Like any guide service, we cant guarantee incredible snow and fantastic conditions, but with Baker Mountain Guides, the odds are in your favor. Were not going that far though (today). There's a high pressure front coming in after this storm, so we'll be getting loads of snow followed by clear and cold days - and as snow consolidates and layers bond, we'll be venturing back out of the resort and into the backcountry. 6-8 hours is considered a full day of touring. It grumbled along under the breath of locals looking at a busy Mt. However, the amber tones in our Vienna Via Skagit Vienna-Style Lager differentiate this Lager from the pack - just as Mazama Bowl has skiers heading off in the other direction. You can ski the most obscenely rowdy terrain and have snow on it, he muses. by Brian Bates. Our testers worked all winter in their home ranges to try gear in narrow couloirs, open pow fields and tight trees. Where youre sleeping: Bellingham is full of great and affordable Airbnb options. No thank you., What followed wasnt pretty. With that in mind, the winter of 2017 was especially good to the Pacific Northwest, and the Mount Baker area in particular. Skinning up Heliotrope Ridge on a windy day, looking at a natural avalanche releasing from the slopes of Mt. Heliotrope Ridge is another extremely popular backcountry option out of Bellingham. Excellent courses are available through a variety of Northwest institutions such as The Mountaineers, Pro Guiding Service, American Alpine Institute and many more. Agreed, like the drawing of the safety line on shuksan arm being incorrect and in unsafe avalanche area above the large waterfall cliffs.. Pictures are also misleading and not true to perspective, many wtfs with these as some spots were unrecognizable from actual experience on the ground. Skiing in this area is much more serious than in the previous two itineraries. Please try again. Anyone skiing on the slopes of Mt. This is a malty beer you sip and enjoy fruit tones, herbal aromas, and whirling haziness from the nitro tap. Glacier Creek Road, which goes from the Mount Baker Highway [see map] up to the trailhead, is frequently closed or snow-covered and staying up-to-date on its current condition is key. Winter is taking her sweet time showing up in the, The biggest backcountry party on earth is back on, Ive never seen Ascent contributor @straightchut. Ski season is officially upon us! Put in the hours and itll pay dividends. It might be one of the most beautiful towns in the country, and Western Washington University, perched on Sehome Hill, just above town, should be on any college-bound skiers short list. Have you ever actually spent time in Glacier or interacted with Baker locals? Rainier. Baker volcano, an epic adrenaline-filled ski mountaineering adventure. Copyright A360 Media LLC 2022. Ready to begin planning the adventure of a lifetime? Supplying the map was enough to get them talking about terrain, and having the names of runs gives a common language to communicate about what they will or wont ski. The Arm is quite possibly one of the most photographed backcountry ski shots in the country, and its easy to see why. Your cell phone wont work. The Herman saddle takes you from the lot, across the basin floor, and up the mountain on your right. Any help greatly appreciated. From Whitman Glacier, the east face of Little Tahoma stretches upwards. What does all this mean? Happy turns, everyone! Baker Mountain Guides offers both custom and scheduled day tours in the Mount Baker Backcountry. In 2014 hell again be defending his nations honor on the FWT battlefield. A guidebook can tell you where to go but not when its safe to be there or give you the experience and education needed to make the unbiased risk analysis that is required for a safe tour. His partner died in the slide. There are no high-speed chairs, no new chairs at all, no RFID gates, shops, vertical feet trackers, or heated seats. But, as with all ski towns, youve got to earn your way to the more secret stashes (or luck your way into the heart of a local). Gregory Scruggs lives in Seattle, but he prefers to believe that Mt. He looks forward to exploring the Cascades when hes home, surfing if the opportunity arises, and modeling his public image after that of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Sign up with your email and start earning rewards with our exclusive loyalty program. You can sleep another night at your campsite, or if your wife/husband/boss is mad at you, push all the way out to the car. Keep your hands, your cookware, and your environment clean. The work only half done, Eric Wherly begins the long exit back towards the car from Spider. Or is that it, the untouched snow? Rainier and its biggest glacier, the Emmons. For example, while it may not be necessary to carry glacier gear to Heliotrope Ridge in midwinter or early summer, thin snowpack