February 11,Mazama Dome Circle Tour

  Knowing that we had atleast a half bluebird day, Andy (Seattle), Paul (Port Moody,B.C.) and Bob (Fort Langley) left the Mt.Baker Ski Area parking lot around 9:45. The snow looked pretty decent on the accent to the Herman Saddle...some light powder, weak crusty sections and a band of sticky stuff around 5,100'. Even the debris from recent releases did not present much in the way of obstacles. The photo shows our approach to the Saddle.



  After studing our maps, we made the decision to traverse to the ridge between Mt.Herman and the Mazama Dome. There is a little lake in the basin below that we thought would make an interesting destination.A party of 3 AT skiers arrived at the ridgeline immediately after us; we didn't see anyone else over the next several hours. The decent was on consistent firm snow with enough loose surface material to make for a fabulous 400' worth of turns.

  We could see from the "lake" that there was a possiblity of continuing our tour around the northern cliffs of Mazama.Then it got steep and sketchy with lots of potential for loosing an edge and tumbling into a tree. We exercised caution in several slide areas which still held considerable snow loads.What was most frustrating was to cross over sections of light powder that we could not follow down. We tried to maintain the elevation of the Galena Chain lakes (approx.4,800') as we circled the Dome. Eventually, we heard a cry of delight from someone skiing down towards Hayes Lake and we began the climb back up to Herman's Saddle. By this time the bluebird had left, leaving only white and grey "feathers" in the sky.

  I had a fun tele ride down to the Bagley Lakes as soon as I realized that it was imparative to place most of my weight on the back ski.We didn't experience the snow problems that evidently were an issue elsewhere in the Baker bc. I do not know how frequently Mazama Dome is circumnavigated but it is an interesting adventure for those who treasure secluded touring.