December 1, 2003, Twin Lakes, Mt. Baker N.F.
12/1/03
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3809
7
Yesterday I went to two holiday feasts in rapid succession, and between the two I certainly ate at least twice my body weight. Then I came waddling home, made sure the bathroom scale was safely stashed in the closet, turned the mirror to the wall and shut the lights before undressing for bed. I slept long and deeply, and woke feeling as if I'd been hit by a truck.
A very sluggish morning followed, but eventually, it began to seem like a good idea to get some exercise. Reports of a bulletproof crust over lots of wet, unconsolidated snow made it seem unlikely I'd find good turning snow anywhere this side of Pemberton, but I'd been thinking about that nice uptrack Brian Williams put in on the Twin Lakes Road a couple of days ago (http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12888). What's more, I happen to have just bought a pair of waxless Outtabounds (steeply discounted by sb), and these seemed well-suited to a nice logging road tour.
It was noon by the time I left home, and 1:15 before I departed the trailhead. Considering that it gets dark around, say, 1:45 this time of year, this didn't leave me much time to work off yesterday's excess calories, which I calculated to be in the mid-five-figure range. What's more, the neatly-set track I'd imagined had been much abused in the four days since Brian's report. It had, in fact, been snowed on, rained on, heated up and cooled down, trampled by snowshoers, bootpackers, and dogs, peppered by tree bombs and, on occasion, even skied...before refreezing into a contorted, rock-solid mess.
Nonetheless, I had a good time testing my new skis on the vast variety of snow surfaces on offer. About five miles and 2000 vertical feet from the Mt. Baker Highway, I passed the remains of The World's Most Inappropriately-Situated Outhouse, where the last of the snowshoers and their dogs had turned back. By this time, the light was beginning to fail, with a few errant rays of sun lighting the clouds pink from beneath and a few soggy flurries falling. It was obvious that I was already overdue to turn around, but of course, I kept going. This is the way of it, in skiing as in holiday feasts. Excess is all.
I turned back just shy of the lake around 5000 feet, taking one quick glance at the lights of the ski area in the distance across the Nooksack Valley before skiing the switchbacks down at what seemed a ferocious speed in the half-light. My new skis behaved reasonably, considering the crusted snow and my absolute terror of crashing in the dark. I managed to negotiate the open slide paths, and the piles of avalanche debris, and I made it back to the outhouse remnant by natural light. Finally, re-entering the woods, pitch blackness descended and I had to paw around blindly for the headlamp which lives in the absolute bottom of my ski pack. As soon as I turned it on, the whole world shrunk into its tiny cone of light, with the wheezing noise of my waxless bases almost drowning out my own panting and cursing as I tried to maintain forward progress through hard-frozen postholes, pine needles and the occasional stretch of polished ski tracks. I was not sorry to see the Mt. Baker Highway come into view: no, not sorry at all. My seat was surprisingly comfortable, the thermos of coffee quite tasty, the music outstanding and the heat oh so luxurious.
At 2000 feet in the valley there were a few thin spots in the snow, and no possibility of traveling off the roadway. By 4000 feet, the slide paths and glades looked almost filled in, and above that elevation I found damp snow, 4-8 feet deep, with the top couple of feet unconsolidated and free of crust. There had been a few wet, loose slides, but the snowpack is still fairly well-anchored, and not much has let go yet. On the other hand, just past the Excelsior Group Campsite on the Mt. Baker Highway a glance uphill to the left reveals the debris from a recent size three which came through the trees to within a hundred feet of the highway. The start zone for this slide path is about 4000 feet above, a sobering thought, so early in the season.
Enjoy,
Mark
(Edit to remove strange symbols which appear randomly in pasted text)
A very sluggish morning followed, but eventually, it began to seem like a good idea to get some exercise. Reports of a bulletproof crust over lots of wet, unconsolidated snow made it seem unlikely I'd find good turning snow anywhere this side of Pemberton, but I'd been thinking about that nice uptrack Brian Williams put in on the Twin Lakes Road a couple of days ago (http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12888). What's more, I happen to have just bought a pair of waxless Outtabounds (steeply discounted by sb), and these seemed well-suited to a nice logging road tour.
It was noon by the time I left home, and 1:15 before I departed the trailhead. Considering that it gets dark around, say, 1:45 this time of year, this didn't leave me much time to work off yesterday's excess calories, which I calculated to be in the mid-five-figure range. What's more, the neatly-set track I'd imagined had been much abused in the four days since Brian's report. It had, in fact, been snowed on, rained on, heated up and cooled down, trampled by snowshoers, bootpackers, and dogs, peppered by tree bombs and, on occasion, even skied...before refreezing into a contorted, rock-solid mess.
Nonetheless, I had a good time testing my new skis on the vast variety of snow surfaces on offer. About five miles and 2000 vertical feet from the Mt. Baker Highway, I passed the remains of The World's Most Inappropriately-Situated Outhouse, where the last of the snowshoers and their dogs had turned back. By this time, the light was beginning to fail, with a few errant rays of sun lighting the clouds pink from beneath and a few soggy flurries falling. It was obvious that I was already overdue to turn around, but of course, I kept going. This is the way of it, in skiing as in holiday feasts. Excess is all.
