Home > Trip Reports > Nov 25, 2012, Baker, Coleman Pinnacle

Nov 25, 2012, Baker, Coleman Pinnacle

11/25/12
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
4986
11
Posted by Kenji on 11/27/12 3:37pm
David and I toured around Coleman Pinnacle under calm sunny sky.  A lot of snow from the upper lot up along Ptarmigan Ridge...  We dug a pit on a leeward slope on the ridge; except the rain/snow layer from Friday, found over 4' of dense snow on the early Nov rain crust.  Much of it may have be by wind, since a guy we talked mentioned about <20" elsewhere.

The best snow was found on the warm south side near Pinnacle, though we regrettably opted to continue skinning thinking of powder on the shady north side. The new snow after Friday rain must have been moist enough to become crusty after all, though we still enjoyed some 1000' run off teh shoulder anyway.  A long traverse back brought us back to the car as it was getting a bit dark.  A fantastic tour with beautiful scenery.
Sorry, it was still November, not xmas yet.  Getting hard to remember details these days...  Here are extra pics.

Great photos !

Great destination choice :)

Great photos! 

I was the loner who interrupted your solitude that afternoon.  I headed back to the parking lot via the north face of Table which was all crust.  Left me feeling quite lucky to have sampled some of that beautiful but limited powder we found out on Ptarmigan.

I'm with ZAP, great pictures, thanks

One other thing to mention is that this was my first weekend trying NTN Freedom bindings.  On the lifts Sat, they were just like the Freeride (for my style anyway), but much better for touring due to lighter weight and more ROM (especially w/ high-heels).  However, it did ice up in front of the toe cups needing to chip it away when transitioning from warm south side to cold North side.  Nothing a duct tape can't fix, the aluminum is more prone to icing than SS.  Overall i definitely like the new design, done w/ the old one. More reports on this coming later in the season.

That's awesome to hear Kenji, thanks.  And great TR too, thanks for sharing it.

you couldnt ski those chutes in the background of the pic w/ the pack on the snow

Beautiful shots!

Thanks for sharing. I've got to get up there!

author=Kenji link=topic=26270.msg110838#msg110838 date=1354154524]
One other thing to mention is that this was my first weekend trying NTN Freedom bindings.  On the lifts Sat, they were just like the Freeride (for my style anyway), but much better for touring due to lighter weight and more ROM (especially w/ high-heels).  However, it did ice up in front of the toe cups needing to chip it away when transitioning from warm south side to cold North side.  Nothing a duct tape can't fix, the aluminum is more prone to icing than SS.  Overall i definitely like the new design, done w/ the old one. More reports on this coming later in the season.


Awesome tour... I really want to do that in winter now that I've been up there in the summer and fall. 

And very timely info on the Freedom.  I'm thinking I'm going to get it.  I'm also eyeing the TTS and may end up with both.  I'd like to hear more about your style and what you like about the freedom.  What boot do you use?

Dan

Dan, I added some more Freedom info here

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nov-25-2012-baker-coleman-pinnacle
Kenji
2012-11-27 23:37:13