Home > Trip Reports > November 14, 2009, Baker backcountry afternoon

November 14, 2009, Baker backcountry afternoon

11/14/09
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
22066
33
Posted by silaswild on 11/14/09 12:27pm
Overnight flight got me into SeaTac at 7, friend got us home at 8, off by 830 after breakfast, lunch prep, and gear gathering. Skiing by the crack of noon same temperature today as yesterday, 25, except today was Fahrenheit not celsius. Much scarier skinning up the cat track at noon instead of our normal early am!

We joined north side of Table mountain programming already in progress, as my Baker local buddy condescendingly calls the "Seattle slopes", due to our laziness, lack of energy, imagination, and local knowledge required for "better" tours in the region.  There was 4-6" dry powder atop 3-4" moderately wind pressed powder with 1-2ft cascade powder below, slightly more compressed snow on westerly aspects. Like others on the hill, we did a few laps, scoping out less tracked ski lines during each ascent. Visibility was best between 1-2pm, but we felt the light was flat all afternoon.  The snow was so good and consistent that the skiing was great fun anyway. We took no pics but saw others shooting so perhaps they will share with the www. 
Forgot to mention the most impressive sight of the day:  two snowshoers using pooperscooper and garbage bag to clean up after their pet!  Wouldn't it be nicer for everyone if all who bring their dogs into ski country did the same? 

Dog owners of TAY, set the good example for skiers and FOCUS (friends of clean unsullied snow)!  Thank you.   

author=silaswild link=topic=14479.msg60529#msg60529 date=1258260448]
Forgot to mention the most impressive sight of the day:  two snowshoers using pooperscooper and garbage bag to clean up after their pet!  Wouldn't it be nicer for everyone if all who bring their dogs into ski country did the same? 

Dog owners of TAY, set the good example for skiers and FOCUS (friends of clean unsullied snow)!  Thank you.   


What about skiers who take a piss and create yellow snow, shouldn't they FOCUS as well.???
Whats the difference between a skier taking a piss off to the side and a dog taking a poopy off to the side. I agree neither should do it in the skintrack or areas where others congregate.

Why is a wolf turd in the wilderness a thing of wonder but a dog turd a thing of disgust?
Thats like a Zen roan. I shall ponder it more! ;D

Urine is sterile.  Poop is not.  Urine also doesn't resurface in the spring.

Fantastic snow today.

author=andyrew609 link=topic=14479.msg60535#msg60535 date=1258264092]
Urine is sterile.  Poop is not.  Urine also doesn't resurface in the spring.

Fantastic snow today.


So only dog poop is bad? Elk poop, wolf poop, bear poop, snow martin poop, deer poop,stoat  poop, weasel poop, ptarmaging poop are OK?
Doesn't make sense to me as an argument but at least I agree that all poop near a skin track should be cleared up and human urine at least covered up with fresh snow.


Glad you had fantastic snow!

Baker BC was great yesterday. Way drier than earlier in the week, and way better visibility. Compared to the amount of people in the parking lot the BC was fairly empty. There were still some fresh shots in spitting distance of Austin pass at 3:00'ish.

Dude, I would rather piss not be covered up. You ever step off the skin track for something and stomp around for a second to find your wallowing in yellow snow?

Silas - sounds like a tough travel schedule.

Scotty - I'm with you on the poop conundrum. As for the pee, on the backside of Stevens yesterday, someone had peed right ON the uptrack. Huh. I guess we can blame it on a dog  ;).

I'm glad we had mostly-bluebird at Stevens yesterday. Even as the clouds descended toward 4, we were having no problems out in the open.

author=Scotsman link=topic=14479.msg60537#msg60537 date=1258265329]
So only dog poop is bad? Elk poop, wolf poop, bear poop, snow martin poop, deer poop,stoat  poop, weasel poop, ptarmaging poop are OK?
Doesn't make sense to me as an argument but at least I agree that all poop near a skin track should be cleared up.

Yep.  I'm just asking humans to bury underground (not just under the snow to be melted out in the spring) or carry out whatever poop they or their animals produce on a hike or ski tour.  Any other animal poop people find and are willing to remove would be nice too!  Thanks for understanding and helping support FOCUS. :-)

Ski free, ski clean!

Wow, this thread got hijacked fast, and by the original poster even!

We were up at Baker BC on Sat pm as well, got a late start, but got a couple nice runs in.  Having not been to Baker in about a decade, it's always fun to "discover" the terrain.  We managed to find our way down an obvious chute above the parking lot just before dusk.  Great day for mid-November!

author=Scotsman link=topic=14479.msg60530#msg60530 date=1258262201]
What about skiers who take a piss and create yellow snow, shouldn't they FOCUS as well.???
Whats the difference between a skier taking a piss off to the side and a dog taking a poopy off to the side. I agree neither should do it in the skintrack or areas where others congregate.

