January 15, 2012; Mt. Baker (Herman)
1/15/12
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3299
2
We got 3 laps on Herman today. Bluebird skies, which was a bit of a surprise - evidenced by our lack of sunblock - although we did split a Chapstick with mixed results. Fine quality snow in the morning (6" fresh on top of another 12"+). Some sluffing here and there. Little sun affected on south slopes in the later afternoon, but quality goods would there tomorrow. Lots of skin tracks set, but still plenty of goods out there.
We too ventured out from the lifts to skin/ski a couple of laps on Sunday. I was AMAZED by how much traffic was in the back-country. We were cautious initially given 25" fell in less than 2 days, but watched carefully as others ventured out ahead of us. We took a lap down towards Lake Ann and then climbed back up to Artist Point. The uptrack we set went through what looked like an in-bounds run with all the tracks coming down. We went further out for a more aggressive descent into Lake Ann after digging a pit.
There was a significant layer formed from prior to this recent snow, but about 5-10" above that layer was where I found a weakness with 3-7 taps from the elbow. This was the layer that was sliding where we did see activity that day. At the start of our descent, I ski cut a steep gully and sure enough that layer cut loose. We skied the remainder of the steep slopes very cautiously -- seeking the lowest angle and highest ground we could. We were forced into one gully as the easiest and safest route down to the lake, but were able to slide the snow down to that layer before going in so we were sure not to get caught up in it. The layer was more of a sluff layer than a slab -- but a weak layer like that concerns me as additional loading from this significant storm runs it course.
A couple of nice photos o the day attached.
There was a significant layer formed from prior to this recent snow, but about 5-10" above that layer was where I found a weakness with 3-7 taps from the elbow. This was the layer that was sliding where we did see activity that day. At the start of our descent, I ski cut a steep gully and sure enough that layer cut loose. We skied the remainder of the steep slopes very cautiously -- seeking the lowest angle and highest ground we could. We were forced into one gully as the easiest and safest route down to the lake, but were able to slide the snow down to that layer before going in so we were sure not to get caught up in it. The layer was more of a sluff layer than a slab -- but a weak layer like that concerns me as additional loading from this significant storm runs it course.
A couple of nice photos o the day attached.
You can't really ski into Lake Ann from Artist Point. Maybe you meant into the swift creek drainage? Or perhaps you were skiing down towards Bagley Lakes?
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