Home > Trip Reports > Dec 14, 2014, - Baker backcountry

Dec 14, 2014, - Baker backcountry

12/14/14
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
23189
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Posted by ErikT on 12/16/14 1:08am
Took advantage of the clear conditions to get out to Artist point for scenery and across the backside of Table to yo-yo a few laps on west and southwest aspects. The old snow was a perfect supportive layer, with just enough fresh unconsolidated dry fluff to make the skiing real fun. What looked like close to an 800' lap from the top ended up being about 300'.... about 300' more than I thought we'd find though!



more photos here.
Looks great, man!

Love the skins-loincloth.

Thanks for the pictures - coverage looks better than I would have expected!

coverage was quite bleak at White Salmon on the drive up. There was more than enough to comfortably skin and ski the road to AP. Dropping into the valley and climbing back out towards the parking lot didn't look worth it though... plenty of rocks poking out down there still...

I like your 2014/15 season goal tracking page. I have something similar, and now I'll add assigning a "type of fun value" to each day. Can I get the season average <1.5?!

Haha nice Matt, that is probably a better way to track it than straight vert. Are you going to do a weighted average of "fun factors" by hours of vert; or just per day?

I think I've signed myself up for more dawn patrols and lapping of volcanos in spring than I might normally have done. It's all better than working, though!

author=ErikT link=topic=33071.msg137583#msg137583 date=1418755091]
Are you going to do a weighted average of "fun factors" by hours of vert; or just per day?


Not to thread jack but...
I prefer to do all this ski counting (and rating now, ha) by day. Otherwise it gets too complicated, and I don't always remember or care to turn the GPS tracks on. For it to count as a day, at least one of two conditions must be met:
1. You must spend at least as much time doing the activity as it takes to drive there and back
2. 1k' of vert must be skied
Although now that I'll be adding a type of fun rating, I'll add a caveat
2b. 1k' of vert must be skied, unless the day rates as type 3 fun (i.e. injury, storm forcing turn around, etc).
So now I'll say conditions 1 and 2b must be met for the day to count.

Cheers, thanks for the inspiration!

There is skiing to be had out there! I know too many people that have stayed at home because they think it is crappy. High alpine last weekend  was damn good! Way to get after it!

I think we lucked out a lot with our location, which was set ahead of watching any weather forecasts. Saturday night into Sunday morning saw a big drop in the humidity, along with fairly cold temps... and little wind (I don't recall feeling any overnight, despite a small uptick at the ski area). Think those items all helped to keep the few inches there and very light.

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dec-14-2014-baker-backcountry
ErikT
2014-12-16 09:08:14