Home > Trip Reports > October 20, 2002, Table Mountain skiing, Baker

October 20, 2002, Table Mountain skiing, Baker

10/20/02
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
6318
4
Posted by ema on 10/22/02 8:55am
Well, folks. I made it to 60 consecutive months of skiing once a month, with a little help from my friends, Lara Pazemenas and Dave Metallo, on Sunday, October 20. We got a 5:30 AM start from Edmonds, and ran into very nice weather on our way to Artists Point. We sloggeed up the 2.5 miles from the parking lot, catching fantastic views of Baker enroute. Shrouded in a light fog, we reached the end of the trail, only to discover the mother lode - 200 vertical feet of sheer ice! (When the guidebooks call this a "permanent snowfield", the authors were not looking at the bluish hue of the snow.) What the hell, it was October skiing at it's finest: a 12- turn run on sheer ice (oops, that's 'loud snow' in our vocabulary!), followed by a donning of crampons and a 10-minute ascent. After a couple of runs ("I'd say that's 500 feet of vert, wouldn't you?."), we packed up and returned to the welcoming committee in the parking lot; there were enough gnats biting our asses that we figured it was still summer!

Upon our return to my house, my wife, Lynne, and 2 kids, Cedar and Sierra, (my biggest supporters in this whole scheme of once-a-month days, along with my father-in-law, Dave Behrendt!) greeted us with a '5-year Anniversary' cake, so we pigged out and bragged about our wondrous ski day. I gotta tell ya, turns are turns, but some are more fun than others. Oh well, I love it so much that it don't matter. As they say, the worst day skiing is better than the best day working!

Thanks, Martin, Scott and the rest of the Pro Ski and Guiding crew, for helping me in my journey thusfar. Let's hope for 60 more months of the same.
Congrats on your 60 month achievement.   :D

Way to "take one for the team" there, Greg.
8)

Way to go Greg ! Sounds like a tough October for everybody.
Robie

Now I know what I have to look foreward to! Thanks Greg

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ema
2002-10-22 15:55:12