Mount Baker Experience, Winter 2020

FREE

Special Publication of The Northern Light

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

WINTER 2020

• GRANT GUNDERSON INTERVIEW

• OPENING DAY

• URBAN HIKING

PLAY

ALL THE GAMING ACTION 1100+ slot machines, 17 table games including Craps, Roulette, & Blackjack

WINNING STAY

DINE

IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!

UNWIND IN STYLE 206 luxurious hotel rooms & suites Rates starting at $149

SAVOR THE FLAVORS

11 restaurants & bars including The Steak House & The Buffet

TEE OFF

GOLF

Open to the public 365 days a year!

Reef Rewards members receive discounts on green fees.

GOLFLOOMIS.COM

SILVERREEFCASINO.COM I-5 EXIT 260 Management reserves all rights.

AvAlAnche courses THIS COURSE COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Avalanche Courses Mt. Baker & Bellingham

3-day programs on weekends Dec-Feb

Celebrating 22 Years MAKING HANDCRAFTED BEER

Hand Tossed Pizza

NOW OPEN DAILY AT NOON

20 Taps • Beer Garden

AIARE Levels 1 & 2

Backcountry Ski & Splitboard Clinics & Tours – Basic to Extreme

STAY UPDATED! ... FOLLOW US ON

FACEBOOK • UNTAPPD • INSTAGRAM

6186 Mt. Baker Highway • Deming, WA (360) 599-BEER WWW.NORTHFORKBREWERY.COM

2019

2020

63

$

.02 +tax

Weekend / Holiday

56

$

.53 +tax

Midweek / Non-Holiday

Adult Daily Lift Ticket Prices. Tax Not Included.

Photo: Grant Gunderson Skier: KC Deane

Rent your equipment here!

American In Fairhaven at 1515 - 12th St, Bellingham Alpine Institute 360-671-1505 • AlpineInstitute.com

Graham’s Historical Restaurant Antiques

360-599-1943

Glacier Ski Shop 9966 Mt. Baker Hwy • Glacier • GlacierSkiShop.com Best Rates SEASON RENTALS

R ERENTAL N TARATES LS BEST Downhill ••Tele • Snowboards••Snowshoes Snowshoes Downhill Tele• •X-C X-C• AT • Snowboards

Movie Stars

V O TVoTeD E D B E S BeST T EVER!

Great Food

Vegetarian • Vegan • GF options

Live Music

tune shop TUNE SHOP

Binding BootTunes Fitting BindingMounts Mounts••Hotwax Hotwax••Custom Ski & Board

Kitchen Open Mon.-Thurs. Noon - 9 PM Fri. -Sun. Noon - 10 PM CONSISTENTLY

9989 Mt. Baker Hwy. Glacier, Washington

360.599.1933 www.GrahamsHistoricalRestaurant.com

Brought to you by Shirley

Noww SSeeNrrvovin ing

Fresh Baked Goods BrB&earkfeasatkBufarritoss,t Strictly Organic Coffee & Espresso ASoupllL&uDQunaiccheyh Behind Milano’s Restaurant • Open everyday at 7:30 am Behind Milano’s Restaurant • Open everyday at 7:30 am

www.GrahamsHistoricalRestaurant.com

CHAIR 9

WOODSTONE PIZZA & BAR

Full Menu & Family Dining

Happy Hour

Nooksack Nordic Ski Club Cross Country Ski Enthusiasts and Stewards of The Salmon Ridge Cross Country Ski and Snowshoe Washington State SnoPark

Upstairs Game Room Free WiFi

Mon-Fri 11am-4pm

Watch all your sporting events here! 6 big screen TVs

LIVE MUSIC - Check

for schedule

PRIVATE ROOM available for parties and events.

CATERING for all your party needs.

10459 Mt. Baker Hwy Glacier, WA

360/599-2511 www.Chair9.com

MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL EVENTS Garden Street Methodist Church 1326 N Garden St., Bellingham

7pm on 2nd Tuesdays

Glacier’s Only Hotel Located next to Chair 9 A great place to rest your head after your mountain adventure!

