Boulder Glacier access, Mount Baker

[Matt Perkins]

I got an email and telephone call from Barbara Richey, Wilderness Program Manager at the Mt. Baker Ranger District, about a proposed roadway closure in the Baker Laker area. The access road for the Boulder Glacier route is not used much, they believe, and they are being forced to cut back on road maintenance in order to save $. This one is currently slated to be shortened by two, and maybe three and a half miles. As an organization, we are primarily (thus far, at least) involved in rock climbing issues, but my guess is many of us might have an opinion on this issue (I've climbed Baker via that access twice myself.) Anybody interested?

[BHench]

So only about 5 years ago the FS was scoping out a reroute of the climbers trail to avoid the swampy area it went through. To my knowledge, they never did the work. What happened to that? Now we hear they want to close or shorten the road?

[Matt Perkins]

That re-route would be good, but I bet it was not undertaken.

I think they also contacted several guiding companies and clubs, including the mountaineers. I stumbled accross a reference to this same proposed closure on summitpost or in the UW climbers' forum or somewhere. As far as I know, nobody has raised substantial objection to the proposal.