Mount Baker

Today marked my return to Mount Baker, a little more than a year since my last visit, and with a similar snowpack and familiar lift system I was cruising the mountain - so happily, in fact, that aside from a quick stop to replace a worn out toe binding bracket ($10 and 10 minutes), I made no stops for the whole day. I actually got a later start than I wanted; I slept in the car and did not hear my alarm, and by the time I pulled into the parking lot and made it into line, there was about a fifteen minute wait to get a ticket.

Of course, once I was on the lift, I remembered how much fun Baker is, especially when it is snowing. This was a great powder day at Baker, even though the base was light. There was fresh feather-light powder all day, and blankets of snow so broad that you could nab fresh tracks all morning. Even in the afternoon, the tracks were filling back in, and I finally had to quit when the only chair up was to the parking lot. I posted a video at youtube of a run from the top of Chair 1, taken with the helmet cam.

A great start to the Ski Washington Challenge for 2007-2008!