The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Sunday’s ski down the Coleman Glacier on the northwest slopes of Mount Baker was literally a bloody mess. Inspired by a trip report published on TurnsAllYear.com; Gus, Tristan, Megan and I designated October 23 as the day we would Occupy Baker. While we didn’t find boot deep pow; we did encounter a liberal amount of rocks, ice and treacherous terrain.

Last Thanksgiving Gus and I made our first turns of 2010-2011 season at Crystal Mountain. Charging through heavy early season powder on Northway unknowingly started the clock on a year long quest. November became the first tick mark on a list followed by 11 other consecutive months. Seldom a weekend passed between our inaugural day at Crystal and the end of April where skiing did not enter the picture. The goal of skiing every month for a year really wasn’t talked about until the spring. Sometime in May Gus called me up to tell me he’d driven to Alpental and made a few turns despite the lifts being closed. I thought that sounded like a good idea so I cruised up there myself one Friday night and skinned up. With the days growing longer, Gus and I met up at the park and ride in Bellevue after work on the evening of June 1 and again shot up I-90 to Alpental. We climbed the front side of the mountain and sloshed around the corn on the way down. In July Gus, Brandon Cox and I parked our car at the hairpin on the North Cascades Highway and climbed up several thousand feet near the South Early Winter Spire. We camped in the alpine, woke up, and skied all the next day before descending back to the car. Our most ambitious ski trip was in August. Gus, Ryan, Tristan, Bobby and I reached the summit of Washington’s second highest peak, Mount Adams, and skied from the top. Continuing the theme of scaling volcanoes, Gus and I skied from just over 8,000′ on Mount Rainier’s Paradise Glacier in September. We had now skied eleven consecutive months in the state of Washington; all that remained was October. Enter Mount Baker.

We left Seattle a little before 6 AM on Sunday. After a last minute provisions stop at that one gas station in Maple Falls, we were parked at the trailhead and heading up Baker’s Hogsback by 9:30 AM.

Several times on the hike in we encountered streams sans bridges. While this normally doesn’t present much of a challenge, the cool morning temps caused many of the rocks to be covered in ice.

Just as we neared the base of the glacier one of these streams got the better of me. Crossing required gingerly stepping from one dry rock to another, and finally inching along a slender branch to cross the last few feet. I successfully made it across the water, but my footing on the opposite bank of the stream did not have the traction I assumed. I immediately slipped on the icy granite and landed squarely on my chin. I scrambled to get back on my feet and pull my right leg out of the stream. I felt okay, until I put my hand underneath my chin and took a look at it. Blood. I looked up at Megan, Gus and Tristan and I could tell from the looks on their faces that I did more damage than just a scratch. Megan, a nurse by profession, took a look at the gash and confirmed that I wouldn’t bleed to death. We just needed to stop the bleeding in order for me to continue the ascent. Improvising with a little ice and tissue, I was able to get it under control before applying a bandage. Later I would need 5 stitches to close up the 3 cm cut, but for now it was back to the climb.

After we emerged from tree line we had to find a non-crevassed portion of the glacier to begin skinning. up. The terrain just below the glacier was very slick. We traversed several ridges by sticking to gravel which provided decent traction and avoided slippery surfaces such as granite and brush.

Once we were on snow it was obvious the powder reported a week earlier was not going to be in play. The surface of the snow was a firm, icy, solid yet smooth crust. Surprisingly, skins seemed to grip well and we wasted little time ascending to the Black Buttes.

We transitioned once we reached the Black Buttes at about 7,500 feet. After a little goofing off and grabbing a quick snack, we began our descent down the chattery, icy smooth glacier.

Despite the strange snow, the ski down as incredibly fun. The conditions were fast, smooth and surprisingly grippy. It was almost as if we were skiing mother nature’s version of corduroy. Growing up in Michigan conditioned me to be able to enjoy any type of snow (or lack there of). Taking gates on a sheet of ice isn’t exactly powder skiing, but it’s an experience nonetheless. Compared to those memories, skiing Mount Baker in October was pure joy.

On our descent we missed the terminal of the trail by several hundred yards. Again we found ourselves crossing a few ridges and contending with slippery brush and rocks. In a little under an hour we had located the trail and made it back to the car shortly before dark.

Post Script…

This wasn’t the first time I skied Mount Baker in the off season. In 1994 I took a trip with my family across the United States. We hit Yellowstone, Jasper, Banff, Lake Louise, Wyoming, Montana and ended up in Lynden, Washington. On the Fourth of July we drove to Mount Baker to play around in the snowfields. I brought my skis with me, all the way from Michigan, for this very reason: I wanted to ski in the summer. It is only fitting that I completed my first “Turns All Year” season on the same mountain that I first backcountry skied on 17 summers earlier.

More photos on Flickr. Check out the slideshow below.