360/599-9944

Ask about pet-friendly rooms 4

Nov. 12 • Dec. 10 • Jan. 14 Feb. 11 • Mar. 9 All are welcome!

NooksackNordicSkiClub.org

www.bluetlodge.com

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

OPENING

• Fresh organic produce & organic dairy items • Best beer & wine selection east of Bellingham

RESTAURANT and LOUNGE since 1938

MONTHLY GROCERY SPECIALS!

NEW

Organic Items Every Week!

NEW

• Gluten free products • Vitamins & Herbal Supplements • International foods • Bulk Foods • 3,400 DVDs • Sno-Park Passes

THE BEER

CAVE

Over 200 kinds of COLD BEER to choose from!

Come see our newly remodeled merchandise section and coffee station

MT BAKER SOUVENIRS

INCLUDING T-SHIRTS SWEATSHIRTS

19

Winter 20

WIC Checks, EBT & Quest Accepted

OPEN 7AM-10PM EVERYDAY At the crossroads of Mt. Baker Highway & Silver Lake Rd. 7802 Silver Lake Road in Maple Falls 360-599-9657

LOVINGLY RESTORED - everything NEW but the building!

COZY wood-burning fireplace

9

flat-screen TVs

Gourmet Burgers OPEN DAILY Specialty Sandwiches Mon-Thurs 3pm-9pm Fish & Chips Award-Winning Pizza Fri-Sat 9am-9pm Breakfast Specials Sun 9am-8pm Beer • Wine • Spirits

7461 Mt. Baker Hwy • Maple Falls, WA

360 -599-1004

Luca Williams Certified Rolfer Glacier, WA 360-599-3172 lucasrolfing.com

Mt Baker Visitors Center

Free Maps & Area Information Open Daily 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Maple Falls corner of Mt. Baker Hwy. and Silver Lake Rd.

360-599-1518 • www.mtbakerchamber.org

WINTER HOURS Mon - Thurs, 8am -8pm Fri & Sat 8am - 10pm

7466 Mt. Baker Hwy. 360-746-8734

MAPLE FALLS • WASHINGTON

/greenstopcannabis • 21+

WARNING: There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Smoking is hazardous to your health. Marijuana should not be used by women that are pregnant or breast feeding. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.

Marijuana may not be legal in your area. Any marijuana products shown here are for Adults 21+ to consume within Washington State.

WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

5

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE Special publication of The Northern Light and All Point Bulletin PUBLISHERS Patrick Grubb and Louise Mugar EDITOR Oliver Lazenby

CONTRIBUTORS

PUBLICATION DESIGN Doug De Visser COPY EDITOR Aly Siemion

MBE winter 2020

ADVERTISING DESIGN Ruth Lauman • Doug De Visser ADVERTISING SALES Kristin Siemion • Molly Ernst

CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE: Brad Andrew, Anne Cleary, Brandon Fralic, Chris Gerston, Jason Griffith, Grant Gunderson, David Guterson, Jason Hummel, Jason D. Martin, Marcus Paladino, Lisa Pulsifer, Skye Schillhammer, Matthew Tangeman, Jacqueline Thompson, Andrew Waite, Luca Williams EMAIL: info@mountbakerexperience.com WEB: www.mountbakerexperience.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/mtbakerexperience

BRADANDREW Brad Andrew is a Bellingham-based freelance action sports photographer. He spends his winters chasing the snow looking for the perfect spot to make the perfect image. He is a husband, father and a student of life.

ANNECLEARY An always-say-yes attitude and a passion for storytelling through media brought Anne to Bellingham. She has employed filmmaking and photography to document and share adventure.

BRANDONFRALIC Based in Bellingham, Brandon writes about Pacific Northwest trails, ales and travel for a handful of regional publications. brandonfralic.com

TWITTER: twitter.com/MB_Experience INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/mtbakerexp If you can see Mt. Baker, you’re part of the experience. Mount Baker Experience is an outdoor recreation guide for and about the Mt. Baker region, distributed from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. and published by Point Roberts Press, Inc. Locally owned, the company also publishes The Northern Light, All Point Bulletin, Pacific Coast Weddings, Waterside and area maps.

