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IamChwisss t1_iycz4b2 wrote

Reply to comment by G-Hoffa in If you look closely you can see Whoville in the valley | OC | Mt Baker WA | 1284x1605 by michaelfoosh

Thanks for this .. was wondering how the fuck they would let people ski that. Makes much more sense now.

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iamamountaingoat t1_iyd7qsq wrote

It’s actually a very popular ski descent, but you have to hike up it. It takes about 7 hours for an average group to reach the summit.

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IamChwisss t1_iydc51q wrote

7 hours?! I thought there was a chair that would take you closer to summit.

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iamamountaingoat t1_iydega1 wrote

Nope, the chair lifts are located about 9 miles NE of Mt. Baker itself. The mountain proper is almost entirely on wilderness land, so there’s literally nothing there besides a few dirt roads to get you to the base, and some hiking trails that are covered in snow anyway if you’re skiing it during peak season (spring). Its also covered in crevasses so people generally rope up for the climb (but not for the descent). Climbing and skiing it is very much a long ski mountaineering day. The cool thing is timed right you can ski continuously from the summit to your car for about 8,000 vertical feet of descending.

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shwasty_faced t1_iye03mj wrote

Chair 8 drops you off at a boundary gate on the Shuksan side of the ski area. After a short hike up from the gate you can traverse the ridge and drop into the bowl that's visible from the ski area. It's famous for the action shots the ski area posts on their socials but the ascents of either Baker or Shuksan are far more work than that.

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IamChwisss t1_iyel1wz wrote

I think this is comment gives me the perspective i needed. Now i know what people mean when they say they hiked to the top.

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elcapitan520 t1_iyeg0o1 wrote

Ski resorts don't often go to summits and Mt. Baker is a glaciated peak. The typical summit route for skiing (that I know of) goes over Colfax glacier specifically. So you need to be a decently experienced ski mountaineer to handle the skiing as well as crevasse concerns as the seasons turn.

The ascent from the trailhead is about 7 miles and 7k feet elevation to reach the summit. The chairs at the ski area only go up to about 6k feet or less and are located northeast of the main mountain area. The summit is around 10.5k feet elevation.

There's plenty of incredible backcountry skiing throughout the Baker area and I believe other summit routes. But nothing a resort or chairs would go near. I just realized it's not even a resort there either. It's just the 'ski area' that has lifts, avalanche mitigation, and half the map marked off as a cliff warning lol.

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IamChwisss t1_iyeht0z wrote

So basically what you're trying me is the guy in my office who said he went to baker for 1 day and hiked to the summit, yet also said the rest of the resort was sick was most likely full of shit?

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elcapitan520 t1_iyejqbc wrote

It'd be a long ass day lol.

If he was on foot and doing it in a day, he'd likely have to start at about 2am from the trailhead to hike up with crampons and not posthole the whole way. For someone in very good shape and experienced, they could summit around 8-9am. Getting back to the car, grabbing lunch in glacier and heading over to the ski area to check it out wouldn't take more than a couple hours.

If they were on skis, the timing compresses considerably. You'll go (slightly) faster up and way faster down and want to summit later so your getting snow instead of ice. That might be a 4am trailhead start for a 10-11am summit and back to the car before 1pm easy.

It's doable but it's adventurous and takes some crazy legs

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IamChwisss t1_iyelgp4 wrote

Nah, he's full of shit. Snowboarder.. story is he got to sneak in a day on a work trip. He probably meant he hiked to the top of the bowl accessible from the chair as someone else explained to me.

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shwasty_faced t1_iye0696 wrote

You could actually ski both after touring from the ski area (there are two major lodge parking areas on opposite ends of the ski boundary). Cody Townsend has a pretty impressive ski descent of Shuksan as part of his THE FIFTY project and he camped overnight in the White Salmon Lodge parking lot.

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