can hide crevasses in early winter or spring. From the other side of the resort, ride Chair 8 to the top, and then hop on the boot pack to, yes, you guessed it, the Shuksan Arm. The drizzly old town is situated on Bellingham Bay, with views of the San Juan Islands, a number of lakes within city limits, trails and parks all over the county. Swift Creek: The SMASH of Backcountry Skiing. How about whe, Latest issue is out and already getting passed aro, Let nature do the freezing and frightening and, One Guides Solution for Mt. The public domain of shred welcomes all. This guidebook has many inaccurate and borderline negligent routefinding tips for some of the most common routes. The information in this book is wrong, but thats what ski touring in an area 5 times a year and then deciding to write a book about it will get you. Theres a parking lot, a few chairlifts, and some really fantastic terrain. Ski as many laps as you can before the sun goes down, jog down the trail back to the car, and hit up Chair 9 in the town of Glacier for aprs pizza and brew. By signing up you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. Love your Puffy: How to Care for your Down Jacket. Follow the trail until you pop out on the glacier head left or right, or straight, for the skiing of your choice, going as high up as you want. Its clear that most years, theres plenty of fresh to go around. The two areas see a huge influx of users following a solid storm, with many runs becoming as tracked out as the ski area they rise above within a day or two. The truth, however, is that no one can own the backcountry, same as no one can own a wave. Where youre skiing: Lapping Gabls, under Chair 5, is one of the most fun sequences at the mountain. The face increases in steepness toward the top. Bakers true skintrack culprits are Bellingham Bozos. Rainiers White River Road [see map] is the preferred itinerary. White River Road is closed through the winter; the time to strike is right when it opens in late May or June. Small as they are, pole straps can be a divisive piece of gear. Baker, such as the Coleman-Deming or the North Ridge. Invalid email or password. The simplest of the local spots for the one the simplest (in theory) styles we brew. The aggro-localism typically confined to primo surf breaks reared its head, ready to protect whats theirs. Descend off the back of Cascade Pass, and climb toward Cache Col. Good bivouac spots are located on either side of the pass. A Bellingham classic. With the Mt. Passwords are case-sensitive, must be at least 8 characters in length,and must contain at least one special character. So since it isn't hard to drink 3-4 of these Vienna Lagers, it it is fairly easy to sneak in 3-4 laps in Mazama Bowl. The more information that you have to make a decision in the backcountry, the better. Baker high above the Coleman Glacier. It has more to do with the no-bullshit culture. But while the initial journey is a bit longer (getting out of Bagley lakes and up over the saddle between Table and Herman can take a little more than an hour), the laps up and down while you are skiing the bowl are easy. What is it, specifically, that makes the turns you earned sweeter? Start very early the next day, and head toward the pass between Hurry Up Peak and Arts Knoll, where youre finally rewarded with a view of the north face of Spider. This is more moderate backcountry skiing if youre looking for something a bit easier, head up towards Swift Creek. Plan to be completely self-sufficient should an emergency arise. It only takes about 20 minutes before you pop up and over (through the backcountry gate) and then the drainage to your left is Swift Creek. I get that you dont want to encourage people to do unsafe things, or that if you write it down it might seem more accessible. Only 31 miles from tidewater in the town of Bellingham, this is one of the snowiest places in the world, and depending on the year it can hold great skiing from September to late July. After breaking out of the forest, the mountain begins in earnest. In lieu of bringing 60 testers, techs and cooks to Powder [Read More], 2022 Backcountry Magazine Youve shown someone where the highway is, but you havent checked if they have their drivers license, Pitman says. Our favorites out of the backcountry lot are the Herman Saddle, Swift Creek, and Artist Point/Blueberry Chutes area. Rainier National Parks only winter access point, this long route requires precise navigation with the crossing of several large glaciers and ridges. We just need a few details to book your adventure. The city is over an hour from the mountain, but well worth the commute. Baker. The West still retains some wild, and many bristled at the thought of losing their piece of it. That and being a part of the ski media industrial complex. En route to Spider Mountain, a group settles into a hasty camp near