Table Mtn (Mt Baker) Trip
Report/Photos
(1/18/2003)
What a week makes.
Last Sunday was pouring down rain and miserable.
Now Saturday and Sunday this week are great.
I’ll take the good conditions any day.
Saturday Janet, Matt and SteveF joined me for a trip to Table Mtn out of the Mt
Baker ski area. I would only go if
the weather was great and it was. I
had never been in this area and I was amazed how absolutely beautiful it is when
the weather is clear. However
potential for avalanche danger is pretty high if the conditions are not perfect
and our conditions were completely safe.
We parked at the ski area with all the skiers and backcountry folks.
We left the car at 10:10pm following the packed tract to Artist
Point/Table Mtn. Within 15 minutes
or so we striped down, me a single light layer and I never put anything else on
the rest of the day (wow). The
temperatures were more like summer than winter. It was so beautiful and I took so many photos, that the
others were wondering if I had lost my mind (I just wanted to enjoy and
remember). We pretty much followed
the packed track made by skiers up the east ridge of Table Mtn (about 200 ft of
steep terrain). We were certainly
not alone. It seemed like about 15
skiers pack up the skies/boards and skied the north face of Table Mtn (see
photos below). I also ran into Evan
who I met while in Winthrop a couple weeks back (small world). Snow conditions were great and after taking our sweet time,
we finally reached the summit of Table Mtn at 1:10pm. As we lunch, we enjoyed the views of all the other parties
skiing all around us, guessing about 100 folks.
Matt was interested in a bonus of Mazama Dome but he could not spark much
interest from the rest of us. We
spent 1 hour on the summit. We sort
of headed toward Mazama Dome but found the gully we needed to descend Icy and
had a 10-foot step. We could not
descend without a rope. So we
headed south to the large slope that some skier had used.
Dropping down the steep NE slopes posed no problem.
Some followed the valley route and others stayed a bit higher for fast
return route to the car (4:10pm). I
will return to this area, when perfect conditions.
It’s going to be hard to top this trip in 2003.
Stats: 5.5 miles, 1700’ gain, 6 hours
Table Mtn Photos:
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/totable.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/mike_baker.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/westridge.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/mtbaker.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/shuksan.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/shuksan2.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/janet_shuksan.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/sefirt.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/skier1.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/bc_skiing.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/shuksan3.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/janet.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/mike1.jpg
http://www.mtnmike.com/pics/table/mike2.jpg
