November 14, 2009, Baker, Blueberry Chutes

I parked at the upper lot and performed the mandatory "senior stuutter" at the trailhead.  After a suffient number of trailbreakers passed ,I started meandering up along the track.  A couple slowly passed me and a short while later I noticed the the female tourer stepped on the accelerator and left a contrail as she ascended.  Within a few minutes a large group of tourers joined the main trail.  It was Amar, Sky and their posse.  They remarked that the female tourer was Monika. 

I skinned a ways with the group and as we passed the Backcountry gate I let the youth skip along.  I asked them to leave the easily accessible lines for an old guy.  :)  About a foot had fallen in the past 24 hours and the freezing levels were low and the snow quality was exceptional. I've been nursing a hip joint so staying low worked great.  The visibility seemed to diminish as you gained more elevation.  The light was quite flat but the coverage was excellent.  The main concern was skiing into a wind drift in the flat light.  I noticed a few folks doing some head augers. 

As I was descending , Silas and Rob were just starting.  Silas blames his late arrival because he just returned from Hawaii-awhhh shucks.

Stability in the lower regions was excellent.