Vol. XXXIII, No. 4. Printed in Canada. ©2019 POINT ROBERTS PRESS 225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230 TEL: 360/332-1777 NEXT ISSUE Spring 2020 • Out mid Feb. 2020 Ad reservation deadline: Jan. 23 ON THE COVER Skiers breaking trail out the Shuksan Arm during a break in the weather.

Grant Gunderson photo.

JASONGRIFFITH Jason is a fisheries biologist who would rather be on a summit than down by the river. When he isn’t fiddling with his camera in the mountains, he lives in Mount Vernon with his wife and two boys.

GRANTGUNDERSON One of the ski industry’s preeminent photographers, Grant has shot for every major snow sports and outdoor publication worldwide.

Grantgunderson.com

JASONHUMMEL Jason is an outdoor photographer from Washington who has documented numerous first descents in the North Cascades.

Alpinestateofmind.com

JASONMARTIN Jason is the executive director at the American Alpine Institute, a mountain guide and a widely published outdoor writer. He lives in Bellingham with his wife and two kids.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MARCUSPALADINO Marcus Paladino is a surf and outdoor photographer living in Tofino, B.C. He strives to have simple descriptions like ‘surf shot’ or ‘nature photo’ fall short. That’s when his work becomes art. marcuspaladino.com

LISAPULSIFER Lisa Pulsifer is passionate about hiking and backpacking and recently completed the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington. She lives in Vancouver, B.C.

SKYESCHILLHAMMER Skye Schillhammer is a rider, photographer and cinematographer for Transition Bikes in Bellingham. When he’s not on assignment or on a bike, you can find him deep in the woods building trail and soaking in the PNW.

MATTHEWTANGEMAN Matthew is an adventure photographer with a passion for deep powder, alpine granite and not making it back to the trailhead until way after dark. mtangeman.com

JACQUELINETHOMPSON Jacqueline is a writer, mountain guide and environmentalist who splits her time between her home in northern Arizona and western Washington.

ANDREWWAITE Andrew Waite has an MFA in creative writing from Pacific University and a bachelor’s in journalism from Boston University. He works as a writer and editor in Seattle, where he lives with his wife and daughter. aawaite.com

LUCAWILLIAMS Luca is a certified rolfer in Glacier. She helps snowboarders, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts to get aligned and out of pain. Website: lucasrolfing.com. Blog: movingwithgravity.wordpress.com MountBakerExperience.com

Publisher’s NOTE

by Pat Grubb

W

e are right in the middle of the strange season. We could possibly be just a few days, at most weeks, from the beginning of the 2019/20 ski season. We’ve been compulsively browsing the snow reports hoping to hear if local mountains have been hit with snow. So far, little joy.

Famed University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass, responding to a recent Seattle Times article about how gloomy Northwest weather is in winter, reviewed the scientific literature on geographical incidence of mental distress and happiness and found that comparatively speaking, we do okay up here. But one thing he missed that definitely affects the happiness index is the size of the winter sports population.

This is the one group who cheers on the gloom, knowing that when it rains, it snows. And even if we’re stuck in an office or a store, we know we’ll soon be on the mountain.

There was a good turnout for the Mount Baker Experience Northwest Avalanche Center benefit held in October at 122 West Brewing Co. in Bellingham.

Make sure you’re at the next one – we need to support the people who help keep us safe in the mountains.

We’ve got quite the line-up of stories and images to get your heart racing and body impatient to get outside to join the fun.

Oliver Lazenby interviews photographer Grant Gunderson about the changing business of ski photography.

Jacqueline Thompson offers up some great winter recipes that are healthy and cheerful. Jason Griffith writes about a close call in the Canadian Rockies and reminds us to leave an extra margin of safety when exploring new places.

Brad Andrew reminds us of why Opening Day is unlike any other day in the season. Andrew Waite tells us about climbing Mt. Rainier wearing gear that his wife’s grandfather used in 1963 on a 36-day ascent of what was then called Mt. McKinley. There’s lot more to ponder within these pages and, of course, there are lots of great photographs. Rip out your favorites and pin them to your wall for inspiration. You’ve got all winter to show your stuff.

