Momes2018 t1_j22ogre wrote on December 29, 2022 at 5:17 AM

Growing up our living room window had a view of Mount Baker. It wasn’t long after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. I remember monitoring it every day. If my seven-year-old memories hold true, sometimes you could see what looked like steam coming off the peak.

lovesmtns t1_j24d5v9 wrote on December 29, 2022 at 4:01 PM

I don't know how old you are :), but in 1975, a steam fumarole started shooting steam straight up 1,000 feet out of Sherman Crater at the summit of Mt Baker. It lasted about 10 years, and then died out. In the early 1980s, I was part of a climbing party that climbed up to Mt Baker then, and we rappelled down into Sherman Crater where the fumarole was coming from. It came out of a 4 inch diameter hole and roared like a freight train and shot straight up 1,000 feet. We could walk right up to it. The area around the hole was saturated with yellow sulfur. In addition, the heat had melted out giant caverns under the ice cap in Sherman crater, making ice caves. We spent about an hour exploring them, but they were way bigger than we had time for. The entrance was about 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. Shortly inside, the passage forked. We took the left fork and ended up in a gigantic room the size of a football field with a very high ceiling. Amazing. I am sure after the fumarole stopped, that the caves vanished and were again replaced with solid ice, which is how it is today. So...that's what we were doing up there when you were seven years old :). I am now 78, and by the way still climbing mountains :).

SilverSnapDragon t1_j26w9xh wrote on December 30, 2022 at 2:10 AM

I live near Mt Baker. It is still venting. When atmospheric conditions are right, I can see the steam condensing into wispy clouds rising from Sherman Crater, from as far away as Bellingham. It’s beautiful and a reminder that Mt Baker is still thermally active. Thankfully, it is also still seismically quiet.

lovesmtns t1_j26xilq wrote on December 30, 2022 at 2:19 AM

I haven't been up there in a long long time (since the 1980's) so maybe those steam caves are still there? That would be something. I sort of suspect though that it was the furious steam that came out between 1975 and 1985 that sustained the caves. Anyways beautiful mountain, one of my favorites. I've been on top 4 times :). In fact, it was my very first major glaciated peak.