There I am sitting on the edge of a 100 feet deep crevasse, ready to throw myself into it. Fear of heights has haunted me throughout my life. Now the depth is calling me to jump in and while I know I must do this, every part of my body tells me not to do it. “Fall!!!” I shout, and I let myself fall into the depth of the crevasse…
Following my Elbrus climb where the guide recommended to focus first on improving technical skills, I decided to enrol in a mountaineering course at Mount Baker. The course would focus in particular on glacier climbing techniques including crevasse rescue. So off I went, by plane flying over Greenland of which I had such good memories, to Seattle to meet the guides from Alpine Ascents. At the meeting, we checked gear and I could buy lots of new gear at much better prices than what we have to pay in The Netherlands.
Alpine Ascents had issued several warnings about the physical demand of the climb, which I gladly put aside. How hard could it be? I summitted Elbrus and Kilimanjaro which is almost twice as high. Plus I was capable of walking an hour on an inclined treadmill at steady pace with a 25kg / 50 lbs backpack. That should have been enough! It wasn’t… When our group of ten people, including two guides, set off for the climb, the outside temperature was about 30 deg C / 86 deg F (almost twice as high as the average temperature during my training) and our packs weighted 35 kg / 70 lbs due to extra group equipment that needed to be taken. The four-hour hike to the first camp was therefore, due to my ignorant behaviour regarding the training, a slight torture..
The beauty of the mountain however made it bearable. Mount Baker is a strange mountain; it is low, yet features glaciers larger than the ones found on Mount Everest, and the lack of infrastructure and long summit day makes a climb of this mountain an expedition in its own: somehow it feels like climbing a large mountain. We made our camp and the guides explained several things related to food, cooking, behaviour on the mountain (such as Leave No Trace), and issues with climbing at altitude.
Day two we continued our climb and during a break we were introduced to the world of knots in climbing. While learning the knots was not too difficult, remembering the names for a non-native English was a bit more difficult! We also practised walking up and down in the snow (such as fast walking down), and made camp at the foot of the Squak glacier. Day 3 was spent by practising self-arrest techniques in various positions while sliding down the snow. It was good fun; the guides forced us to do it over and over again, which shows the commitment of the guides to teach us about safety!
But then…came the day of the crevasse rescue training…. it would be a test of how I would react to exposure to heights. During the morning we practised ascending and descending on steep ice. While this went well, I couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable traversing an icy glacier going down (much like my Antarctica climb). Even while wearing crampons, knowing how to use them, and being attached to two other climbers; I rather be attached to something fixed, instead of to a human.
But the biggest test was yet to come. The guides found a deep crevasse inside the glacier. Our task: take turns and let one team member fall into the crevasse, while the others block his/her fall by self-arresting. The team member on the other edge of the rope is then to make a ‘Z-pulley’ (attach the rope in such a way that it’s shape on the ground resembles a ‘Z’) in order to decrease the load, and pull the fallen person out of the crevasse. At the same time, the fallen person should use emergency ropes to pull himself up using a foot prusik.
Following my fall into the abyss and now hanging on the rope inside the crevasse, something strange came over me: I felt safe and no problems with height. In fact, the absolutely beautiful surroundings of the crevasse’s interior (and the silence!) made me want to stay there. I prepared the foot prusik and started climbing up. This went well and since the Z-pulley was still being prepared, I actually lowered myself again into the crevasse to enjoy the view, and waited to be pulled out.
Picture by Peter Moore 
Picture by Peter Moore
We were ready for the summit bid. Early in the morning, we left camp and moved up. The guides were informed of a growing crevasse at the Sherman glacier (our route was to traverse from the Squak glacier to the Sherman glacier) and we were given a choice: do we take the traditional route to the Sherman glacier, with 90% probability that we could pass the crevasse), or are we bold enough to continue up the Squak glacier, and face many unknown crevasses with a 40% chance of having to turn around? The vast majority opted for the latter choice.
During the next hours, we zigzagged up between the crevasses while enjoying the stunning sunrise views over the Cascades mountains, climbed steep parts using our axes, passed the Sherman volcanic crater, and reached the summit where again we could enjoy superb views. It certainly was the most interesting summit climb I had ever done! A slight problem occurred on the descent: my water bottle had somehow leaked and just as it was getting incredibly hot, I found myself without water (and a wet backpack interior!). Fortunately team member Bethany was kind enough to offer some of hers.
At the summit
On our final day, we were offered the opportunity to climb the steep ice of the Squak glacier’s end using ice tools and crampons. Feeling more confident now, I participated to this training and returned to the base of the mountain with a proud feeling. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in mountaineering. It was a realisation for me about how little experience I had before the course, what it means to be in a decent physical shape for mountaineering, how one should avoid sharing a tent with someone with incredibly smelly feet, and how I am able to climb steep ridges without fear, as long as I have a fixed rope. All in all I felt one step closer to my end objective… Moreover, while unknown to most non-Americans, Mount Baker is an absolute beautiful mountain and surroundings, and worth a visit!
Picture by Dean Oberly 
Ciao!
Robin
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