Last weekend, as one of the first big winter storms rolled through the Pacific Northwest, I wrangled up a big group of friends to head up to Mount Baker to soak in the moisture, and hopefully get a few skiing turns in. We were successful on both fronts!
Adam, Matt, and I left Seattle at a civilized hour, heading up to Bellingham to rendezvous with Pieter, Jackie, Camille, and Austin. Early that morning, Bellingham had received nearly 2 inches of rain in 2 hours, flooding Pieter’s basement and bringing down a small landslide in the city which closed I-5 for most of the day. A good pow omen.
The Heliotrope trailhead had only one other car there, a hiker who returned to the trailhead shortly after we started hiking. The trailhead was a solid 1,500 feet below the snowline, so we enjoyed intermittent rain showers as we strapped our skis to our packs and started hiking through the woods. Only the occasional glimpse of snowcovered trees higher up the ridge reminded us that skiing was a possibility, but, soon enough, we were hiking through a slushy inch or two of snow.
The gang starting up the trail.
We ditched our boots and started skinning pretty close to treeline, heading up through rocky terrain as we aimed for the permanent snow patches that abut the western edge of the Coleman Glacier. The occasional blast of strong winds and blowing snow kept us from overheating.
Matt picking the direct line as we skinned up towards the Coleman Glacier.
Eventually, we reached the edge of the permanent snow, which made for much easier skiing conditions. Up on the snowfield, the visibility was atrocious, with blowing clouds obscuring the views. Nonetheless, we were all in high spirits.
A brief moment of relatively good visibility below the snowfield.
Not much to see as we skinned up the snowfield.
We skinned to the top of the ridge circa 7,200 feet, and transitioned. The skiing on the glacier was pretty good, but the absolute whiteout made for entertaining skiing.
Eating lunch at the top of Heliotrope Ridge before transitioning to ski down.
Pieter demonstrating excellent white-out skiing technique on the snowfield.
Below the snowfield, the rocks and vegetation sticking out of the snow made for much better visual reference, and we all had a great time skiing as low as we possibly could, lack of snow notwithstanding.
Matt giving his skis a quick mid-descent rinse for maximum performance.
Eventually, though, all good things must come to an end, and we strapped our skis back on our packs for the hike back to the cars. Stoked for the coming season!
Hiking back out to the car.