Mt. Baker, Squak, 6/3/2014

John and I camped at the last little pullout before snow patches on the road stopped my van, about 1/2 mile from the trailhead. We were hiking around 5. For simplicity we followed the snowmobile tracks up the drainage below The Railroad Grade. Luckily we didn't see any machines and I'd think they are about done for the season - looks pretty easy to punch through the snow bridges over the stream. The summit area was sheathed in clouds much of the morning, but luckily cleared just when we reached the headwall. A good breeze kept us and the snow cool on the whole climb. We enjoyed a nice break in the sun with little wind on the false summit, but then got enveloped in a whiteout just as we started skiing, so the first few hundred feet weren't much fun, but then it cleared just after we got on the headwall so we hurried down. The middle section below the crater was hero corn - I was worried that the sun would weaken the crust over a 6 inch layer of isothermal snow, but the wind kept it intact. The bottom section down into the drainage was sloppy, but not sticky, so we cruised down with occasional stops to let tired thighs rest. Skied to within a couple hundred yards of the car.


Skiing the headwall


Perfect snow


Sloppy but skiable at the bottom