Cache Col with a view of Mount Sahale across the valley. Last weekend was the Mt Baker Beacon Rally, and currently (as I sit here and type this on a Tuesday watching both rain and the temperatures fall) it is absolutely nuking snow at the resort. Behind closed doors and beneath mossy roofs, a storm of anti-local sentiment brewed. Or that sacred moment in the transition when a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which you have sack-lunched to work your whole life, suddenly tastes gourmet because youre staring down at 2,000 vertical feet of untouched snow. Baker is known for its backcountry skiing, however. All rights reserved. The first volley came through only a few minutes after the post went live. This isnt hype, this is a hard, documented fact. I've been to baker only in pretty low snow and if seemed like before glacier there's not much. Powder has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. Rich white kids? Probably distracted by the news of another true storm coming in, the locals either learned to deal with it, or simply forgot about the map entirely. Marq Diamond skis early summer snow down the Frying Pan glacier. Those Shuksan Arm days contribute to the tally of more than 100 days in the backcountry hes racked up over 20 years in the Mt. That lap will get beat up quickly. Box 190 When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Follow the ridgeline until you find a way through one of the chutes that dumps you back underneath the chair, where its steep and full of rollers and rocks. His take on the map? Shuksan. The backcountry spots are learned through years of being here and skiing with other locals. It is this writer's favorite tours in the local area, because of what makes Mazama different than the surrounding area, which is exactly why this same writer enjoys the Vienna Via Skagit so much. You can't (and don't want to) slam the Bitter Safe Than Sorry ESB. I agree to receive recurring, outbound marketing calls to the phone number associated with my default address from a Gearhead. Spider Mountain represents the full-on wilderness experience available to knowledgeable and ambitious backcountry skiers in Washington. When the rubber meets the road, just where does this map lie. SKIER: Cody Townsend PHOTO: Grant Gunderson. Learn how your comment data is processed. Baker environment. Be sure to be aware of crevasses and always use safe glacier-travel protocols, such as rope teams, crampons, and ice axes. From the Summerland trailhead, ascend two to three miles up the hiking trail (skinning or hiking depending on your timing) until coming out of the forest and getting a full view of Mt. Once/if you make it to the mountain itself, the north face is made up of steep, technical, and, for lack of a better word, gnarly ski terrain. And just like a lot of our SMASH brews which are on the lighter side (such as SMASH 004 with a Pilsner Malt), it is just easy to session lap after lap after lap in Swift Creek with short skins back up to the drop in. That extra elevation makes all the difference for Schonwald, who argues that unlike other Washington zones, touring around the Baker Ski Area is not huge, but its open. As a result, there are features, rolls and convexities all packed together that allow a mellow 34-degree slope and a gnarly 50-degree couloir to coexist. You are just rich white kids anyway. Clients from across the U.S. would come to take the course and be unfamiliar with the Baker backcountry, and when it came time for them to plan a tour they wouldnt know anything about the zone. I think that guy is full of shit. But early on that season, a different system started growing. And while not every season breaks records, Schonwald sums up Bakers conditions as consistent snow thats consistently deep, likening the zone to the similarly coastal Chugach Mountains. Off of the 542, right after passing through glacier towards Mt. You can grab some quick laps in this drainage basin the angle is mellow, and the skin back up is great approach for those learning to skin. Bagley Basin stretches west from the upper parking lot, and the Shuksan Arm is only a short bootpack from the end of Chair 8. As is true on many volcanoes and big mountains, judging scale can be tricky. After all, []. There is great vertical relief all around, and steep-sided valleys may place you at risk from icefall, rockfall, or avalanches while youre minding your own business hiking through the woods. Correction: In a previous version of this article, the Highway listed was Highway 520. Ptarmigan Ridge: Bitter Safe Than Sorry, In Every Way Possible. Today, Stark sees the map in a different light. Little Tahoma (or Little T) is a huge, intimidating-looking horn of volcanic rock standing on the flank of the biggest mountain in the Northwest, mighty Mt. It allowed them to think critically about terrain. Pick a trailhead, and the