Our Mt.Baker Day Trip

This February my close girlfriend, Kathleen, was visiting Tyler and I from Ontario so we decided to take a day trip to Mt. Baker in Washington State.  We had been getting lot’s of sunny weather here in Vancouver so we thought taking a  Friday off work would make a great ski day.

Kathleen, Me, and Tyler at Mt. Baker

To get to Mt. Baker we woke up early at 5am and headed east to Abbotsford through the Sumas Boarder Crossing in to the Untied States.  After a quick intermission at the boarder and exaggerating the truth to the boarder guard about having fruit in our car we headed off the windy back roads to Mt. Baker.  I have never skied Mt. Baker and was surprised that the roads to get there were so narrow through farm land and forests.

View of Mount Shuksan – one of the two mountains in Mt. Baker’s ski fields

I must say, Mt. Baker is so beautiful!  The terrain is very picturesque and with their alpine base at over 200cm (111 inches) that day there was lot’s of snow.  Initially, I was under the impression that Mt. Baker was as big as Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains but I found the terrain there to be a similar size to Grouse Mountain.

Mt. Baker

One thing I noticed immediately was the boring names they use for their chairlifts…ie. C-5, C-8, C-7.  Speaking of Mt. Baker’s chairlifts, I was NOT happy!  They feel very unsafe!  They do not have a restraining bar and you have to be ready for them to ’scoop’ you up or get hit by them when you get on.  They are older quad chairs but I was shocked that they didn’t have a restraining device to keep you in your chair.  It was especially scary when the chair stopped and swung in mid-air…

Tyler with the Mt. Baker trail map contemplating our next move after lunch

However, despite being a smaller mountain the terrain was awesome!  Very fun and lot’s of snow.  Our favorite run of the day was a black diamond called Canyon which we went down three times despite the sketchy chairlift C-6 to get up to it =)  We also enjoyed the other terrain the mountain had to offer and it did have lot’s of wide runs and extensive blue terrain.  We discovered the snow was less tracked out on the right side (Mt. Baker side) of the mountain and much less busy.

View down our favorite run of the day Canyon

Overall, it was a very long but great day to Mt. Baker.  I would love to go again sometime soon.  I just have to work up enough courage to get back on their chairlifts.

Filed Under: General, Mountain Talk, Skiing, Snowboarding
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