Why is a wolf turd in the wilderness a thing of wonder but a dog turd a thing of disgust?
Thats like a Zen roan. I shall ponder it more! ;D


Bathroom talk, one of my favorite topics!
It's an extension of the "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" code of conduct.  Poop is brown, smelly, disgusting, will melt out in spring and no one wants to step in it or ski over it.  Wolf poop smells like roses, and a wolf pack would probably chase me down and eat me if I tried to make them pick up their poop, so I don't know what to do about that.
With the number of people frequenting easily accessed touring areas, I hope the community just takes the initiative to be good stewards and clean up after their pets where it makes sense to do so.  No one wants dog poop on their skins or other equipment, and a field of turds come springtime would be a really sorry sight.

This thread is reminding me of a bit of irony - back in the days when we took the dogs along on tours (when they were young and healthy - now we have a mix of one old creaky dog and one with bum hips), I recall one June tour out past Table Mountain. We started by heading up to Huntoon Point (just above the "Seattle slopes" that Silas and others appeared to have been skiing Saturday), and our two dogs kept going into the melting-out tree wells and disappearing there for a while. We finally figured out that they were chowing the melting out human poo that skiers and boarders and snowshoers had deposited there all winter long. Big tootsie rolls as far as the dogs were concerned! Major yuck as far as we were concerned. They had the biggest poos ever the next day. Several of them. Think about that the next time a dog licks your face.

I can't recall anyone from one of my ski parties ever having a surprise encounter with dog poo once more than maybe 100 yards from a trailhead. Maybe others have had this happen a bit more often? But the dogs have no troubles finding unburied human poo all over the Cascades  >:(. But one of the worst dog owner habits going is ignoring the poo your dog just took a few feet uphill on the cat track heading up from the upper lot at Alpental. That has to the be grossest maze to navigate come late spring. Other busy trails (Gold Creek, the ski trail heading up toward Austin Pass, etc.) seem to have similar issues. When you're that close to the car, there is little excuse not to bag (or hell, if you're lazy, at least do the "$#!+ - put" to get it out into a tree well where only a human taking their own poo will encounter it).

Nice little line there, trees4me. No rocks?

is that one of the 3 (ish) chutes of mt. herman? facing the ski area?

no unintentional rocks  ;) 
Actually, coverage was pretty good.  I punched out a big hole through to the ground while I was waiting past the crux of the chute (doing a little coaching...)  But didn't hit any rocks along the way. 
All bets are off after the latest cycle...  I saw Baker had lost 15" of base by last night.


bakershredda -  yes, that is on mt herman facing the ski area.  It was just up valley from the main parking lot.  Any idea on a name?

Well, at least any rocks and holes that aren't uncovered in the current weather will now be covered with significantly more dense and hard snow once the cold returns...

Between 28-40 inches predicted at baker over the next day and a half.... with an already restored base...

Baker rawks. I wish Alpental got that much snow.




If not for the job, I think I've have moved to Bellingham years ago...

Here's a quote from (http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/43/1/Dealing-with-dog-poop.html)
"Until recently, dog poop wasn't considered a huge biological hazard, except for in rare cases causing a disease called Toxicarias.

Scientists are now reconsidering that notion after having made disturbing discoveries such as bacteria levels being so high at some beaches that people have to stay out of the water. One of the culprits that has been found to significantly raise the bacteria levels is dog poop.

It's not just from the nuggets on the beaches, but runoff from stormwater drains after that water has come into contact with the poop. Some of the bacteria harbored in dog poo includes E. coli, fecal coliform bacteria, salmonella and giardia."

Dog poop can bring bacteria and parasites that don't exist in the backcountry (or are not as prevalent), which can have negative impacts on wildlife

Here's another one: (http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2002-06-07-dog-usat.htm)

"Boise River in Boise. The river suffers from high bacteria levels that make it unsuitable for swimming. Testing of streams and drainpipes flowing into the river showed that in urban areas, dogs were a leading culprit. In some spots, dogs and cats account for even more of the bacteria than human feces — from dysfunctional septic tanks and leaky sewage pipes — do."

And there's this: (http://www.doodycalls.com/resources_toxic_dog_waste.asp)
    *  Heartworms
    * Whipworms
    * Hookworms
    * Roundworms
    * Tapeworms
    * Parvo
    * Corona
    * Giardiasis
    * Salmonellosis
    * Cryptosporidiosis
    * Campylobacteriosis

Plus, there's nothing quite as profanity inducing as skinning through a hidden pile dog shizzle. That plush is hard to clean!
And why does Baker have to be so far from Olympia???

author=andyrew609 link=topic=14479.msg60535#msg60535 date=1258264092]
Urine is sterile.  Poop is not.  Urine also doesn't resurface in the spring.

Fantastic snow today.


Actually, if one buries thier poo in the snow it will be gone by spring.  The melt freeze action of the snow throughout the spring breaks apart poo very effectively, leaving no visible trace when the snow is gone.  This doesn't mean it has disapeared-conservation of mass is a law-it is just broken down into very small pieces.  I know this works too, by the way, because one spring while i was working for the forest service monitoring a bald eagle nest everyday for two months i did an experiment.  I marked where i had pooed in the snow and then checked back after the snow had melted and found no trace of the poo.  In one instance i pooed in about 8 inches of snow and it was not entirely gone.  So poo in 10 or more inches of snow. 

