Home > Trip Reports > October 24, 2004, Mt. Baker backcountry

October 24, 2004, Mt. Baker backcountry

10/24/04
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3409
4
Posted by markharf on 10/24/04 7:15am
Feeling restless, I took a short tour to The Place Where Everybody Goes at the end of the Mt. Baker Highway.  NWAC telemetry reported no recent precipitation, which, coupled with a resounding silence from the ski area website, suggested a substantial likelihood of poor conditions.  I brought waxless skis suitable for scratching around on icy logging roads....and a mountain bike suitable for more of the same, just in case there was no skiable snow at all.  I did not bring fat, soft powder boards in anticipation of opportunities to go gamboling around in 8-18 inches of dry, mid-winter powder.  This was a mistake.  

There is, in fact, 8-18 inches of very good to outstanding powder up there.  The absence of any real base underneath the fresh snow proved awkward at times (when, for example, one ski or the other suffered instantaneous de-acceleration in contact with hidden rocks or shrubs), but I found some good skiing despite the inadequacies of my gear.  Visibility was also surprisingly good, with squalls and patches of fog blowing this way and that, opening views to Baker and Shuksan between periods of more seasonally-typical gloomy, flat light. I was able to squeeze a surprisingly complete workout into the brief window of time I had available by stubbornly insisting on breaking trail without using my climbing skins. I even managed to leave most of the crowds behind by departing the parking lot at the uncharacteristically early hour of 11 AM; several troupes of stunned-looking skiers arrived just as I turned and headed down again.

To cap off my surprisingly successful day, each of the incredibly slow-moving cars which preceded me down the hill actually pulled over to let me by at their earliest opportunity.  This unprecedented exhibit of mannerly driving allowed me to repeated test the ABS braking (pretty good), traction control (marginally useful) and tires (I can hardly wait for studded tire season) on my new ride.  Despite the lackluster plowing and sanding, I did not test the airbags.  

Enjoy,

Mark
Nice work Mark - so the road is still open all the way to Artist Point?

New ride 'eh - I remember the days of your minivan...what did you get?   ;)

Amar and I chose Paradise....wasn't the best idea.  My alternative suggestion was Artist Point.

Nice report as always Mark, glad to here winter has returned!

Nice work Mark - so the road is still open all the way to Artist Point?

Amar and I chose Paradise....wasn't the best idea.  My alternative suggestion was Artist Point.


You would have won big with Artist's point. You would have had to skin from the ski area, but there was a good 24" of snow waiting there -- 12" base and 12" new.  We got in two runs in the sun through the trees and mounds of Table's South side before the sun turned us toward the BlueBerry chutes which we initiated for the year with but one core shot in the group.

Nice work Mark - so the road is still open all the way to Artist Point?


As Tim says, the road is closed at the upper ski area parking lot.  

New ride 'eh - I remember the days of your minivan...what did you get?   ;)


I must have metamorphosed into a minivan kind've guy at some point when I wasn't paying close attention, because I've now got another minivan; this one's about 120k younger, but otherwise unremarkable.  

See you in the backcountry, here or there.

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october-24-2004-mt-baker-backcountry
markharf
2004-10-24 14:15:48