Lisa backcountry skiing on Mount Baker, Washington. Perfect corn from the summit, a bit of the scrappy down low to keep the PNW reputation alive. Click to enlarge.
Gregg (left) and a couple of Dawsons on Baker, around this area we're wondering if we have enough water, and if the clouds will burn off. Click to enlarge.
If the altitude doesn’t getcha, the vert will. Or the storms, or you might do a DB Cooper.
With those thoughts running through my head like a raging lahar dumping off Mount Hood, I pressed out a triple espresso at 2:00 am in Bellingham, Washington. While nicely buzzed, I enjoyed spectating as Louie baja ran the short but sufficiently violent trailhead drive on Glacier Creek Road (as in, a “paved” logging road that looked like something out of a Guatamalin jungle).
Gregg, as a true local, figured he’d give us the full PNW scrappy experience so we skipped the few hundred feet of dry trail at the start and instead squished through a bog. To redeem , he then ushered us to a perfect entrance, where this year a gigantic avalanche has filled a gulch and made a ski route for Baker that is PNW rated tailgate to tailgate.
Tailgate skiing is fine by whatever wet footed standard. Yet as a wimpy Colorado skier, facing 12 miles and 7,100 vertical feet of climbing was causing me to wonder if this would be too big a day. Turned out great, but yeah, I’m taking a rest day today!
Funny how those Mount Baker marmots eat your backpack foam in the shape of footbeds.
Lisa just above what I think is called Coleman Deming Saddle. Pretty girls all over Baker, so much for the PNW gnar reputation. Click to enlarge.
Dawson posse at Baker summit, awesome Mount Shuksan tempting to the right. Detail oriented folks please note we tromped over to the 'real' summit a few hundred yards from where most seasoned locals turn around in their corn snow frenzy. At 10,781 feet, I was loving the thick O2 my lungs pulled in. It always amazes me how much easier it is to do cardio athletics at lower elevations. Click to enlarge.
Gregg Cronn heads off the summit of Baker. Click to enlarge.
Lisa backcountry skiing Roman Headwall, Mount Baker. Click to enlarge.
Lou on the exit snow. Gregg told me that in the PNW this was considered to be perfect corn, because it wasn't covered with lichen or moss. My setup with TLT 5, no tongues, virtually no forward lean and tiny short skis was almost not up to the task. Funny how the rando mind is always 'oh, I like this stuff' while you're climbing, then 'wider skis, bigger boots' while you're skiing down. Rando schizophrenia. Of course, when chasing Slovakians to the summit, you need lightweight gear, right Tom? Click to enlarge.
On the way back, Gregg and Louie did find the 100 feet of trail avoiding bog walking. Pretty civilized, things were marked by a trailhead sign board and even a set of stairs. But I laughed when I checked out the wet and moldy Heliotrope trail 'register.' Keep the myth alive! From left to right, Lisa, Louie, Lou, Gregg. Click to enlarge.
For now, I think I’ll go to the lowest elevation possible and have some coffee down by the bay.
Mount Baker custom boot fitters, visit our office any time.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
