Goat Mountain, November 28, 2009
11/15/09
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2288
1
I had been wanting to do Goat Mt. in more winter-like conditions and snow level and road conditions this November allowed it.
Four of us skied West Goat Mountain on Saturday. It was snowing at the trailhead (~2400 ft) along the Hannegan Pass Road, but it wasnt enough to ski yet. We had enough snow to start skinning about 1000 ft higher. Irritating creeks and not fully covered slide alder around 4000 ft slowing our progress. Above 5800 ft wind blown snow and fog severely limited visibility. However, there are still a few clumps of trees or rock outcrops throughout the climb so we could always see our route. In this section, we boot packed the wind scoured ridge facing almost south to the false summit (a little above 6700 ft). There was no need to go further as you couldnt see the true summit, nor was there any more skiing to be had beyond that point. The flat light made skiing the steeper upper section of the mountain less fun than with good visibility and no wind slab hazard just off the ridgeline. But it was skiing so we still loved doing it. The subalpine glades were super fun with 6 inches of fluff over the rain crust. We were able to ski down to 3500 ft.
Not much in the way of pictures this trip due to visibility, though I have attached one photo of the upper part of Goat Mountain (all the upper mountain and about half of the glades). The picture was taken from the Baker Ski Areas upper parking lot last February. West Goat is the peak on the left. East Goat is the peak on the right.
Four of us skied West Goat Mountain on Saturday. It was snowing at the trailhead (~2400 ft) along the Hannegan Pass Road, but it wasnt enough to ski yet. We had enough snow to start skinning about 1000 ft higher. Irritating creeks and not fully covered slide alder around 4000 ft slowing our progress. Above 5800 ft wind blown snow and fog severely limited visibility. However, there are still a few clumps of trees or rock outcrops throughout the climb so we could always see our route. In this section, we boot packed the wind scoured ridge facing almost south to the false summit (a little above 6700 ft). There was no need to go further as you couldnt see the true summit, nor was there any more skiing to be had beyond that point. The flat light made skiing the steeper upper section of the mountain less fun than with good visibility and no wind slab hazard just off the ridgeline. But it was skiing so we still loved doing it. The subalpine glades were super fun with 6 inches of fluff over the rain crust. We were able to ski down to 3500 ft.
Not much in the way of pictures this trip due to visibility, though I have attached one photo of the upper part of Goat Mountain (all the upper mountain and about half of the glades). The picture was taken from the Baker Ski Areas upper parking lot last February. West Goat is the peak on the left. East Goat is the peak on the right.
Nice work ebeam and company. That mountain looks like it was just asking to be skied. Way to get on it!
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