Now that the 99-2000 season is over I'm finally getting around to posting
something on my web site. Everyone in these pictures are my fellow
instructors. Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures throughout the
season. What pictures I have here were taken with a disposable camera and
scanned onto a Kodak Photo CD.
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This is IIlya (pronounced ill-ya) and Paula at the Heather Meadows instruction desk. |
One of the best things about Mt. Baker is the easy access to the backcountry. Some of the best snowboarding is had outside the ski area. A short hike later, anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, and you can have one killer fresh powder run long after powder has disappeared from the ski area. The two main hiking areas are Table mountain and the Shuksan Arm.
| This is Jean, Brad, and Adam on the way to Table mountain. We're at the base of Chimney Rock. |  |
The accent up Chimney Rock is not for the faint of heart. You have to ascend a progressively steeper and steeper slope that ends in a near vertical climb up a snow/ice/rock wall. One slip and down you go several hundred feet (more if your not so lucky). At this point we were one of three separate parties trying to go up. No one had been up Chimney for several days so there was no broken trail. A group from Japan tried first. To our astonishment, they choose the sketchiest accent path. We actually stepped back in case they caused an avalanche above us. Thankfully they gave up before the killed themselves.
Next a more experienced group of locals tried to make it up. They choose a better path but also failed and turned back. We were a little put off as we knew they had more experience than any of us but we saw what we believed to be a better path. After they left we took a stab at it and it turned out to be one of the easiest accents I've ever made up Chimney.
This was definitely the most rewarding hike of the season for me. We had a real sense of accomplishment being the first group to make the accent that day.
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This is a picture of a Sundog. We saw this while waiting at the base of Chimney Rock. We took this as a sign to proceed on our journey. |
| This is Jean, Brad, and Lisa on top of Table Mountain. Directly behind us is the hill that chair 1 & 6 are on. The hill to it's right is Hemispheres. |  |
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This is Me, Jean, and Brad on the Shuksan arm. We hiked up Hemispheres from the top of chair 8 and then traversed out to the 4th knob on the arm. |
Beside hiking trips we also just hung out a lot together.
| This is Jean and Chris at the top of chair 3. |  |
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This is us at Milano's for the full-time instructor's
dinner.
From left to right, Steele, Megan, Me, Ilya, Jean, Brad, and Marcus. |
| This is the last day in the lodge.
Clockwise left to right, Michael Dee, Adam, Jean, Me, Jeff, Ross, Andi, and Shane |
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At the end of the last day I waited at the top of chair 5 for the mountain to clear out so I could have the last ride to myself.
See the view of Mt. Shuksan from the top of chair 5 on the last day.
btw, my season total is 121 days of snowboarding so far. Given a few Mt. Hood trips this summer I'll probably reach 125 days this season. Conservatively I figure I did 1,200,000 (yes, 1.2 million) vertical feet this season. And 50,000 of that was big mountain helicopter riding in Alaska.