Squak Glacier Post Heat Wave, July 2nd/3rd, 2021

I've been lurking for the better part of a decade, finally posting a trip! I've been recovering from an achilles injury and skiing Baker has been my recovery motivation. I skied the Squak glacier with two friends over the weekend. 

The trailhead was cloudy and snow free. We hiked on the mostly snow free Scott Paul trail to the saddle at 4600ft. Snow coverage picked up at the saddle, but wasn't continuous until about 5100 ft where we switched to skinning. We had easy continuous snow up to camp at 6500 ft. As we reached camp the cloud level dropped below us and we had sunny weather above a sea of clouds. The sunset on the Twin Sister range was really vibrant. 

 

The cloud level slowly dropped overnight, and the sunrise illuminated the peaks of the North Cascades above the clouds. 

 

We left camp at 6am on Saturday and headed up the glacier. Snow bridge at 8800 was easy to cross, unclear how much longer it will hold. We skied down at about 1pm. The Roman wall was soft and easy skiing. The snow got a little sticky from 7500' down to camp. Below camp the snow was more sun protected from the moraines, and skied well.