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CLOSE CALL IN INTERIOR B.C. The Stanley Mitchell Hut is the gem of the Canadian Rockies, but it has some lessons to teach

28 14

8

30

OPENING DAY

URBAN HIKING

GRANT GUNDERSON

A holiday that can’t be scheduled

Year-round rambles in Anacortes

A career in adventure photography

10 NEWSROOM News from around the region

THE PAST 20 TOUCHING Denali’s infamous Harvard Route

18 BODYWORK Prep your core for snow season

GALLERY 23 PHOTO Cold winter captures

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AND LODGING 46 DINING Shelter from the storm CALENDAR 47 EVENTS For winter fun

INDUSTRY TRENDS 39 SKI Skis are fatter here. Go figure

RECIPES 40 WINTER Healthy food for dark days

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GUIDE 44 GEAR Wax up and strap in

AROUND TIME 45 TURN David Guterson on life and mountains

AVALANCHE SKILLS Mental traps that lead to trouble

SPEARHEAD HUT

First of three Whistler alpine huts WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

Opening Day comes but once a year And it’s not really about the skiing Story and photo by Brad Andrew

O

pening day at Mt. Baker Ski Area – the day when snow-lovers rejoice and reunite – happens annually. Exactly when, no one knows, and that is why it is so extraordinarily special. It’s not marked on a pre-printed calendar and manufactured by conglomerates with bottomless pockets. There are no snow guns spraying a narrow white lane of frozen mist onto a manicured grass slope.

Opening day is solely dictated by mother nature’s willingness to open her front door for old man winter and his cold, fluffy bounty. And, although some years his bounty is not all that fluffy nor all that cold, one thing is certain: 10 times out of nine, it’s welcomed with open arms by all.

Opening day is often marked by huge crowds, long lines and very limited terrain. But opening day really isn’t about skiing. It’s about community. It’s a day when we all come together, reunite with friends old and new and celebrate the mountain lifestyle we love so much. The stoke is high and the smiles are endless and, at day’s end, not a soul remembers the limited terrain nor the long lines. They remember the smiles and the high-fives and the one turn that made it all worthwhile. They remember that they can do it all again tomorrow, because ski season is here and it’s time to run to the hills. See you in line!

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WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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Newsroom Photo courtesy of U.S. Adventure Racing Association

Bellingham adventure race team wins national championships Bellingham-based Quest Adventure Race Team won the U.S. Adventure Race Association National Championship in Boone, North Carolina on September 27-28. The race required teams to travel an unfamiliar landscape on foot, by bike and through water while using a paper map and compass to navigate complicated terrain.

The course involved 10 miles of paddling, 30 miles of trekking and 110 miles of mountain biking. Team Quest – Brent Molsberry, Scarlett Graham and Dusty Caseria – finished in 21 hours and 15 minutes. Yes, that’s Quest’s time for all three events, and it was the fastest out of about 50 teams from around the country.

Learn more at questraceteam.com.

Notes big and small from around the region

Photo courtesy of Manning Park Resort

Image courtesy of J.P. Slagle/Freeland & Associates

New quad chairlift ready to spin at Manning Park Ski Resort Manning Park Ski Resort, an hour east of Chilliwack, B.C., on Highway 3, has a new quad chairlift ready to go when mother nature cooperates. The two-lift ski area removed its iconic Orange Chair last April and after a summer-long naming contest, christened the new chair “The Bear Chair.”

The quad chair boosts the ski area’s capacity, as the Orange Chair was a two-seater. The family friendly resort also made some updates to the rest of the village including a new guest services building and new cabins.

The resort has 140 acres of skiable terrain and is inside E.C. Manning Provincial Park in the Canadian North Cascades.

The resort also offers Nordic skiing, tubing, snowshoeing and outdoor ice skating.

Weather permitting, Manning Park Resort will open for skiing on December 7.

