Home > Trip Reports > Jan 30, 2011, Goat Mountain BLISS - VID

Jan 30, 2011, Goat Mountain BLISS - VID

1/30/11
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
6696
11
Posted by Pierce on 1/31/11 4:36am
If you don't mind carrying your skis, you've got some range in your legs, and a clear day, Goat Mountain will give you an unforgettable tour.  Roman and I wanted to get away from our regular destinations to something a little off the beaten path and we decided on Goat.  The road was blocked when we got there, so we busted out our shovels and started clearing way the snow so we could shave 3.7 miles off our approach.  We got to the Goat Mt TH and started hiking up the trail.  There is a fair distance of carrying you need to do to get to the snow, so depending on how much you like hiking in ski boots, you might want to carry your boots.  Once out of the trees, you start getting treated to some epic views.  We skinned up Goat till about 400-500 vertical feet of the summit.  It was starting to get late in the day, the sun was making it quite warm.  The snow felt like it was becoming more unstable the higher we got, it was beginning to fracture under our skis as we skinned up (about a foot deep, but no propagation).  We were also approaching our turnaround time to get off the mountain before dark, so we elected to turn around.

We were still treated to an stellar ski descent.  Great snow, great views.  Steep open terrain to start, to rolling open glades, to survival skiing in tight tight trees.  This is a tour that I highly recommend.  You get the same great views as Ruth Mountain, but a shorter approach.  Probably advisable to do it later in the spring when you have longer days.

If anybody decides to do this tour and comes across a K2 skin on the trail, shoot me a message, (my buddy dropped one of his skins at some point on the trail).

Below is a video I made of the day, enjoy!

http://www.thealpineobsession.com/goat-mountain.html



I'm planning on heading up that way tomorrow. I will keep an eye out for the missing skin. What time did you guys get to the trailhead and how long of a hike/skin was it?

Scotty - We started on the TH around 830am and reached our high point at around 2pm (with 20min lunch on the ridge and a few picture stops along the way).  We also moved a little slower due to talking through route finding and breaking trail.  At our pace I'd say we turned around 30-45mins short of the summit. I'd say we hiked for ~2hrs, and skinned the rest of the way.

We started skiing down around 2:30pm and got back to the car around 5:30pm (with about 20-30mins looking for Roman's skin).  If you follow our track, I'd say an ~8am TH start would give you enough time to reach the summit and get back to the car before dark, (however a 30-60min buffer never hurts :) )

I'm sure Roman will be stoked if you find his skin :)

Goodluck and have fun tomorrow!

The local nordic ski club that pays for the limited grooming of that road and other nearby trails would appreciate you not chopping through the barrier.  On low snow years there is little low elevation snow for skiing, snowshoeing, ski-joring, among other activities.  Wheeled vehicles are excluded from the road when it is blocked for winter sports. 

Todd, this is the second time in a month or so that shared use of that little section of road has come up here: once with snow machines, now with wheels.  Usually the people involved sound more clueless than malevolent.  If you're involved with the Nooksack Nordics, maybe a sign to clarify things would be helpful.  It sure doesn't seem like the issue is going to go away anytime soon.

Of course, some folks take signs as an invitation to vandalism. I'm just thinking out loud. 

Mark

author=T. Eastman link=topic=19385.msg82177#msg82177 date=1296546252]
The local nordic ski club that pays for the limited grooming of that road and other nearby trails would appreciate you not chopping through the barrier.  On low snow years there is little low elevation snow for skiing, snowshoeing, ski-joring, among other activities.  Wheeled vehicles are excluded from the road when it is blocked for winter sports. 


T.Eastman - There was no signage indicating the Hannigan Pass road was closed to motorized vehicles.  I also scoured the internet today seeing if I could find anything indicating that this road is restricted to non-motorized vehicles and I found nothing.

Besides your "barrier" there was hardly any snow on the road between the entrance and the Goat MT. Trailhead.  My guess is you'd have better luck with roller blades than cross country skis on that stretch of road on Sunday. 

We didnt come across a single person out there Sunday, and my vehicle had zero impact to the condition of the "snow" on the road (considering there was hardly any) besides your barrier.

I pay for an annual National Parks Pass which covers USFS areas, a sno-park permit, a Vantage parking pass etc.  So I feel I have equal access to these public roads as you do.  Piling snow up at the entrance and paying someone to groom a road without snow does not entitle your group to exclusive usage of this road for XC skiing and snowshoeing.

If there is a legitimate Govt sign restricting this road to Motorized vehicles, I will gladly wake up a couple hours earlier and hike to the trailhead.  Until then, I will use FS access roads for what they were designed for, to provide access to these mountains.

One would indeed think that Pierce is in the wrong, but I feel that the Forest Service is ambiguous on this road especially since they tout it as a place for cross country skiing and snowshoeing.  This is NOT the White Salmon Ski Area but an area that is tracked when there is snow which at this point, they are NOT grooming.

This is from their website concerning access to Goat Mountain Trailhead:
NOT CLEARED
Trailhead access in a vehicle questionable due to deep snow on the road. Trail completely snow covered. Recreation Pass Required at Trailhead.

Reading this would give any reasonable person,regardless of what the intentions are supposed to be for that road, license to pull out a shovel and head up the road and I guess if you have a snowmachine, then unload and head up as well.  So I dug a little deeper and here is what I found.

So here is what they have on the website concerning Road 32:
NOT CLEARED
Groomed for snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Parking at Shuksan Picnic areas requires a Federal Recreation Pass.

So then you go to what the definition of NOT CLEARED means:
NOT CLEARED - Road or trail is snow covered or not brushed out but still open

Any reasonable person reading this would drive to the trailhead if they felt comfortable and that is excactly what these did.  So I would think the beef is with the Forest Service and not these skiers.


Actually I think ambiguous is the incorrect term.  The website is very clear.  Drive it if you wish!

Pierce,

There is too much ambiguity with the FS policy regarding the Hannegan Rd.  The Nooksack Nordic Club has a permit from the FS to groom Hannegan Rd. for skiing, snowshoeing, dog type things, and other passive winter recreation activities.  But, the winter travel management plan does not close the road to automobiles if it is drivable.  This conflict between the permitting and policy is news to us and I apologize for getting on your case.  We have worked hard to expand from the Salmon Ridge trails across the Nooksack where the actual cross country trails are, to give other users a place to do their thing without trashing the cross country tracks and skate lanes.  With FS OK to groom Hannegan Rd., we sought and received a grant to cover this effort.  On a low snow year like this when the road is essentially drivable, the lack of clarity in who has the right to go where, becomes muddy.

Again, sorry to have raised an issue that you most certainly did not deserve to get hassled over.  I have skied up there and enjoyed the terrain though the alder wacking was far more invigorating than the open slopes.  It appears that you also fully red-lined your fun-meters!

Todd

Todd - No worries.  We are all trying to get to the mountains and enjoy the splendor they offer.  The activities we are involved with are as diverse as the people partaking in them.  I think we all strive to adopt a "live and let live" approach to ensure we can all maximize what we love in the outdoors. 

I hope you continue to enjoy the amazing terrain that you have in your backyard up there.

- Chris

Forgot to mention that the video was nice and I need to quit procrastinating and head up that mountain with my snowshoes like I keep saying!  And now that you shoveled the berm......

Do these tracks belong to anyone here?

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jan-30-2011-goat-mountain-bliss-vid
Pierce
2011-01-31 12:36:29