By the way, the snow was good north of Stevens pass last weekend too.

All of this "spring fields full of poo" talk- this is starting to remind me of the Republicans talking about "death panels" and commie Democrats using a swine flu scare to make people get vaccines which is actually socialist mind control....
I've never encountered spring poo fields. But i do hate it when people pee right on the skin track.
Why did i even write any of this?

author=coyote link=topic=14479.msg60824#msg60824 date=1258727299]
All of this "spring fields full of poo" talk- this is starting to remind me of the Republicans talking about "death panels" and commie Democrats using a swine flu scare to make people get vaccines which is actually socialist mind control....
I've never encountered spring poo fields. But i do hate it when people pee right on the skin track.
Why did i even write any of this?


Because you hate America?

I'm guessing the answer is either:
a) the oddly magnetic attraction of the dog poo topic, much like other attractive nuisances such as flagging off-trail routes with surveyor's tape, global warming, and thread photo limits

or

b) because you  want to poke fun at those us who were pulled in by "a"

or

c) all of the above

author=trees4me link=topic=14479.msg60640#msg60640 date=1258476470]
... -  yes, that is on mt herman facing the ski area.  It was just up valley from the main parking lot.  Any idea on a name?


Jeez, that must be one of the "Death Chutes"!!

That's right Rafmax;
I hate America (that's why I like Obama- he's not from here. Just ask the "birthers") and I hate freedom (that's why I stopped telemarking and picked up A.T.).
;-)

J. Oker;
the truth is that I responded because I really like the natural dichotomy and the phonetic beauty of the phrase; "spring fields full of poo". It rolls so nicely...

Oh, and J. Oker:
I'm totally against all three of those: Surveyors tape, global warming and photo limits!
(just to throw my two cents at those topics...

author=tim_place link=topic=14479.msg60871#msg60871 date=1258768089]
Jeez, that must be one of the "Death Chutes"!!


Well it was a nice straightforward run.  And easy to find our way through having never gone into the Baker BC...  But then again I'm just another unimaginative seattlite...

author=silaswild link=topic=14479.msg60528#msg60528 date=1258259279]
We joined north side of Table mountain programming already in progress, as my Baker local buddy condescendingly calls the "Seattle slopes", due to our laziness, lack of energy, imagination, and local knowledge required for "better" tours in the region. 

OK.  I 'fess up.  Guilty as charged.

To be more straighforward, that particular chute, is called by the locals, (in hushed tones), "that patch of snow between two rocks".

But the chutes above it, between that "chute" and the upper parking lot, are, indeed, called "the death chutes".

Hey!  To put the record straight, we Baker locals welcome the Seattle throngs in that brief early season period where we have the snow.  If only we could get you to stop zig-zagging up all the good lines!!!!!!!!!!!

author=coyote link=topic=14479.msg61076#msg61076 date=1259094722]
That's right Rafmax;
I hate America (that's why I like Obama- he's not from here. Just ask the "birthers") and I hate freedom (that's why I stopped telemarking and picked up A.T.).
;-)


Thats ok, jesus still loves you.... he A.T.s too.

well Emily did sidestep it because it wasn't very wide, and I was considering staying fall line after the crux, but luckily decided not to go over those cliffs lurking below...

We were going to head more towards Table, but we rerouted due to the "scene".

FWIW  I came back to Seattle and told everyone how AMAZING mt baker was!  ;)

Rafmax,

You're going to hell.  Which sucks, because I'm pretty sure it doesn't snow there.

:-[

Gonna go to Scottish Lakes this year Kneeler?

Yep.  Pres week.  Me and the "soon to be" + some friends.  You guys?  I'm buyin the first round of PBR's!

All this trail poo and pee got me to thinking back. Many years ago Ron ,Mad Dog ,Myself and others were climbing up MT St Helens. I was ahead as we neared treeline on the way up. I stopped behind some trees and buried 3 suprise beers for our return. Kinda relaxes one for the trail ski out you know. Well we had a good ski back down and darn if Ron doesn't ski right up to my stash and take a leak! " I saw you take a leak here so I thought it was a good place"  Of couse he was pleasantly suprised when I dug through the yellow snow to our cold reward. Be careful where you do your business it just might be somebodys stash.

author=kneel turner link=topic=14479.msg61221#msg61221 date=1259258775]
Yep.  Pres week.  Me and the "soon to be" + some friends.  You guys?  I'm buyin the first round of PBR's!


Hopefully!

Kneel Turner; is Rafmax going to hell for calling Jesus A.T.?
I knew that that guy was Telemark! I'll bet he's still three pinning in leather boots and wool.

Robie; Eeeeeew! But I'll bet that the beers were still delicious.

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silaswild
2009-11-14 20:27:59