Home > Trip Reports > Mt. Baker - Watson's Traverse May 4-6, 2013

Mt. Baker - Watson's Traverse May 4-6, 2013

5/4/13
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
5260
8
Posted by Tom_Sjolseth on 5/7/13 12:34pm
Sergio V and I linked up for the Watson's Traverse this past weekend.  We left late Saturday evening and approached to a camp at ~6400'.  The next day we got a lazy start and were on the summit by 1:30.  We wanted to ski the Park Headwall but it was covered in crusty mank so we dropped onto the upper Boulder and traversed around.  We camped again in the flats before heading out to the Ski Area.  The area between the Park Glacier and the Ski Area is incredibly scenic and enjoyable.  I had not been on that side of the mountain before and was glad to make this trip happen.  I am glad we were on a lazy schedule and had plenty of time to savor the experience.









Hey Tom - good one guys - can you drive to the bathrooms now?

author=Oyvind_Henningsen link=topic=28485.msg119799#msg119799 date=1368026069]
can you drive to the bathrooms now?


As of Friday the 3rd, you had to park 3+ miles away (2500ft level). Not sure what how the hot weekend improved access.

What a difference a couple days (and direction) makes! I went in from the ski area with the intent of doing this the opposite direction a few days before you. The forecast "mostly sunny" turned to overcast and rain. The next day the sun came out and things were so slushy we bailed. Nice job Tom and Sergio, it looks like a very worthwhile traverse and I'll certainly have to return with better conditions!

Nice. I think it was you we talked to on Grant Peak around 2 PM. Okay, now I know who Tom Sjolseth is.

Not sure what you mean by mank on the Park Glacier but it looked awful windblown on that side. The bottom half of the Roman Wall and Pumice Ridge was tranforming into nice corn when we descended.

Stoked.. you were the party of two from Vancouver?  Nice talking to you.  I'm sure your ski down was better than ours, but we did get some decent turns down low.

Oyvind, we drove to ~2800'ish, right before a bridge.  After that little patch is gone, you'll probably be able to drive about 1/2-1 mile further.

JoshK, sorry about the rain.  It's definitely worth going back for.

author=Tom_Sjolseth link=topic=28485.msg119780#msg119780 date=1367984086]
We wanted to ski the Park Headwall but it was covered in crusty mank so we dropped onto the upper Boulder and traversed around. 


We skied the Park Headwall on Sunday, it wasn't too bad. Dense windpack is what we found. Firm but with enough bite to make it skiable--though there were some harder patches to look out for. As TrevorK said, if we hadn't booted it we probably wouldn't have skied it.
A fun way to summit too because it feels like you really are as opposed to trudging across the summit plateau.

fyi -
The Boulder Ridge Trailhead road had us starting at 1200' due to an incredible amount of blowdown. Got in some extracurricular road time...



it does look like the road crew is making headway though, lots of sawdust on the road up to 1200'


other than that yeah, totally agree, very scenic and enjoyable!

Cool traverse!  Thanks for reminding me that I really want to ski the Boulder this spring.  I love that side of the mountain.

As of yesterday you could drive to ~2700 on the Glacier Creek side, still more than two miles from the TH. 

Nice work Tom, Dwight would have heartily approved of taking time to savor the experience.

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Tom_Sjolseth
2013-05-07 19:34:46