Tag Archives: mt baker

The mood of a Pacific Northwest winter is defined by monochromatic clouds and a never-ending somber grayness. The dampness that muffles sound also softens the edges of the scenery. There seems little depth to the view as layers of fog and mist create a two dimensional portrait of the world. Shadows hardly exist.   But luckily, the Mt. Baker Highway …

Smaller ski manufacturers, often called garage brands, have been proliferating across the ski industry. Similar to how small, local breweries have popped up everywhere to accommodate specific local tastes, smaller regional ski manufacturers are now designing their skis with local terrain in mind.  Lib Tech, which manufacturers on the Olympic Peninsula, does a lot of their product testing at Mt. …

  The Mount Baker backcountry is magical in black and white. Ever-changing light and shadows continually transform mountain peaks and slopes, highlighting the power and the allure of nature. The backcountry in winter reveals the quiet solitude, the delicate texture of the snow, roiling mountain storms and the infinite sky. The clear air, angle of the light, tonal contrast, shapes …

I am inescapably and resoundingly middle-aged. I have been a college student for three years now, liquidating savings and borrowing heavily against presumed future earnings. Recently—remarkably—I graduated: thirty years almost to the day since I finished high school. Early that morning I drove to the mountains for a celebratory ski in the Mt. Baker backcountry, my excuse being that I …

Whether you climb up the mountain or go down the hill to the valley, whether you journey to the end of the world or merely walk around your house, none but yourself shall you meet. –   Maurice Maeterlinck, La sagesse et las destinée (Wisdom and Destiny) 1898   Early this year I got a call from a long-time climbing buddy: how …

It was June and we were just outside the Mt. Baker Ski Area near the Bagley Lake Parking Lot. My children—who have grown up skiing and climbing—were horsing around in the snow. They were sledding, throwing snowballs, rolling around and pretty much doing everything that they could to get soaking wet in spring isothermal snow. I wasn’t paying super close …

Winter has descended upon us. Skyline Divide, Yellow Aster Butte, and all of your other favorite high country romps are now— thanks to a thick shroud of snow—pretty much off limits until next summer. But there’s no need to put away your hiking shoes. There are scores of low country hikes that for the most part remain snow-free all year …

The North Cascades are a hiker’s paradise. The trail system that we enjoy in these northern mountains provides access to spectacular places and ranks among the world’s supreme networks of footpaths. Two of the finest routes in the Mt. Baker area are the Ptarmigan Ridge and Yellow Aster Butte trails. Both transport boot-clad acolytes across landscapes of unforgettable grandeur. Both …

Recently I made a five-day backpacking trip to one of my all-time favorite areas in the North Cascades—Image Lake, located high on Miner’s Ridge in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. For me, this is one of the classic views of mountains and lakes in the Northwest, rivaled only by a few other spots such as Picture Lake/Mount Shuksan and Tipso Lake/Mount …

In winter, the North Cascades are truly in their element; simultaneously softened by the blanketing snow and rendered more dramatic by the relentless fury of the elements. It is a landscape of extraordinary beauty, carved and chiseled by the weather of eons gone by. This is their season. Summer, as they say, is a beautiful lie. The Mt. Baker Highway …