September 22, 2006, Ptarmigan Ridge
9/22/06
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3189
2
Dave_R and I somehow convinced ourselves there was a good amount of new snow in the mountains on Friday. We headed up to Mt Baker. We started to doubt our conclusions during the drive, when we couldn't see any new snow on the Twin Sisters. We drove to Artist Point and hiked along Ptarmigan Ridge to Coleman Pinnacle. It was a beautiful autumn day.
We continued past Camp Kiser, ate lunch, and skied a nice bulge at the edge of Sholes Glacier. We even did a little touring, following the snowfields north of Camp Kiser back toward Coleman Pinnacle. We climbed to the western head of Coleman Basin and made a couple runs on the snowfields there. A trace of new snow kept us from scratching away on the really hard stuff, but we didn't find as much fresh snow we'd hoped for. Ptarmigan Ridge is a beautiful place any time, and especially on a clear fall day. So no regrets!
I dropped out of heading up that direction last second. It looks better than i thought. Way to get away from the crowd.
No crowds, gorgeous weather, and just enough "recent" snow to keep things from being too scratchy. Quite an enjoyable day.
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