We were at Stevens today, still not open and for good reason. Arrived at about 9:30 AM and saw Alpental bros Chris and Eric in the lot with the same idea as us; unfortunately it had rained the night of the 22nd up to around 5,000ft leaving mushy fresh at the bottom and rain crust at top. Our plans to skin up Tye Mill and ski Double Diamond/Big Chief were abandoned when we saw this:

. . . so we continued up the ridge to t...

11/22/04 2:50am

Matt C

November 20-21, 2004, Baker bc

Nice Video Tim

It was good to catch up with you again....and to meet Rod and Jeff. Saturday was heaven compared to Mount Baker's opening day...tons of people and very little snow.

11/21/04 11:44pm

JMor

November 21, 2004, Paradise

Had access to a computer and thought I would check on everyone at home. Ron's right, I'm off doing some Mexico stuff for a little while. Don't worry there isn't any snow to report about here in Puerto Vallerta 8) It's hot and fun!! Did manage to do a jungle zip line canopy tour today. Consists of 13 zip lines though the jungle at various heights. The highest one being 450 feet above the jungle floor and 1,000 feet long. Takes you from the jungle, across...

11/21/04 10:45pm

curmudgeon

November 21, 2004, Twin Lakes/Mt Baker backcountry

Sounds like folks were all over the place on that thin rug of November snow! Did you see or hear any evidence of folks on the CD glacier on Saturday? Bennett's car was missing from Maple Falls and never appeared at the MBRC upper parking lot.

11/21/04 9:55pm

The_Snow_Troll

November 20, 2004, Nisqually Chutes

I was in the group of 3 that were the first ones down the chutes. I have to say that it was a pretty good run, I agree with the snow observations...but given my expectations it was quite fine... The second pitch, after the dog-leg to the left was pretty damn nice..again..low expectations....but sadly the best snow was the very low angle stuff at the moraine.

Given that we weren't the first up we were happy to have the first tracks down the chute!

We hiked up and...

11/21/04 9:48pm

Kevin Steffa

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

Nice location for a trip! I would like to try the ridge on the other side of the Lake Ann before 20 closes this year... Last spring when skiing Black peak, we had scoped out those valleys as alternate routes to avoid the avalanche prone traverse from heather pass to lewis lake, and to possibly shorten the trip.

From arial photos, it actually looked like the valley draining Wing Lake rather than the one draining Lewis Lake had more potential for a ski descent (one valley to the north) - L...

11/21/04 8:19pm

gregL

November 20-21, 2004, Baker bc

Thanks, Tim! Went well with my oatmeal and coffee!

11/21/04 8:12pm

gregL

November 20-21, 2004, Mt.Curtis-Gilbert,Goat Rocks

We were in the Goat Rocks in July, had the entire place to ourselves, and stupidly neglected to bring snow sliding implements. I think mid to late June would be a good compromise in terms of fairly easy access (the very good trail would be mostly melted out) and still-good snow. It looked like this:

11/21/04 7:48pm

kam

November 20-21, 2004, Baker bc

tim_place:

very, very nice video. the snow looked tasty! thanks for sharing.

-kam

11/21/04 5:30pm

wickstad

November 19, 2004, Mt Baker - Railroad Grade

Gotta love those bonus hours.

Kinda worked in reverse this time though.

11/21/04 7:00am

wolfs

November 20, 2004, Nisqually Chutes

Looks like you were part of the 5 (Or 2 and 3 separate groups?) we saw come in just as we reached the flats; we were just in front of you.
I was the first to test whether the carved-out drainage in the middle section was hiding some rocks underneath or in suspension. Crsshhhh... Um, yup. But still totally worth it.

11/21/04 5:40am

skip

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

Mark,

Glancing at the map, it looks as though a person could work his or her way down to the valley floor in one particular section--the trouble was we couldn't find it. My thought afterward was we didn't head far enough northeast (the thought at the time being that we were already too far northeast). If I'm right, it would have required our getting across a sketchy chute and would have been a steep run [read: downclimb] through thick, thick trees. I could be completely...

11/21/04 4:59am

snowdogs

November 21, 2004, Mt Hood Meadows (closed)

we were up at meadows also. We hiked up above Cascade lift to about 8000ft and skied one really nice shot above the lift that made up for all the slab, rocks, ice and crust on the way back down. time for the snow dance!!! no photos - too depressing to see what's really underneath all the ski runs at a resort.

