November 12, 2009, Mt. Baker, Opening Day

I love Washington. A week ago there was nothing. Today Baker opened with a 70 inch base.

We left Seattle at 5:45am and made it to Baker before the lifts started running. Cash got us through the ticket line in record speed and we were in the long lift queue at chair 7 as the lifts opened.

There was simply nothing to complain about today at Baker. The snow was deep and soft (chest deep if you got stuck in the untracked areas). The skies were blue all day. The temperature was pleasant in the upper 20s. Skiers and riders were happy to be on the mountain and in good spirits. Given that it was opening day the lift lines weren't even that bad.

We spent the morning off of chair 8 and the afternoon in the Pan Dome area off of chair 1. With a bit of hiking there was plenty of soft stuff to be had throughout the day.

In terms of snow stability things seemed pretty solid. That said, the avy control at Baker did manage to kick off some slides. There was an especially prominent small slide that had taken place at the top of chair 8. It had a small crown (8 inches maybe) but the width of the slide zone was probably a hundred feet or more.

Popped my Shuksan arm cherry that day. Plain ridiculous on tele skis.

Anybody know what that chopper was up too in the afternoon?

Stupidly good day it was. Best opening day I've had and the Arm was easily the best spot out there. Maybe Jeremy Jones was scoping line in the chopper?

Again, I saw nothing move on the arm except for some slides that must have occured during the storm.

By the way, does anyone know where on the mountain the action shots were taken?

www.mtbaker.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=8103

I don't recognise the aspect for any of the terrain we were riding yesterday. Mighty fine action pics though.

I heard that the chopper was from Black Diamond filming someone splitboarding out on the Arm. At least that is the rumor from the Glacier locals.