June 11, 2005, Mt. Baker backcountry
6/11/05
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2662
0
Predictions of cold, cold rain scared off my intended partner this Saturday, but with only one day available for skiing this week I decided to give it a try anyway. Alone, I thought it safest to stick with familiar terrain, and so headed for the ski area parking lot, which looked forlorn with just three cars parked at the far end. The road remains closed despite the fact that it appears entirely snow-free to the warming hut/visitor center; two dozers are parked below Austin, suggesting that someone is at least considering snowclearing operations. Continuous snow begins somewhat above, on the Blueberry cat track.
I set off in light drizzle, which morphed into actual rain as soon as I had loaded up and committed. I first skied from above the Artist Point parking lot down a variation of The Line to Bagley Lake, whereupon the sky brightened, visibility improved, the rain stopped and I saw hints of actual shadows. This convinced me to head uphill again, this time in the direction of the last remaining thread of continuous snow descending the north side of the Table. Of course, within a few minutes of committing to the uphill climb it again began raining. I persisted, and was rewarded with a fine, somewhat soggy 1500 foot descent from near the Table summit down to the edge of the lake. While skating laboriously back towards the parking lot, I noted an apparent clearing trend, but this time I refused to be taken in; a good thing, since it began raining hard as I reached my van and prepared to head home. I've been wearing softshell clothing exclusively all winter, but on this day I was clever enough to bring full goretex gear, and I did not regret it.
The Line will probably still go for another week or so, but the descent from the Inner Glacier is in its final days, if not hours, with a crux section a ski-and-a-half wide on a 45 degree slope (I measured, as it happens, but please note that Tim Place would call this 40 degrees, while Silas Wild would certainly argue for no greater than 25). Above about 5000 feet recent snow covers the old stuff; it is not consolidated and is prone to sluffing. Above about 5500 feet, this recent snow grows rapidly deeper and is correspondingly more unstable, sluffing on ski cuts on slopes steeper than 35 degrees; I would exercise caution on steep, higher elevation slopes for a while. I intended to dig a pit to look for the layering which seems to be causing avalanches, injuries and even deaths at other locations, but an opportunity failed to present itself (which is to say, it was raining and whited out each time I stopped, and I kept finding myself eager to get moving). I saw no significant signs of deep instability or wet slab releases, for what little this is worth.
Also of note: the Inner Glacier, which is hardly of a size to justify its name, has a shrund at its upper margin. This usually forms during July or August, but it was apparently open prior to the recent snowfall. I plunged one leg through a weak bridge despite knowing where to look....and then almost skied into the same slot on my way back downhill. This suggests that an appropriate degree of caution be taken around the lower margins of glaciers, where opening crevasses may be thinly covered or filled with unconsolidated wet snowfall.
Rain, fog and objective hazards aside, the skiing itself was fine and fun; sloppy snow on a firm, stable, consolidated base. At higher elevations, the recent snowfall has left smooth, white surfaces which are, regrettably, somewhat slow; below, suncups and meltwater runnels are not yet intolerable. This strikes me as not bad at all, for a mid-June weekend during the worst ski season in the history of the known universe. In fact, the recent cold, cloudy spell seems to have helped preserve some semblance of a snowpack, even in the absence of fresh snowfall. According to my notes, this area is about 3 weeks ahead of last year's meltout, which was itself somewhat accelerated over the previous year.
A final note: I spoke to someone in the Glacier visitor center who proclaimed in authoritative tones that the Skyline Divide trailhead access road "might" be repaired by this fall, while the Cougar Divide access was expected to take somewhat longer. Both roads had bridges washed out in the storms of a year ago fall.
enjoy,
Mark
I set off in light drizzle, which morphed into actual rain as soon as I had loaded up and committed. I first skied from above the Artist Point parking lot down a variation of The Line to Bagley Lake, whereupon the sky brightened, visibility improved, the rain stopped and I saw hints of actual shadows. This convinced me to head uphill again, this time in the direction of the last remaining thread of continuous snow descending the north side of the Table. Of course, within a few minutes of committing to the uphill climb it again began raining. I persisted, and was rewarded with a fine, somewhat soggy 1500 foot descent from near the Table summit down to the edge of the lake. While skating laboriously back towards the parking lot, I noted an apparent clearing trend, but this time I refused to be taken in; a good thing, since it began raining hard as I reached my van and prepared to head home. I've been wearing softshell clothing exclusively all winter, but on this day I was clever enough to bring full goretex gear, and I did not regret it.
The Line will probably still go for another week or so, but the descent from the Inner Glacier is in its final days, if not hours, with a crux section a ski-and-a-half wide on a 45 degree slope (I measured, as it happens, but please note that Tim Place would call this 40 degrees, while Silas Wild would certainly argue for no greater than 25). Above about 5000 feet recent snow covers the old stuff; it is not consolidated and is prone to sluffing. Above about 5500 feet, this recent snow grows rapidly deeper and is correspondingly more unstable, sluffing on ski cuts on slopes steeper than 35 degrees; I would exercise caution on steep, higher elevation slopes for a while. I intended to dig a pit to look for the layering which seems to be causing avalanches, injuries and even deaths at other locations, but an opportunity failed to present itself (which is to say, it was raining and whited out each time I stopped, and I kept finding myself eager to get moving). I saw no significant signs of deep instability or wet slab releases, for what little this is worth.
Also of note: the Inner Glacier, which is hardly of a size to justify its name, has a shrund at its upper margin. This usually forms during July or August, but it was apparently open prior to the recent snowfall. I plunged one leg through a weak bridge despite knowing where to look....and then almost skied into the same slot on my way back downhill. This suggests that an appropriate degree of caution be taken around the lower margins of glaciers, where opening crevasses may be thinly covered or filled with unconsolidated wet snowfall.
Rain, fog and objective hazards aside, the skiing itself was fine and fun; sloppy snow on a firm, stable, consolidated base. At higher elevations, the recent snowfall has left smooth, white surfaces which are, regrettably, somewhat slow; below, suncups and meltwater runnels are not yet intolerable. This strikes me as not bad at all, for a mid-June weekend during the worst ski season in the history of the known universe. In fact, the recent cold, cloudy spell seems to have helped preserve some semblance of a snowpack, even in the absence of fresh snowfall. According to my notes, this area is about 3 weeks ahead of last year's meltout, which was itself somewhat accelerated over the previous year.
A final note: I spoke to someone in the Glacier visitor center who proclaimed in authoritative tones that the Skyline Divide trailhead access road "might" be repaired by this fall, while the Cougar Divide access was expected to take somewhat longer. Both roads had bridges washed out in the storms of a year ago fall.
enjoy,
Mark
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