I turned back just shy of the lake around 5000 feet, taking one quick glance at the lights of the ski area in the distance across the Nooksack Valley before skiing the switchbacks down at what seemed a ferocious speed in the half-light. My new skis behaved reasonably, considering the crusted snow and my absolute terror of crashing in the dark. I managed to negotiate the open slide paths, and the piles of avalanche debris, and I made it back to the outhouse remnant by natural light. Finally, re-entering the woods, pitch blackness descended and I had to paw around blindly for the headlamp which lives in the absolute bottom of my ski pack. As soon as I turned it on, the whole world shrunk into its tiny cone of light, with the wheezing noise of my waxless bases almost drowning out my own panting and cursing as I tried to maintain forward progress through hard-frozen postholes, pine needles and the occasional stretch of polished ski tracks. I was not sorry to see the Mt. Baker Highway come into view: no, not sorry at all. My seat was surprisingly comfortable, the thermos of coffee quite tasty, the music outstanding and the heat oh so luxurious.
At 2000 feet in the valley there were a few thin spots in the snow, and no possibility of traveling off the roadway. By 4000 feet, the slide paths and glades looked almost filled in, and above that elevation I found damp snow, 4-8 feet deep, with the top couple of feet unconsolidated and free of crust. There had been a few wet, loose slides, but the snowpack is still fairly well-anchored, and not much has let go yet. On the other hand, just past the Excelsior Group Campsite on the Mt. Baker Highway a glance uphill to the left reveals the debris from a recent size three which came through the trees to within a hundred feet of the highway. The start zone for this slide path is about 4000 feet above, a sobering thought, so early in the season.
Enjoy,
Mark
(Edit to remove strange symbols which appear randomly in pasted text)
A good read, Mark.
Good info, too. Glad you got your new waxless rigs aired out.
Good info, too. Glad you got your new waxless rigs aired out.
It was obvious that I was already overdue to turn around, but of course, I kept going. This is the way of it, in skiing as in holiday feasts. Excess is all.
"Anything worth doing is worth over doing" ;D
Thanks for the smiles.
cool trip report. 8) just wondering what your setup is with the outtabounds, i.e. boots/bindings? no-wax shaped skis seem like a good option for touring with turns.
ajt
ajt
Well, I'm glad to hear it was just as bad north as it was south. I went up the Suntop Lookout road off Hwy 410 the bright sunny Sunday morning before on waxless Karhu Pinnacle touring skis. All ice, with dog and ski tracks too skinny for mine to follow, topped with generous helpings of aspen and fir needles. The road is so shaded it never melted out except at a couple of switchbacks. I didn't even leave any tracks most of the way up and down. Met 2 snowshoers and a family with two little kids out for a Christmas tree. Dad was carrying a shotgun broke open over his shoulder. I guess maybe they were going to shoot that tree down. It was an exciting ride down. Only a couple inches above pavement at the 2240' sno-park lot.
Thanks, folks. Good to know I've got "the weightiest of the bunch" and the one with the take-no-prisoners helmet on my side. Conditions will surely have shifted in one direction or the other by this weekend, and with a little luck this will discourage the toters of shotguns.
Ajt, I don't have much of a setup specific to those skis. My lightest (and only) boots are T-2's, so I wore them with thermoflexes, but I'm sure I'd be just as happy with Excursions or T-4's. Bindings are 3 pin. It's a perfectly workable system for logging roads and other rolling tours, especially in spring conditions (firm, wet corn), where they climb and turn perfectly adequately. On refrozen crust or deep, fresh slop they are somewhat less than ideal....but still light, simple, and fun. Others are way more fanatical about such things than I am.
Enjoy,
Mark
Ajt, I don't have much of a setup specific to those skis. My lightest (and only) boots are T-2's, so I wore them with thermoflexes, but I'm sure I'd be just as happy with Excursions or T-4's. Bindings are 3 pin. It's a perfectly workable system for logging roads and other rolling tours, especially in spring conditions (firm, wet corn), where they climb and turn perfectly adequately. On refrozen crust or deep, fresh slop they are somewhat less than ideal....but still light, simple, and fun. Others are way more fanatical about such things than I am.
Enjoy,
Mark
thanks for the description of your experience with the outtabounds. i happen to find a review this morning on backcountrymagazine.com regarding "light touring" (or something like that) skis, i.e. no wax shaped skis in various cambers and boots to match. if anyone's interested, a good review. btw, the outtabounds were their favorites. markharf, you said they were discounted by "sb", what does that stand for? ???
adam t.
adam t.
Ajtabet: sb is a local skier and occasional poster. He suffers from an excess of all sizes, shapes and descriptions of gear, and can sometimes be induced to part with some of his overstock.
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