options seem endless. The idea that experienced backcountry users act as gatekeepers to understudies and take people to terrain once they see that they can handle it. Samuel Lozier skiing a steeper line on Mt. Once the snow has settled, follow someone that knows the area well out the Shuksan Arm. And AS ALWAYS when in the backcountry, make sure you know the snow conditions, assess avalanche danger, and ski prepared! I moved here from Utah five years ago, and though Im a seasonally employed professional skier whose job is the exploration on skis of my home turf, Ive only begun to scratch the surface. Ascending steep snow on Spiders north face. Most of us are working minimum-wage jobs, barely getting by, so we can spend the whole season skiing. Compliance Notice, 2017 Baker Mountain Guides. When Stark was helicoptered from the side of Mount Herman two years ago he was hypothermic, and had severe head and leg injuries. Is that a joke? Contact us if you have any questions. Unlike other Cascade Range destinations where trailheads start deep in the Evergreen States forests, Route 542 travels high enough to reach near treeline. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. It just rubbed me the wrong way when I saw those comments online. It has only seen a handful of ski descents. IMO guidebooks can be valuable if they are accurate, but hazardous if not. The longer approach occasionally scares away skiers, just like the name Extra Special Bitter can scare away drinkers who aren't aware that an ESB is in fact not very bitter. You are dangling the carrot in front of their faces just as bad as any guidebook. John Minier is the owner of Baker Mountain Guides, and his sentiment about overpopulation is undeniable. Baker, such as the Coleman-Deming or the North Ridge. This is where that kernel of localism rises from. For example, while it may not be necessary to carry glacier gear to Heliotrope Ridge in midwinter or early summer, thin snowpack can hide crevasses in early winter or spring. I am sensitive to the fact that there are people here, who have been here a long time, that are sensitive to this, Minier says. Bakers Seattle Skintrack. Schonwald looks out onto Bagley Lakes Basin below Table Mountain. You can get updates on road conditions here. While it looks small standing next to the Great One, it is actually the third-highest peak in the state. Well rendezvous in Bellingham or Glacier and caravan to the Heather Meadows trailhead. The top ten deepest snow days of my life have all been at Mount Baker, but its legendary snowfall is not why my friends and I, now spread out across the West Coast, make an annual pilgrimage there. Locals everywhere appreciate you not giving away any stashes. It is an easy approach, as you just need to skin up along the cat track on the edge of the resort from the Heather Meadows overflow parking lot. You will truly be on your own, for while the area is popular with backpackers and mountaineers in the summer months, during winter and spring this slice of savage mountains and valleys is all but deserted. But for all of the mountains instability and the unlikely appearance of the peak, its east face holds an amazing ski run. They had no idea what triggered it, it just peeled off the wall, Mt. Minier says that people will do whatever they want to do. Baker volcano and its ice-clad neighbor Mt. Drew Champ Tabke is the current Freeride World Tour champion and lives in Seattle, Washington. Ski as many laps as you can before the sun goes down, jog down the trail back to the car, and hit up. All lines will lead you back to the bottom of Chair 8. Then get all bitchy when people want to go backcountry skiing. Nothing sells a guidebook like a Seattleite naming the wrong the highway number for the highway the book is supposed to be about. Note, however, that the guidebooks author has logged 100+ days in the Baker backcountry. Please set your password using the link below. He also offers tips for spring and summer ski-mountaineering ascents when climbing high enough affords views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the channel that separates Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula and sends moisture east up the Nooksack Valley onto Bakers flanks. We encourage posts re: human powered uphill/downhill shralping, TR's, pics, bc gear, avalanche tools/techniques/training/technology Hey all, considering a move to bham and honestly my only doubt is being an hour and a half from the hill. Experience is very valuable, and if youve been somewhere for a long time you dont want to see that change, Minier says. Where I live, we Define a carpetbagger as anyone who comes into a local mountain area, poaches the local skin tracks and then either writes about it for money or posts the information on a trip report for ego or self-promotional gains.
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