Baker-Heliotrope Ridge

So, it was cold, but 3 days on the flanks of Mt Baker can’t really be beat….

With a few days of snow early in the week and then consistent high pressure for the week, it seemed a logical choice to head into the high country for the extended weekend. The week consisted of email after email of potential plans: simple day trips, ski descents of Rainier, the Park Glacier on Baker, etc. After much deliberation, we chose to head out to Heliotrope Ridge, easy access and a huge playground of snow seemed like the best bet. We packed up as much gear as our packs could handle and the three of us headed out Friday morning. Joe, with his big dreams, carried not only ski gear but a full ice rack, tools and a spare set of boots (just for a little more “training weight”) hoping to climb Colfax on Saturday.

After fighting tons of blown over trees; crawling over, under, around, over again and then under for 4hrs we finally reached our camp at about 6000′.

Talk about a great spot!! We had a view of our entire playground and couldn’t wait to set up camp and head up and get some turns.

At the top of our first run we had an incredible view of the moon rising directly infront of our line

Talk about a pretty sweet ride back to camp: moonlight, wonderfully light powder, and about 700′ right down to camp.

Saturday morning brought us cloudy skies and moderate winds. We waited for Mark to arrive for his soon to be epic day…. Carrying almost as much gear for a day trip as we carried for an overnight..damn, I was impressed. We hung out for a little bit at camp, took a safety break, and decided that turns over climbing seemed the best bet. Ah; skinning and carving….

The wind let up here and there, but the snow was certainly showing the effects. Wind crusts, wind slabs, pretty random powder pillows all making the day a mixture of “thank god” and “too bad”…..more of the thank god category of course.

After about 4 runs, it was time to head back and get Mark on his way back down the trail before it got too dark. Doug, Joe and myself decided that another night in the down sleeping bags was worth sticking around. We all knew the snow wasn’t getting any better, but another tent night sounded pretty good to all of us. We hoped for a little new snow over night , but instead, we woke up to 13 degrees in the tent and foggy cover. Before even getting out of the tent, the fog burned off and presented us with crystal clear skies!!!

Not a bad way to spend a weekend in November!!!

Oh yeah, Mark’s epic….

Leaving our camp shortly before dark, he headed off onto a side trail in the dark and ended up running into another pair of hikers that he rescued from getting themselves more lost… What took us 1 1/2 hours to hike on our return, took him 4, arriving at the car at about 7:30-8pm. Starting his day at 2am in Seattle and ending it after 11 certainly makes me glad I carried all that crap up there…..