snow cave photos from Mt Baker

Baker Backcountry

Slept in a hole in the snow.  Skied in a buttery fog ... at least it wasn't raining!!

Backcountry weekend up at Mt. Baker.  Very lucky the weather held.  But the fog was rough.  Not safe to ski in the open--no depth perception at all.  Good education.  Building snow caves was great fun.  Anne and I built a Ranger's Trench with a tarp and skis.  Turned out good. 
Also real tough snow conditions on Saturday:  breakable crust.  I couldn't turn at all.  Very humbling.  Snow in the night gave pretty decent snow for Sunday--but still, the fog shut the skiing down.
Second-hand down booties are killer for winter camping!

Chair and Kaleetan Peaks

 

Out of Alpental

Good day out skiing with Matt on Sunday.  What started as a reconnasaince mission to Kaleetan Peak became a ski tour out of Alpental.  We skied up the E. Face of Chair Peak (a mt. that we would love to climb soon.)  The conditions up high weren't stable enough, so we skied happily down.  We need another route to the NE Face, which looks fine, overlooking Snow Lake.
We hope to retry Kaleetan on Thursday; this time with climbing boats and not skis ... which we may regret later.