April 28, 2002, Mt. Baker area

I never did this trip before. I heard horror stories of 7-8 miles of walk in logging road before the approach. So I took my Mt. Bike. 3 miles of slogging up the road on my bike with my skis and boots was tough but the snow level was low enough to end this quickly. Then it was another 3 miles of road skiing until we left the road and went straight up the west ridge of the South Sister. It was direct and obvious. But instead of taking the rocky 3rd to 4th class climbing West Ridge we saw the north face slope looks good for skiing. So we did an easy traverse and went straight up the north ride. The snow was hard and a little crusty on top. But it was pure corn snow skiing and despite the sun and heat I didn't sink deeper than 4 inches. I thought it was going to be mushy but the snow was fabulous. I was waiting for this after we have been hit with constant bad stormy weather lately.

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