Monday, December 5, 2011

On a roll getting to the mountains this winter


Happy Dog
Sunday I was once again up at 5:30 (aarrgghh) and moving in the car by 6.  Baker was supposed to have sun, perfect visibility, and low avalanche danger according to the forecast and it did not disappoint.  We had a full house this trip with Ross and I in my car and Stephanie and their friend Tony in a car following with his two dogs as well as Ross and Stephanie's dog.

We pulled into the Baker parking lot about 9 and were shortly on the mountain.  We did a great loop that I have wanted to do for a long time which is a circumnavigation of Table mountain.  It was a beautiful loop and the mountains were out in all their glory the whole time.

We have not gotten any snow in the last week so I expected the conditions to be terrible but figured it would be worth it for the sun.  The snow was great!  Most of the slopes had about 8 inches of powder on top of a firm crust.

We were sidetracked a bit when Ross's front straps on both bindings decided to blow out.  We had spare parts but one of the screws stripped out which made for an exciting hour of swearing mixed with actual fixing of bindings.  In the end we got him back up and running and we finished the loop.

The final climb up the backside of table was pretty steep which made things a little tough but the hardest thing was that the snow condition were so mixed on the face that it was tough to get your skis to stick on the climb.  In the end I took off my skis and boot packed it to the top which was completely exhausting.

We were out for seven and a half hours which included a bunch of down time for exploring, fixing bindings and being awed by the view.  A great day!  Can't wait to get back up there.  Might make it this weekend but most likely this coming weekend will be one of staying in the city and letting the car take a breather.  I might even sleep past 5:30am on Sunday.

It has been a great run so far this winter. I have been out in the back country every weekend for the last month.
Happy dog with Mt Shuksan
in the Background

View down the valley from Atist Point
Ross on the backside of table mtn with
shuksan in the background

view from the binding repair spot

Looking at the end of Table Mtn.

Looking back at Mt Baker across the lake before climbing
the saddle up to Herman
Saddle

View of Herman Saddle a.k.a. the
devil hill of mixed conditions