Heliotrope Ridge to Coleman Glacier 11/11
11/15/07
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
5347
14
Met the mighty snoslut at 65th P&R Seattle 5:15 AM.
Made Bellingham in 65 minutes. Snow level right at Heliotrope parking lot, 1st car in. Made quick time up trail to climbers trail branch off. All was blueberry to this point.
Met up with a Whatcom County skier, Pat, traveling solo. We ascended (to the below rock formation) with him.
At this point storm was rolling off of Bakers summit. Pinned us down for a couple of minutes w/ STRONG winds and ~15-20 foot visibility. Snow conditions were very wind loaded, variable loading depending on aspect/ribs. Dog was digging a snow cave.
Figured it wasn't gonna get any better and descended. Traded off lead, carved the hell out of powder pockets and slashed the intermittent ice patches.
Very nice pow shots to be had-as always, snoslut has the pics.
On the way down climbers trail saw a unwashed multitude ascending-results of this were mixed.
A lot of smiles, 2 individuals pinned down on climbers trail spine due to verglas + strong winds being a bad combination-I'm talking pinned down like lying on the trail holding onto a rock. Snoslut claims he saw a dude in tennis shoes get blown of the spine (that damn verglas again) and take a full gainer down a grass/rock/snow slope.
If so, I'm sorry for him.
Snow continued to Heliotrope lot @ 3700-blowing sideways there. Extremely high winds on I-5 coming off the water. It will be a tough guy day tomorrow.
Which is why the slut is going again. I'll be up soon enough.
I'm sure he'll post some more pics-my camera, how you say, sucks?
Best Snoslut line of the Day: To a Canadian teacher on holiday. "Just Google snowslut to find me."
Speaks for itself.
Made Bellingham in 65 minutes. Snow level right at Heliotrope parking lot, 1st car in. Made quick time up trail to climbers trail branch off. All was blueberry to this point.
Met up with a Whatcom County skier, Pat, traveling solo. We ascended (to the below rock formation) with him.
At this point storm was rolling off of Bakers summit. Pinned us down for a couple of minutes w/ STRONG winds and ~15-20 foot visibility. Snow conditions were very wind loaded, variable loading depending on aspect/ribs. Dog was digging a snow cave.
Figured it wasn't gonna get any better and descended. Traded off lead, carved the hell out of powder pockets and slashed the intermittent ice patches.
Very nice pow shots to be had-as always, snoslut has the pics.
On the way down climbers trail saw a unwashed multitude ascending-results of this were mixed.
A lot of smiles, 2 individuals pinned down on climbers trail spine due to verglas + strong winds being a bad combination-I'm talking pinned down like lying on the trail holding onto a rock. Snoslut claims he saw a dude in tennis shoes get blown of the spine (that damn verglas again) and take a full gainer down a grass/rock/snow slope.
If so, I'm sorry for him.
Snow continued to Heliotrope lot @ 3700-blowing sideways there. Extremely high winds on I-5 coming off the water. It will be a tough guy day tomorrow.
Which is why the slut is going again. I'll be up soon enough.
I'm sure he'll post some more pics-my camera, how you say, sucks?
Best Snoslut line of the Day: To a Canadian teacher on holiday. "Just Google snowslut to find me."
Speaks for itself.
Going again! Wow. My ski partner and I just bailed this morning from heading up 542 - it's going to be wild up there today. It's not terribly well correlated with Baker weather, especially down low, but Muir's already averaging 92 mph winds with gusts to 106, and the front hasn't arrived yet!
You passed us on your way down yesterday (I was in the group that Eric hiked up to chat with above that icy bluffs section). We ended up turning around near 6,600-ft out on the western part of the Coleman Glacier where white-room conditions made further upward progress unappealing; the winds briefly subsided and the visibility slightly improved below us as we de-skinned for about 500 vertical feet of nice wind-buffed powder turns before traversing back toward the trail. After arriving back at the trail, I happened to have my camera out at the moment an unexpectedly ferocious wind blast nearly knocked all of us off the narrow, very icy ridge top (guessing the gust was over 60 mph); I managed to get a shot off just after the wind blast knocked Kam off his feet.
Good thing you brought your Whippets Toe! ;D
Good thing you brought your Whippets Toe! ;D
the wind gust knocked me straight on my can! it hurt, but was worth it. excellent skiing!!!
So - how much new snow?
LeeL - from the narrow icey ridge on down to treeline was 4-6 inches. Deeper in some pockets. Above the ridge varied from wind sculpted ice to boot deep. Once again deeper in some pockets. With the wind it was a free refill kinda of day.
