May 26, 2001, Squauk/Easton Glaciers, Mt. Baker
5/26/01
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2459
0
Two friends and I got a late-ish start, leaving the car somewhat after 9 AM (stops along the way to transfer gear from one vehicle to the next, to use restrooms and to buy gas and various outstandingly unhealthy foodstuffs). The Schreiber's Meadow road (FR 13) is blocked by snow just a quarter mile from the trailhead, building rapidly to 2-4 feet of snow at the end of the road. This suggests that the snowmobilers will be around for another week or two, but their numbers are substantially thinned this late in the season. They played in mufflerless packs on the lower reaches of the Easton Glacier all day, but none came within a half-mile of us.
We skinned up through the old-growth in the general vicinity of the Scott Paul Trail, emerging into meadows around 4500 feet, following the ridge up to Crag View and thence onto the Squauk Glacier. One of our party decided he'd rather nap (warm sun, little breeze, no bugs) than ski, so we left him around 6500 feet. I and one other continued around the corner onto the upper Easton Glacier, where we poked around a bit among the crevasses, hoping to find a direct route (unroped) up to the crater rim before we ran out of energy. Lots of crevasses open - more than normal - some small ones looking quite fresh and lots of big ones with somewhat suspect snowbridges (already). We turned around at about 9200 feet, admired views over the San Juans to Vancouver Island, down to Hurricane Ridge, over the Sisters Range to parts of Bellingham, and down the Cascades as far as Mt. Rainier (130 miles), and skied down for what seemed like a very long time. We found mainly various forms of slush: ! deep and shallow, clean and dirty, steep and mellow. Sluffs were releasing about as expected - nothing serious - and crevasses which appeared randomly in our path were easily avoided. Above 8500 feet on SW aspects there is some wet slab and whumphing; probably gets more pronounced up high. Typical late-day sloppy snow (which might, however, have been corn for a brief interlude early, perhaps around 10 or 11 AM). Tree pollen season is upon us, building on the snow surface down low, eager to adhere to ski bases in a thick, black, tarry mess.
We skied out by following a line east of the Easton Glacier, dropping eventually down one of the several streambeds and following the snowmobile route back to the road. The streambed will be melted out in another couple of weeks; the most hazardous snowbridge crossings of the day involved blasting quickly across the stream in various places. All-in-all, the ski out was great, and long, and....challenging at times, with lots of unpredictable changes in the snowpack from moment to moment. As a day ski the Easton is beginning to runnel a bit, and the opening crevasses will make for a short ski season up high this year. The Squauk will hold pleasant, moderate-pitch skiing for at least another month.
Enjoy.
Mark
We skinned up through the old-growth in the general vicinity of the Scott Paul Trail, emerging into meadows around 4500 feet, following the ridge up to Crag View and thence onto the Squauk Glacier. One of our party decided he'd rather nap (warm sun, little breeze, no bugs) than ski, so we left him around 6500 feet. I and one other continued around the corner onto the upper Easton Glacier, where we poked around a bit among the crevasses, hoping to find a direct route (unroped) up to the crater rim before we ran out of energy. Lots of crevasses open - more than normal - some small ones looking quite fresh and lots of big ones with somewhat suspect snowbridges (already). We turned around at about 9200 feet, admired views over the San Juans to Vancouver Island, down to Hurricane Ridge, over the Sisters Range to parts of Bellingham, and down the Cascades as far as Mt. Rainier (130 miles), and skied down for what seemed like a very long time. We found mainly various forms of slush: ! deep and shallow, clean and dirty, steep and mellow. Sluffs were releasing about as expected - nothing serious - and crevasses which appeared randomly in our path were easily avoided. Above 8500 feet on SW aspects there is some wet slab and whumphing; probably gets more pronounced up high. Typical late-day sloppy snow (which might, however, have been corn for a brief interlude early, perhaps around 10 or 11 AM). Tree pollen season is upon us, building on the snow surface down low, eager to adhere to ski bases in a thick, black, tarry mess.
We skied out by following a line east of the Easton Glacier, dropping eventually down one of the several streambeds and following the snowmobile route back to the road. The streambed will be melted out in another couple of weeks; the most hazardous snowbridge crossings of the day involved blasting quickly across the stream in various places. All-in-all, the ski out was great, and long, and....challenging at times, with lots of unpredictable changes in the snowpack from moment to moment. As a day ski the Easton is beginning to runnel a bit, and the opening crevasses will make for a short ski season up high this year. The Squauk will hold pleasant, moderate-pitch skiing for at least another month.
Enjoy.
Mark
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