Snow Field Trip 2015

As a volunteer instructor for the Mountaineers I went up to Mt. Baker to help teach snow travel and ice ax arrest skills as part of the alpine scrambling course over the past weekend. The snow fall this year has been alarmingly low and the snowpack has suffered greatly. Luckily if you gain enough elvation you can still find some snow.

We began the weekend with basic travel on snow, how to hold and walk with an ice ax, how to step, where to step, traveling up, down, and across snowy/icy hills. We then got into glissading and how to stop yourself; ice ax arresting. We spent a good portion of the first day then hurling ourselves down the mountain while trying to stop ourselves from sliding too far. We went down on our butts, on our stomachs, on our backs, with our pack, without our packs, every way you could think, and learned how to stop ourselves from sliding to our demise.

After  good long while of sliding down the mountain we had a short demonstration on how to dig a snow pit to learn about different snow layers and avalanche conditions. After that informative display we headed back to the lodge to eat some good food and rest for the next day.

The next day we did some more ice ax arrest practice, and then we took a short hike up to Huntoon Point. It was a short scramble, but gave the students a great opportunity to practice navigation skills, and all their newly learned snow travel skills. Each student took turns leading and got the pleasant opportunity to kick steps in the new snow.

The views form Huntoon Point were pretty awesome with the clear blue skies and mountains in every direction. Some of which were Mt. Baker and the allegedly most photographed mountain in the world: Mt. Shuksan. It's easy to see why it may-or-may-not be the most photographed mountain...

At the top of Huntoon Point we ate a quick lunch, and socialized as a big group, and then had the joy of glissading down one at a time. That is by far the funnest part of snow scrambling. Then we headed back down to our cars and drove home. It was  great weekend and had lots of fun and sun.

Region: North Cascades, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation gain: 1200 ft.
Peak Elevation: 5150 ft.
Difficulty: Easy
Pass requirement: None.

As always check out all the photos from the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.