11/21/04 4:59am

Jeff Huber

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

Wow, I'm jealous! Neat photos (both of you)

11/21/04 4:08am

markharf

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

I've had the same thought about dropping off the other side of Heather Pass. It always looks so much more inviting than the normal luge track heading downhill to the highway...but I figured there might be some reason why the route into Black Peak doesn't ascend that valley directly. Maybe your cliff is the reason.

Sounds like you scored this weekend. Good call.

11/21/04 3:27am

andyski

November 19, 2004, Stevens Pass

Wolfs, the summit has a new Alpental Web cam:

11/20/04 10:04pm

skinveen

November 20, 2004, Nisqually Chutes

I'm not sure if we were ahead or behind you, but there seemed to be lines for all.

11/20/04 8:11pm

slugbug

November 19, 2004, Stevens Pass

I went up on Saturday for a few turns. Awesome day to be out. Clear skies and just enough cover to hide the rocks. I started out a t 9:00AM to the top of Skyline and made a few good turns with only hitting one rock!

11/20/04 6:27pm

skip

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

Ron, you've a keen eye. It's the newest member to my Osprey family.

A few more pics for interested parties:
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=220306813&key=imAGyr&pos=0

11/20/04 3:50pm

ron j

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

Niiiice.
Looks like the Skipper got a new pack.

11/20/04 3:43pm

November 20, 2004, Rainy/Heather Pass, N. Cascades

Wow nice lookin day! 8)

11/20/04 3:01pm

ron j

November 7, 2004, Mt. Rainier, Paradise area

Yep, Jer,
Yer viddy productions are definately turning into keepers.
Thanks for the efforts; they're really appreciated.

11/20/04 6:55am

TonyM

November 19, 2004, Mt Baker - Railroad Grade

Nice pic and TR. Looks like a good base anyway.

11/20/04 5:26am

Paul Belitz

November 7, 2004, Mt. Rainier, Paradise area

Very nice viddy, JW, that one's in the archives.

11/20/04 1:44am

October 31, 2004, Paradise!

The long awaited video is hereby released! Visit

11/20/04 1:41am

November 7, 2004, Mt. Rainier, Paradise area

I offer a short clip of this trip @

11/19/04 7:44am

Matt C

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

ohhhh ya...you will be eatin my powder rooster tail tomorow and on baker opening day there buddy!!!

CHEERS!!!

11/19/04 5:26am

wolfs

November 19, 2004, Stevens Pass

I was going to go to Stevens in the afternoon. But since I was getting a late start, I decided to check out Snoqualmie/Alpental instead. Wrong move. Not nearly enough snow there for even my low standards, so not a turn was made at Alpental. It will need four times as much snow as there is there now. Nothing in the surrounding mountains accessible from the Sno Pass area looks any good either. Your pix further confirm that I went to the wrong damn pass today >:(

11/19/04 4:27am

ema

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

Canadian beer sucks, eh?

11/19/04 2:23am

Matt C

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

Dare to dream Toby...dare to dream!

I stole that saying from a Canadian beer commercial!!!

Thanks for all the info Charles...atleast I've got a few options.

11/18/04 5:20am

ema

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

I'm still waiting for that magical day when one may upload directly from "my briefcase", full of beautiful pics, to the post....dreaming......still dreaming!

11/17/04 7:12am

Charles

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

If you have some "web space", for example from your ISP, you could probably put your photos there and then link to them from your TRs. You wouldn't have to make them accessible through your own web pages, although maybe you want to do that anyway. There are also other free photo hosts (eg MSN) which do seem to allow the kind of linking that Webshots blocks.

11/17/04 6:49am

Matt C

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

Thanks Charles

I didn't think it would work...as I notice other TAY members who have Webshots don't usually insert photos into their trip reports. I may try to design a bare-bones website of my own so I can post photos and insert them into TAY. That may be my late night winter project.

11/16/04 9:28pm

Charles

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

Matt C, thanks for the report and very nice photos. I looked at the code you used to insert the photo in your post - it looks OK and the URL works if you paste it into the browser address bar. I think others have found that Webshots blocks the displaying of their site's photo files on other sites, so I don't know that there is any way around this except to put your photos somewhere else.

