Taking Out the Recycling - Mt. Baker BC - 12.4.10

^{Mt. Shuksan}

Muscawulf, tbill, altasnob and myself decided to meet up early on Saturday morning.  Hopes of what the great north might have to offer, we set our sights on the Baker backcountry.  After slamming some Norwegian diesel for a caffeine fix and a light breakfast, we headed up to park.  Being my first tour since the end of June and surfing a ton this summer, I was blown away by how many people I saw prepping to get into the bc.  Although it seems like every year the number of people getting into the backcountry grows exponentially, rolling into the parking lot blew me away!  Our next goal was to try to get a little of this slice of heaven to ourselves.


^{Tbill, Muscawulf, and Altasnob ready to drop some goods!}

Without going into too much detail, after our first run we managed to get away from the crowds and didn't run into anyone else until the parking lot when we were done.  We got some good runs, and although many of the areas had at least a track going down, we managed to get our fair share of freshies and sweet recycled turns.  All aspects skied were N-NE and stability was good.  However, evidence of windloading was becoming more apparent by the size of cornices we saw, and we noticed a number of small crowns (3"-6") on steep N-E facing slopes, results of sluffing.  Although conditions were fine Saturday, as noted in a number of TR's, hoar frost was apparent as well, and any powder left sluffed immediately.  That being said, we arrived back at the jeep tired, happy, and stoked.  Couldn't have asked for a better tour to start the season!


^{Mt. Baker}