Novermber 11, 2005, Baker

Got up to the HM parking lot at 8, and conned a Maple Falls residence into letting me tag along. The conditions looked pretty marginal, about 4-12 inches of wet, heavy "powder" on a hard crust from the rain. Under the fresh, were rain runnels, so although the snow looked smooth, it was much more..uh..exciting. Skinned over to Swift Creek and yo-yoed that patch twice. Yo-yoing 600 vf on a splitboard is a little tedious, so we headed over to Blueberry Chutes.  Although it was quite windy, instability due to wind loading was surprisingly not an issue at all on the leeward slopes of that area. Got to the bottom and I decided to call it due to multiple gear malfunctions as this was the shake-down tour of the season (frozen skins and a telescoping pole that miraculously broken in my closet all by itself during the summer). If it keeps dumping, Saturday and especially Sunday will probably be pretty good. I will be up there on Sunday, searching for partners....

On my way out I stopped by the lower lodge. It sure is nice not to have to deal with the ski area. That place was a zoo, so many people and the conditions inbounds looked like it wasn't even worth the effort. Glad I'm not part of that scene anymore. ;D