Mt Baker Backcountry - Hero Snow
1/15/09
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
1928
1
This past week Mt. Baker received beaucoup amounts of snow. New Year's day we enjoyed nearly a foot of freshies at the resort; no reason to risk one's life out of bounds. But on Friday there was only a couple inches of fresh, so we decided to use the terrain and knowledge that we gathered to parlay into some BC freshies.
Dave had gathered some good beta at the resort. He encountered the avi professionals digging a pit on the ridge to Artist Point (NW aspect) and the prognosis was that the snow was amazingly stable: in the 2 meters they dug down, there was consistent layering and no unstable layers -- except for the dicey layer at the very bottom. Yes, this is why there were bright yellow signs that greeted skiiers upon entering the lodge: "Extreme Avalanche Danger". Very few were skiing out of bounds at the resort on New Year's day, and those that did were on lower angle slopes.
Friday morning we were greeted with light winds and partly cloudy skies. It was 17 degrees when we got away and we hiked up the valley with the goal of skinning up Mt. Herman on the safest SW aspect, which Dave and a few others accomplished on Tuesday. It has snowed Wednesday and Thursday, and so we expected an additional foot to foot and a half of new snow since they were there.
We skirted the bottom of the valley, avoiding the exposed slopes, respecting the possible big runout of a huge slide off table mountain. There was little evidence of sliding throughout the entire valley, only soft snow sloughs, but we took the longer way whenever possible.
We found our aspect on Mt. Herman and started up, finding thinner coverage in the boulder field that had been wind scoured for the recent storm cycle. We zigged and zagged very carefully upward, taking great care to pick our route on the lowest angle slope and to avoid being under any ominous wind loaded ridges of which there were many on the mountain. Never did we encounter any cracking, concerned layering or evidence of slide potential. Our poles pushed downward consistently with increasing pressure all the way up to the baskets. The snow had settled nicely leaving boot-top Cascade Powder, so the track up was not exhausting.
At about the 5600 level we reached a huge wind loaded cornice and we decided our ascent was over. No need to add a few hundred feet of elevation in these conditions. We picked a run through widely spaced trees, permitting us to enjoy full speed, face shot inducing turns. Total hero snow. Even the steeper sections proved quite stable in the trees. Did another lap and called it a day. Sorry no photos, it was too darn fun.
Dave had gathered some good beta at the resort. He encountered the avi professionals digging a pit on the ridge to Artist Point (NW aspect) and the prognosis was that the snow was amazingly stable: in the 2 meters they dug down, there was consistent layering and no unstable layers -- except for the dicey layer at the very bottom. Yes, this is why there were bright yellow signs that greeted skiiers upon entering the lodge: "Extreme Avalanche Danger". Very few were skiing out of bounds at the resort on New Year's day, and those that did were on lower angle slopes.
Friday morning we were greeted with light winds and partly cloudy skies. It was 17 degrees when we got away and we hiked up the valley with the goal of skinning up Mt. Herman on the safest SW aspect, which Dave and a few others accomplished on Tuesday. It has snowed Wednesday and Thursday, and so we expected an additional foot to foot and a half of new snow since they were there.
We skirted the bottom of the valley, avoiding the exposed slopes, respecting the possible big runout of a huge slide off table mountain. There was little evidence of sliding throughout the entire valley, only soft snow sloughs, but we took the longer way whenever possible.
We found our aspect on Mt. Herman and started up, finding thinner coverage in the boulder field that had been wind scoured for the recent storm cycle. We zigged and zagged very carefully upward, taking great care to pick our route on the lowest angle slope and to avoid being under any ominous wind loaded ridges of which there were many on the mountain. Never did we encounter any cracking, concerned layering or evidence of slide potential. Our poles pushed downward consistently with increasing pressure all the way up to the baskets. The snow had settled nicely leaving boot-top Cascade Powder, so the track up was not exhausting.
At about the 5600 level we reached a huge wind loaded cornice and we decided our ascent was over. No need to add a few hundred feet of elevation in these conditions. We picked a run through widely spaced trees, permitting us to enjoy full speed, face shot inducing turns. Total hero snow. Even the steeper sections proved quite stable in the trees. Did another lap and called it a day. Sorry no photos, it was too darn fun.