Snow

The sojourn to Huntoon Point is a study in contrasts – it starts amidst the hustle and bustle of the Mt. Baker Ski Area and ends in the serene silence of Kulshan Ridge, where the icy winds blowing off the glaciers will cleanse your soul. If there’s a snowshoe trip with more scenic bang for the buck in the North …

Ah, weekends: all hopes for outdoor activities focused on two rather brief days, followed by a seemingly endless five-day commitment to work, errands, responsibilities, and sensible bedtimes. The day’s forecast looked unpromising, but I had to work the following day. My options were stark: sit around at home and continue to monitor my increasing girth….or ski. I chose to ski. …

Matt points his phone towards the stars over the mountains in the southern sky. “You’ve got to line it up with the satellite,” he says. “That seems to work best.” Apparently, iPhone 14 and newer have built-in satellite messaging. I ask him what he’s up to and he tells me he has a buddy back home who is sending him …

  I step from the truck among 20 other cars, and an arctic wind knifes me within seconds. Weather always funnels like tides through this bottleneck, one of few gaps in the Alaska Range. My brow hurts with an ice-cream headache, and my hands are numb. I forgot my down jacket and borrow a flowery fleece from a friend who …

I had a dream that lasted 24 years, one that drifted in my subconscious like a satellite in orbit revolving patiently, waiting to be activated. Only now can I see how round and symmetrical the dream was, how it would inevitably return to its origin. I was nineteen when I first saw it. After four days of driving westward to …

I am not a gambler, but I won the lottery this past March when I was invited to spend a week at the Asulkan Cabin on the British Columbia/Alberta border. The cabin is renowned for being situated in the heart of excellent ski terrain and sits at treeline (7000 feet) next to several large glaciers. In winter, it is accessed …

If you’ve ever driven from Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle, you’ve probably seen it. Counting truckers, families, hikers, skiers, newlyweds, kids driving home for spring break, grandparents, and State Troopers, the people who’ve seen it probably number in the millions. There must be several thousand, just counting the skiers traveling back and forth to the pass. I bet that if someone …

  Matt and I threaded pieces of cord through holes we had drilled in makeshift footbridges and tied the bridges to the backs of a couple of old snowmobiles we had purchased for Baker Mountain Guides. The goal for the day was to drag the bridges up to the trailhead for North Twin Sister and place them over numerous creeks …

Ski huts are ubiquitous in Europe. They’re common in Canada. But here in the USA, not so much. The Rendezvous Huts, located in the sublime mountains that rise above Washington’s Methow Valley, are a time-honored exception to the rule. Enoch & Shandra Kraft built the first two huts—on the Methow’s Diamond T Ranch—back in 1980. Today, there are five huts …

A lot goes through your mind while lying on the floor of a sushi restaurant in downtown Anchorage. Stuff like, “somebody needs to clean the underside of this table,” and, “why doesn’t anyone ask what I’m doing on the floor?” and, of course, “this is gonna make a great story if I live.” But I digress. Five days prior, I …