Mt. Baker 3/25-3/26/17

Nice work JTG!

Baker, along with other PNW locations is a place that I've never been to for skiing and totally fascinates me. The deep snow that cakes ridiculously steep pitches is like nothing you generally find in continental or intermountain snow packs, the types I'm accustomed to. A part of me regrets not spending a few seasons in that area during my peak ski bumming years. That area and Squaw/North Shore, Crested Butte, Rogers Pass BC and then the list goes on and on......

Holy cow. That is super nuts.

raisingarizona wrote

Nice work JTG!

Baker, along with other PNW locations is a place that I've never been to for skiing and totally fascinates me. The deep snow that cakes ridiculously steep pitches is like nothing you generally find in continental or intermountain snow packs, the types I'm accustomed to. A part of me regrets not spending a few seasons in that area during my peak ski bumming years. That area and Squaw/North Shore, Crested Butte, Rogers Pass BC and then the list goes on and on......

Still young - well that is relative.. I need to get out of the East and go West.

R

Hey, you guys are younger than I am I'm pretty sure!  While the middle ground of raising kids and such changes a lifestyle, there's still time even when you get "old".  Maybe not ski bumming, but you can still go get it.

Good picture of what it was like on the ridge.



Me on the slog....



Where's my beer!

JTG4eva! wrote

Hey, you guys are younger than I am I'm pretty sure!  While the middle ground of raising kids and such changes a lifestyle, there's still time even when you get "old".  Maybe not ski bumming, but you can still go get it.

I'm not stopping! I'm just grounded here and forced to ski my home base while I finish my nursing education. Nursing being the goal because it pays good enough and opens up a shit ton of free time so I can back into the exploratory mode.

Jeff's a nurse, got his Bacelor's Degree at Pace Univ.  A bit disillusioned about the business-centric focus of healthcare these days (patients?  who cares about them anymore?!), but he loves it.

The jaded nurse attitude is prevalent among the ones that have been at it for years! As long as I have free time and $ to enjoy that time I think I'll be ok.

You know, I can't complain about my current situation, I have over 75 days this season, hit almost every single powder day in a >300 inch season and probably around 45 of those days were in the back country. I'm feeling very satisfied right now with my ski season. :)

For good reason.  Your reporting has been great.  Gotta enjoy if you can, because who knows what next season will bring!

Those are some awesome shots and soooooooooo white.

JTG man... you most certainly get the "Stoked Storm Chaser"  award.

Great show!  I'm already looking forward to your TRs next season.  Or are you coming this way for a Summer ski?

nepa wrote

JTG man... you most certainly get the "Stoked Storm Chaser"  award.

Great show!  I'm already looking forward to your TRs next season.  Or are you coming this way for a Summer ski?

Few years ago on our way to Alaska , we stopped at Vancouver for a couple of days, ate Chinese , hung out at Stanley Park and got some  great summer turns in at Whistler..

raisingarizona wrote

 I have over 75 days this season, hit almost every single powder day in a >300 inch season and probably around 45 of those days were in the back country. I'm feeling very satisfied right now with my ski season. :)

75 days.....wow.   N-V-S

N-V-S? I don't know what that is?

If it's "not very special" ya, I wasn't bragging like it's a huge number of days, it's plenty for me though. After 31 years of skiing and having at least 10 100-day seasons I actually get bored at some points so 75 is kind of a lot for me now.

Envious, drawn out.

D.B. Cooper wrote

Envious, drawn out.

Ha! Now that you point that out it seems so obvious  duh.

Just messing with some video. Working on getting a video cut for the whole trip. Throwing this edit up of a more adventurous run taken at the resort on Saturday. Out the gate at the top of Chair 8 to ski Hemispheres down to the Elbow. It shows what is so enticing about the easily accessible back/sidecountry....as well as what is so potentially dangerous. The powder is deep, when a sign says cliffs they mean CLIFFS, and in the blink of an eye you can find gentle rolling terrain has turned into a no fall zone. Its a pretty cool place, definitely need to get back. Yes, my sideslipping skills got a workout in the chute, which was near vertical and icy in spots. Props to those that can straight line a long, narrow, curving chute like that and launch out the other end. I don't have that kind of death wish!

Mt. Baker 3-26-17 from Chris Kidd on Vimeo.

nice vid..
you should have left all the swearing in

IIRC the only 'shit' that came out of me is what escaped my puckered sphincter!

I definitely zigged at the cliff line when I should have zagged.  I lost the boarders I was following, who I saw in the video went right at the top of that cliff band.  Inherent danger of following people into unfamiliar terrain, as I chose the less attractive chute to the left.  Had I gone right I'd have come through the much more manageable chute lookers left in this picture...

....as opposed to lookers right of the rock face in this one...


It was a fun adventure, though!  All's well that ends well....