Mar 19, 2017, - Artist Point, Last Day of Winter

Old Man Winter left us a parting gift of 8" of cold, rightside-up snow on top of 6-8" of consolidated, rain-soaked snow on top of 6-12" of "blower" snow from earlier in the week all on top of a stout rain crust which we didn't feel the need to dig beneath. Despite being quite the sandwich it rode pretty dang amazing this morning and only thickened-up later in the day as the temps spiked due to the significant amount of solar warming. Lots of recent avalanche activity visible from early Sat. morning, almost every line in the Bagley Lakes zone has some amount of debris in it requiring thoughtful navigating. Lots of loose wet slides observed in the afternoon on SE -> W facing slopes, many started simply as point releases from snow falling off trees.

We played Huntoon Ridge to the lip of Swift Creek several times, pushing progressively steeper lines without getting so much as minor sluffing, then ventured over to the Bagley Lakes side for a run down the Blueberry Chutes before exiting out past Grandma's House as the ski area was closing. With the annual Mt. Baker Splitfest in full swing there were plenty of folks out enjoying the sunny conditions and good skiing but probably 5x as many snowshoers wandering around and making a mess of everything. Even saw a few folks bootpacking from the resort boundary... that must be a long wallow out considering how punchy the snow was when transitioning.

Overall, great day, great weather, great company from the folks out touring. Only regret was forgetting to slather on the sunscreen before leaving the car this morning...

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17390429_10106285344955228_2067568930252543394_o.jpg?oh=33ce032971b2b252dd4c1009b0f4f245&oe=59736E16" />