Ian D., Nathan K., and Kyle A. picked me up at home at ~6:30 to head for some sort of touring near the Mt. Baker ski resort. They'd all gone out with the UW climbing clup the previous day, and Kyle intended to make use of the lifts to tune his newly whetted ski skills. I, on the other hand, was to make my first turns in years on my new AT skis.
Conditions were warm (daytime low at 9 am at 4200' of 39 F) and slightly wet (raining lightly on and off, with visibility ranging from 20 m to 20+km, depending on the whim of the clouds), after several days of warm temperatures. After dinking around with equipment a little, Nate, Ian, and I set out from the upper Baker parking lot toward Bagley Lakes and the pass beyond. I was pretty happy with how well my skins and skis seemed to work. After my first, of many, minor falls on the way, we encountered avy debris.
After conferring on conditions, we skinned across the debris as fast as my inexperienced management of my bindings would permit. After reaching a safe area, we conferred some more, and planned for a single run of our intended slope in order to get back through the avalanche exposure before the day warmed further. We headed up a line of trees as far as safety would take us (~400 vf?) while I struggled with the trials of learning to skin up slopes. As it became clear that we weren't going to get much more bang for our efforts, we decided to stop and ski.
My first turn in the backcountry went ok. The second turn degenerated into a mess. I'd forgotten to lock up my boots, which compounded my inexperience. Things got better with each subsequent turn as we single-filed our way down in the low visibility. As we neared the bottom, visibility dropped to ~20'. Picking my way down our skin track in those conditions was pretty nifty. The run was over way too soon.
As we skinned back across the avy debris, Ian, and then I, heard the sound of a small, but respectable, wet slide in the clouds above, and slightly ahead, of us. To use my Dad's descriptor, it was pretty surreal. We hurried on out after we heard the slide stop and settle. Back at the car, we decided to head for the resort proper to skin and run a run. We did so, and it was great. ~1500-2000' ish gain and ski. Despite one biff, it was pretty fun.
For comparison, my previous ski trips had, at most (Winterplace: 630', Massanutten: 1175', Greek Peak: 952'.) 1175' of vertical drop (and I'd never skied from the summit when I was there, so it was probably less than a thousand feet as well.). Consultation with the trail map shows that we skied the maximum possible vert at Baker, 1500'. I can't wait to ski the long lines possible in the backcountry.
Lessons:
Dynafit bindings require some practice. I'd gotten better through the day, but I could've practiced at home.
We probably had no business exposing ourselves to slide danger on a warm day when we couldn't see the slopes/cornices above us. The fact that a slide occured in a location that threatened our route indicates failure. It's a big bummer to kill your trip almost before its begun, but we should have.
Sky's advice is often spot on. "Beware the death slurpee."
My ski poles suck. I should endeavour to solve that problem somehow. I guess I could REI them.... hm.
Skiing's pretty fun. I should ski more.
Skins work remarkably well. Climbing posts are good.
Skinning, while efficient, still involves lifting the mass of a ski on each foot while climbing. It's a new fitness challenge. It also beats the poo out of a stairclimber, since there's a serious payoff at the top.