August 15, 2003, Ptarmigan Ridge, Baker

The forecast had been threatening all week that a low would drag in the cool marine air, finally settling on the afternoon of the day Pete and I had chosen to do some August turns. With that in mind we got an early, 11:00 AM, start under sunny and warm conditions. Nice trail hike with both Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan out in their full beauty. We checked over the saddle just north of Pt 5831 but it looked like the longer runs on the north side of Ptarmigan Ridge were in the area of Coleman Pinnacle (as we had surmised from earlier trip reports), so we kept on the trail to below Coleman Pinnacle. We booted to the top of the east-facing snowfield there, then to the ridge to look at the north-facing runs, which were perhaps a little longer than on the trail side of the ridge, but well suncupped and, we guessed, not softening as much. So we skied the east-facing run down across the trail, then over a lip, by a waterfall, and to the end of the tongue of snow; about 800vf, not too badly suncupped, fairly well softened.

We booted back to the trail, hiked it a short distance and then about 100' down the ridge which runs south toward a lake. There, we were able to put on the skis and glide/skate across to the top of a north-facing run which lies just under Pt 5847. The snow had looked less suncupped on this run from afar, but this turned out to be an illusion, and it was firmer than our first run. It was a little too jarring at the top to be fun, but the turning got somewhat better as we descended. Part way down we spooked a group of mountain goats into displaying their rock climbing prowess on the nearby orange cliffs, and skied to the end of the snow at ~4800'. Pete being a geologist, on the way back up we pondered the wide variety of rocks and deposits, and were able to climb directly back to the bottom of our first run and use our steps to regain the trail. The marine air seemed to arrive at this time, with a single dark band of clouds and a few sprinkles of rain, but this quickly passed and the sun returned for the hike out. Back at the car, evidence that the marine air was pushing in could be seen in a band of fog forming along the west side of Mt. Shuksan and pouring over Shuksan Arm. With luck (decent October snow), only one more difficult month to go!

Here's a view of the north side of Ptarmigan Ridge, with Coleman Pinnacle on the far left, from the saddle just SW of Table Mountain: