Home > Trip Reports > 1/25/2014, Goat MTN NCNP

1/25/2014, Goat MTN NCNP

1/25/14
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
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Posted by Glorificus Adventum on 1/27/14 3:22am
Its a rare moment when I feel smug about choosing my destination, but here we are. Tales of bullet proof and ice abounding we choose Goat Mtn (across the valley from the Baker ski area) as it was directly South facing. Car to car was about 8-9 hours and warm. We transitioned to skins about 4000ft in warm temps. The hardest part was the bullet proof in the trees that had yet to soften gaining the ridge but other than that, it was fine. From the top, we had ~2000ft of perfect corn. The terrain is super fun: the upper section has that perfect ripping pitch and the ridge/shoulder being firmer but very fast with a smooth 1/2" of corn. A great day in perfect weather. Only other issue was we over shot our up track on the way down which resulted in some slide alder fun.
Looks like fun. Minor editorial note, Goat isn't within the boundaries of NCNP.

You are absolutely correct. I got lazy in trying to distinguish from the Goat at Rainier. But I wasn't too far off  :).

Were you part of the group of 4 I ran in to? I was there with the 2 other guys who left that morning. If so, great to meet you all! It sure was a nice day; I ended up doing 4 laps yesterday before enjoying a wonderful sunset. I would certainly prefer powder this time of year, but hey, hard to complain about shirtless skiing temps in January. :-) As you said, Goat was definitely a great choice given the conditions we are dealing with.

No. It was my partner and I, though we leap frogged with a group of three guys camping out on the ridge Saturday night.

Route well chosen! Friday we made a day trip to the west peak on Goat. It was a fantastic view from the top and fun ride down in 3-6" of perfect corn.



We descended to around 4200' where we lost the trail and spent the next 3 hours bushwhacking the steep trees and navigating cliffs back to the truck. Its good to come prepared with headlamps, map and compass for sure. It was a fun, challenging day and proved that the sunny south aspects were where the good riding was at.

Here's a panorama from the shoulder around 6000'. Sefrit's north bowl is near with icy Shuksan and Baker on the horizon.


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1-25-2014-goat-mtn-ncnp
Glorificus Adventum
2014-01-27 11:22:36