That guy on the ridge did take a good tumble before realizing to change into his ski boots. But first he managed to climb back onto the ridge and try to change there. ??? I reached his friend and told her to change just below the ridge.
Our group of Pat, Rob and myself topped out at just below 7,000ft. My splitboard almost blew away. On the way down a gust of wind came by and I went from carving to hop turning. If the slope had been any flatter I would have just stopped.
Kam, Skip, Chris and female friend...was sure nice to run into ya! Hey Kam, were you able to ski down to treeline??
Rob don't confuse my method of madness for being a tough guy. I'm no tough guy. Those are the ones we here about from Texas and New York. I'm Just a person with a passion for the persuit of white lines. And not the ones on a road or a mirror. Telemetry on early Monday morning confirmed it was a good day to go fly a kite.
Btw Rob, I've never seen a person take a hippy speedball like you. ;D
Hard to believe it was sunny and blue skies when we pulled up. Only if we would have left the trailhead at 3am. Next time.
I'll post some pics soon.
That guy on the ridge did take a good tumble before realizing to change into his ski boots. But first he managed to climb back onto the ridge and try to change there. ??? I reached his friend and told her to change just below the ridge.
Our group of Pat, Rob and myself topped out at just below 7,000ft. My splitboard almost blew away. On the way down a gust of wind came by and I went from carving to hop turning. If the slope had been any flatter I would have just stopped.
Kam, Skip, Chris and female friend...was sure nice to run into ya! Hey Kam, were you able to ski down to treeline??
Rob don't confuse my method of madness for being a tough guy. I'm no tough guy. Those are the ones we here about from Texas and New York. I'm Just a person with a passion for the persuit of white lines. And not the ones on a road or a mirror. Telemetry on early Monday morning confirmed it was a good day to go fly a kite.
Btw Rob, I've never seen a person take a hippy speedball like you. ;D
Hard to believe it was sunny and blue skies when we pulled up. Only if we would have left the trailhead at 3am. Next time.
I'll post some pics soon.
I invented 'em (hippie speedballs, not hippies).
author=snoslut link=topic=8140.msg32576#msg32576 date=1194962443">Hey Kam, were you able to ski down to treeline??
a few meters short for me, but Skip, Cass, and Sarah made it no problem. this new pair of skis i built is designed to last two days, and i'd like to get in one more day in before i leave. ;D
Ha, that must have been Ari that took the header. He lost his helmet in the process. It probably got blown to Sedro Wooley.
snoslut, I was the guy in red that told you guys to relay the boots-on message to the others down on the ridge. Nice to meet you. How did your dog do? He seemed a little frazzled by the ice and wind.
Did you guys ski the grass all the way down to TL? I was tempted to, but walked down with Ari &YakNam instead. We ended up taking a second lap, and the wind was even worse when we went down. It was dark when we finally pulled into the parking lot, and there was still a car left. It was a Tracker with BC plates, I hope whoever it was wasn't still up on the hill!
snoslut, I was the guy in red that told you guys to relay the boots-on message to the others down on the ridge. Nice to meet you. How did your dog do? He seemed a little frazzled by the ice and wind.
Did you guys ski the grass all the way down to TL? I was tempted to, but walked down with Ari &YakNam instead. We ended up taking a second lap, and the wind was even worse when we went down. It was dark when we finally pulled into the parking lot, and there was still a car left. It was a Tracker with BC plates, I hope whoever it was wasn't still up on the hill!
Well Randy's dog, Brick did his best to survive. Me being the dog whisperer that I am, when we reached our high point Brick looked at me and was like WTF am I doing up here with you stupid people. I need a thicker coat for this kind of s<$#. I'm gonna dig a shelter and watch all your gear blow away. ;D
Jerm - Nope I ended up snow jumping instead, just below the ridge and out of that damn wind. Nice to meet ya to!
Kam your "2-Day" skis did pretty well. I mean no visible de-lams. Wonder what the bases are saying? Were gonna have to work on that. ;D
Jerm - Nope I ended up snow jumping instead, just below the ridge and out of that damn wind. Nice to meet ya to!
Kam your "2-Day" skis did pretty well. I mean no visible de-lams. Wonder what the bases are saying? Were gonna have to work on that. ;D
glad none of you all seriously got blown off the mountain! ;)
that would be Randy Beaver and Brick making nice with what we had-dogs gotta get his props to!
Part Brick s*@t house, part pogo stick he be....
Part Brick s*@t house, part pogo stick he be....
Nice trip, but snoslut, where are the pics of you hitting the snuff cannon at Prost!???!
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