ODE TO RANDY HOOK Remembering the Mt. Baker legend BY MAYA HUNGER
A DIFFERENT KIND OF HARDCORE The quest to ride every day of the season is alive at Mt. Baker
Randy Hook, right, at the Mt. Baker Ski Area last spring. Photo courtesy of Angela Griffin.
O
n January 1, the Mt. Baker Ski Area quietly greeted the new year. It was a calm and clear morning and the sun had just reached Mt. Shuksan’s hanging glacier as the news spread across the mountain: Randy Hook, Mt Baker’s legendary Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, mustache-toting, pro-patroller-turned-grandfather figure, had passed away at work while snowmobiling around the ski area. I caught the fourth chair on chair 5 that morning and as we reached the top, a large bald eagle came into view, its wings hardly beating as it rode the updrafts amid the golden morning light. The eagle circled the entire ski area from the top of Chair 8 to the patrol shack near Chair 1 – we watched, captivated. Behind us the helicopter came and landed in the back of the parking lot. At White Salmon Lodge, hundreds of hugs were exchanged and dozens of shoulders were cried upon. Even in our divided time his loss was felt by a unified community that, in many respects, acted as Randy’s family. As the sun set that evening many employees gathered to watch the film “Hook” in his honor, and at his memorial a few days later, Chair 9 was so full there wasn’t a spare parking space within a mile. “No one could say exactly what Randy did on the mountain because he did so much he made himself indispensable,” said Anthony Brown, a friend of Randy’s and former ski area employee. “I think he’d returned for so many seasons that it was understood that he would probably work for the mountain until he couldn’t anymore.” Randy’s impact on the Mt. Baker and Glacier communities is difficult to quantify. In many ways Randy was just as much a part of the mountain as its raven logo, Avenue Bread chowder bowls and heavy Pacific Northwest snowpack. He was 19 when he started working at the ski area and continued off and on until he passed away at 67. Unquestionably irreplaceable as a member of the Baker staff, Randy touched the lives of most employees and many guests in a profound way.
44
“Randy taught me a lot. I think his influence changed my life,” said former pro patroller Zack Barrett. “He had a positive attitude every day no matter what happened around him. He would do anything for anyone at any time. You can be stoked or bummed out in your life; Randy was stoked. He taught me that that was a personal decision, not that you were predestined for one or the other.” While Randy’s overall stoke and positive demeanor prevailed throughout his career at Baker, he also seemed to have a rare ability to sense danger and respond quickly and effectively. Chad Kaaland, a former employee lodge cook, recalled the time that a co-worker had a seizure in the kitchen during the breakfast rush. Not wanting to scare the entire crowd of people, Chad walked calmly into the dining hall and requested ski patrol assistance. “Maybe I asked for assistance too calmly, but no one seemed to notice much except Randy. It was like he saw in my eyes how badly I needed help; he was in the kitchen within seconds,” Kaaland said. During his prime ski days, Randy’s instincts distinguished him as a stellar ski patroller as well. His 1997 heroic rescue of a lost teenager made headlines and was recounted in a four-page spread in Reader’s Digest. The kid got lost just outside the ski area boundary, fell down a frozen waterfall and became buried out of sight at the waterfall’s base. As the article says, Randy located the teenager on his own and led a four-hour rescue mission that involved 27 people (mostly food service employees) and moving nearly 10 tons of snow. Over the course of the last couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of talking with many people about Randy and they’ve shared one common sentiment: he died doing what he loved, in the place he loved, with the people he loved, on one of the most beautiful days of the year – if only we could all be so lucky. And so goes the hope that even in the wake of his passing, we may all learn from Randy and continue his legacy: drink cold beer, ski with good friends, look out for one another and stay positive even when things are tough.
MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SPRING 2017
BY OLIVER LAZENBY
O
ne day in 2013, a soaking wet Albert Arth stood on the shoulder of Highway 542 with his thumb out for three hours before finally catching a ride to the Mt. Baker Ski Area. He missed the migration of employees headed to work, which usually passes by his home in Snowater between 7 and 7:30 a.m. And since it was also raining at the top of Pan Dome, 4,000 feet above, no one was going skiing. Maybe Arth wouldn’t have been going skiing either. Except, after seven years of snowboarding 100 days a season, he’d set a more ambitious goal: to ride every single day of the season. Arth isn’t the only one to attempt or even complete that goal. A few others have taken up the challenge as a way to prove to themselves their love and dedication to snowboarding. But Arth has probably been the most successful. He had so much fun the first winter that he tried it again in ’14-’15 with the following set of goals: ride every day of the ski season, hitchhike each way every day, complete 100 backcountry runs and not spend money all season long. He pared back his life, which was already arranged around snowboarding, even further. He paid his mortgage in advance at the beginning of the season, stocked his house with food and beer, and caught rides with a
friend once a week to the Bellingham Food Bank, where he volunteered and got food. He worked two days a week as security at the ski area. Not spending money allowed him to simplify his life, but he also wanted to prove that money isn’t a requirement for living your dreams. That year, it hardly snowed and many gave up on skiing and snowboarding early in the year. Arth found ways to make it fun. A believer in the power of crystals, he put a giant amethyst crystal his friend found in the lodge in a strategic location to make it snow. He repelled a 50-foot cliff with ski patrol to ski a line on the arm. “You had to find a way to make it fun,” said Arth, who’s now 35. Arth made all his goals. Even for folks who have arranged their whole lives around being able to ski or snowboard whenever they want to, skiing everyday seems extreme. “I work there and I ski fairly often, but even I take breaks,” said Mt. Baker pro patroller Andy Sahlfeld. “So to go every single day is really an immense amount of dedication. It’s like a different kind of hard core.” Aside from dedication and preparation, it took serious luck, Arth said. He had to dodge the perils of foot pain, injuries, hangovers and the appeal of taking a day off to do laundry, buy groceries or take care of other life necessities. The quest even ended Arth’s
‘Third Generation Knowledge’ comes with local experience and being locally connected. Call today to learn about the unique real estate opportunities in the Mount Baker region!
360.303.4272 • bethniemorrison@cbbain.com
#bluejeansrealtor
MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM