March 22, Above Bagley Lakes
3/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3018
2
The typical dilemma this time of year, with a report of afternoon warming. Baker or Paradise? Paradise or Baker? Baker or Paradise, Paradise or...
I pushed for Baker. By I haven't been to either this season, and I love the mountains all around (even at the parking lot!) and intimate feel of the terrain.
A fair train of cars formed as we approached the last bridge over the Nooksack. A fair amount of people at the upper lot were strapping on beacons and skinning their skis.
What a morning! Clear, cool, and just a bit of breeze. We headed to the place-with-the-ironic-nickname, and proceeded to lap a few runs on N slopes, and one on NNW and one on NE. All very nice, though the NNW facing was getting a touch of sun effect. We saw a party ahead of us who left when we we arrived, and another showed up halfway through our fun, but no matter. Plenty of lines for all.
Our last run, around 3 was from Herman Saddle down to Bagley Lakes. While at the saddle, we enjoyed sublime views of Baker, Shuksan, etc., with high clouds diffusing the sunlight and providing a dark contrast with the peaks. We favored skiers right where we hoped to get slops that had been shaded most of the afternoon. Even these were getting a bit gloppy on parts of the run, but even this last run was quite easy and nice.
Back at the car as many of the lift skiers were packing it in. A nice relaxed day with a surprising amount of bouncy dry turns.
Sorry Powdherb, didn't bring a camera (I didn't expect such beautiful light - dumb dumb dumb. Skip did, but he's at a bunny dinner now so hasn't downloaded the pics).
I pushed for Baker. By I haven't been to either this season, and I love the mountains all around (even at the parking lot!) and intimate feel of the terrain.
A fair train of cars formed as we approached the last bridge over the Nooksack. A fair amount of people at the upper lot were strapping on beacons and skinning their skis.
What a morning! Clear, cool, and just a bit of breeze. We headed to the place-with-the-ironic-nickname, and proceeded to lap a few runs on N slopes, and one on NNW and one on NE. All very nice, though the NNW facing was getting a touch of sun effect. We saw a party ahead of us who left when we we arrived, and another showed up halfway through our fun, but no matter. Plenty of lines for all.
Our last run, around 3 was from Herman Saddle down to Bagley Lakes. While at the saddle, we enjoyed sublime views of Baker, Shuksan, etc., with high clouds diffusing the sunlight and providing a dark contrast with the peaks. We favored skiers right where we hoped to get slops that had been shaded most of the afternoon. Even these were getting a bit gloppy on parts of the run, but even this last run was quite easy and nice.
Back at the car as many of the lift skiers were packing it in. A nice relaxed day with a surprising amount of bouncy dry turns.
Sorry Powdherb, didn't bring a camera (I didn't expect such beautiful light - dumb dumb dumb. Skip did, but he's at a bunny dinner now so hasn't downloaded the pics).
A photo from yesterday shot by Suze:
And one more, this one from Skip, to hopefully up the utility ;) of this report:
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