didn’t need crampons. There was also very-welcome water along the way.
From the main-south col, we climbed steep snow, then scrambled up through trees and talus. Views were gained only in the last several hundred feet below the summit.
The evening was pleasantly warm, allowing us to have a leisurely dinner on the summit perch.
Someone must have decided that a popular peak like Mt. Baring deserves an ample summit register. I can’t disagree with that thinking, but this one is comically enormous. It is surely the largest summit register tube that I’ve ever seen…by an order of magnitude! Unfortunately, the water-tightness of the lid does not match the tube’s overall stature; the interior contained only sopping wet papers.
We found a flat rock just below the summit rock and threw out our bivy sacks. Water was available drop-by-drop from an adjacent snow patch, and with patience, we were able to collect several quarts. It was a comfortable night, despite the fact that two good rolls toward the northeast would have landed us in Barclay Lake—3600 feet below!
The morning sun rousted us up at 5:00am. We soaked in the summit views while eating breakfast. Especially notable were Gunn, Gunnshy, and Merchant Peaks to the north...
…and Kaleetan Peak, Lennox Mountain (with its remarkably expansive snowfield), and Mt. Rainier to the south.
We were on the move by 7:00am and back to the car by 11:30am. Along the way, we passed a party of two and another party of 10 heading up.