11/16/04 9:25am

solsoul

November 11, 2004, South side Mt. Baker

Went up and checked out the run that Todd and Pat scoped out the other day. Definitely not the same weather. Raining at the car but soon turned to snow once on the trail. Higher up there was 2-3 inches of sticky snow on top of a firm crust closer to treeline. The kind of snow that likes to ball up on your skins until each ski weighs 15lbs. A few boulders hidden under the snow but you can avoid (most of) them. It was trying to snow hard enough to cover our trac...

11/15/04 5:20pm

wickstad

November 11, 2004, South side Mt. Baker

Encouraging report.

11/15/04 2:01am

markharf

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

The poster did say that he/she has many years of experience, suggesting that a snow safety class might not be necessary.

Of course, a stranger who pops up on an internet forum asking for directions to "steeps and cliffs" should probably not expect much in the way of answers. Best get to know people gradually so they can check out your skills and style. This should not be taken personally.

As for Matt C, thanks for the scouting and trip report.

11/15/04 1:45am

Matt C

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

I would agree with Tim. If you wanna get to know the Baker BC you should check out an avalanche clinic. I think it's Baker policy to have some avalanche knowledge along with proper equipment if you wanna use the lifts to access the BC terrain. Talk to people as you ride the lift this year to see where the goods can be found...I will probably be one of them.

11/14/04 10:32pm

mjt

November 15, 2004, Pardise

My brother and I went up as well. We hiked up to a little above Panorama Point, then skinned up to the cloud ceiling, between 7500 and 7600 feet. The clouds descended on us as we removed our skins and we skied down about 100 feet unable to see anything before bursting out of the clouds.

Not a whole lot of coverage, but we were able to pick our way down almost to the parking lot. Ran into a few other groups of skiers as well. Not a bad day...

11/14/04 10:29pm

cascadesfreak

November 14, 2004, MRNP

Looks like the cloud "ceiling" was higher than I expected (I turned around less than a mile from my apartment Sunday morning where the rain started falling; ended up backtracking to my apartment to trade off skis for the mountain bike; and changed destination from Rainier to the Black Diamond trails). I'll have to wait again for Nov. turns ;)

11/14/04 10:27pm

Don_B

November 15, 2004, Pardise

I was up there too, for some touring and careful turns around all the rocks. Nice soft 1-1/2" to 2" above the ice and rock. Edith Creek is melted and open, with not much white stuff on the slopes below it, but you can ski down to near the lot on the Skyline side.

The Ohop Bakery and its successor in Eatonville is closed and for rent. Another sign of global warming and the end of the world as we know it.

11/14/04 9:09pm

ron j

November 14, 2004, MRNP

Way to go, Gang,
Sounds like your usual good judgment prevailed.
Nice photos, Kam & Jerman.
Stefan, Julie and I were out taking one for the team on a "sufferfest", racking up torture points while seeking out new lines for the benefit of all humanity, and more specifically, the bc skiing community.
Had it not been for those philanthropic leanings, we might have joined you all.

11/14/04 6:23pm

curmudgeon

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

... Can anyone give me any sort of directions ...

First, get the proper equipment and take a snow safety seminar. There you will meet some others in your boat. Next, meet some experienced folks who will take you out to the obvious lines -- the hemispheres, the BB chutes, the Arm.

11/14/04 4:43pm

November 14, 2004, MRNP

Quite a fun day, considering how close I came to heading back home for the couch 8) Great to ski with all of you again! What few still photos I took are here http://community.webshots.com/album/217436401pSFbJK/a"> I'll try to get out some video this week but I'm three trips behind. See you all soon , and remember to seek out supplies for our secret film project ;) ---Jerry

11/14/04 6:17am

C-stathis

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

Hey, Im new and I just moved to Bellingham, I bought a Baker Seasons pass and have Snowboarded their a few times. Ive never explored the backcountry at baker, Can anyone give me any sort of directions or a map? Im experienced, spend many years in whistlers backcountry. The type of terrain im lookin for is good terrain for Booters, Steeps, and Cliffs. Thx chris.

11/12/04 2:41am

Matt C

November 11, 2004, Baker/Table

Hmmmm...never tried to post a picture before...lets see if this works...

If it don't work go here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/mattyshred

Wonder if its hard to create my own webpage???