$100,000 needed to build new Galbraith parking lot by April The Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC) is most of the way to raising $285,000 for a new parking lot on Samish Way, on the south side of Galbraith Mountain in Bellingham. The nonprofit mountain bike advocacy organization still needs $100,000 before the planned start of construction in late March.

So far, WMBC has raised more than $180,000 through individual donations and a $100,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Bellingham, among other sources. WMBC is shifting gears to start a business fundraising campaign to raise the remaining money, said trail director Eric Brown.

For $1,000, businesses can buy an engraved brick that will be displayed on a donor wall at the parking lot.

The current parking lot on Samish Way across from Galbraith Lane, holds 30 cars and is usually full, with cars parked on the narrow shoulder of Samish Way even on weekdays.

Plans for the new parking lot call for 140 parking spaces, as

Blue Mountain Grill

W Now accepting credit cards at

on Highway 9 Your Destination for Food & Fun! Open Daily 11am-8pm 974 Valley Hwy • Acme (360) 595-2200

HWY 9, ACME • EST. 1898 Open ‘til 8 pm • 7 days a week

360-595-2146

the gas pumps 24/7 !

W Lots of new ciders along with our craft beer selections W Organic beers and wines W & WDFW licenses W Plumbing & Hardware

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

Photo courtesy Whistler Adventure School

well as picnic tables, porta-potties and eventually pit toilets.

WMBC hopes to start construction in March and finish by early April, when afterschool bike clubs start riding on Galbraith, Brown said.

Learn more at wmbcmtb.org/parking, or by emailing Eric Brown at eric@wmbcmtb.org.

Image courtesy of Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures

New map to highlight water access in Whatcom County

Whistler Adventure School teaches a growing outdoors curriculum

The Port of Bellingham is at work on a map that aims to make it easier for paddlers to access the water in Whatcom County. The Whatcom Water Trail map, modeled after similar shoreline recreation maps such as the Kitsap Peninsula Water Trails, will help paddlers find boat launches, public beaches, camp sites and other access points and amenities.

The Port of Bellingham developed the map with Todd Elsworth of Recreation Northwest and Kristi Kucera of Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures.

Elsworth said the map is just the first step. In the future, the group plans to identify areas for improvements – locations for loaner lifejackets, signage on environmental stewardship and safe boating, and potentially new boat-in campgrounds and public beaches.

Whistler Adventure School started training students for a variety of outdoor-related careers in 2014 and, with the help of its ideal location, it’s attracting a growing number of students from around the world.

Recently, the private post-secondary school added mountain bike guide training to its curriculum, which also includes programs for adventure tourism, retail and manufacturing, photography, marketing and media management, and training for climbing, ski and snowboard guides.

The school’s location in Whistler and flexible schedule allows students to access world-class outdoor recreation and provides the opportunity to be involved with destination events. Not Canadian? The school gives international students the ability to apply for a visa to work and study in Canada.

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TAKE THE PLUNGE! 37 ANNUAL TH

BIRCH BAY

Polar Bear Plunge

NOW OPEN IN BLAINE! MINUTES OFF I-5 EXIT 276

DRAYTON HARBOR OYSTERS Farm Fresh Oysters served Raw, Grilled, Fried, Stewed

Photos ©Drayton Harbor Oyster Co.

January 1, 2020 • New Year’s Day

OPEN DAILY AT NOON

Fresh Oysters sold by the Dozen ALSO... Serving Other Delicious Seafood Specials LOCAL

Plunge at Noon Sharp!

CRAFT BEERS

Birch Bay Beach Park • 7930 Birch Bay Drive

ON TAP

Register online or beginning at 10 am New Year’s Day WARMING FIRE PITS • HOT DRINKS • COSTUME CONTEST

GREAT

WINE

Watch Birch Bay Waterfront light up with the Annual

SELECTION!

New Year’s Eve • December 31 • 7 pm

Open Daily at Noon Mon.-Thur. to 7 pm Fri. & Sat. to 8 pm Sun. to 5 pm

Ring of Fire & Hope

Flares available 5 pm at Birch Bay Visitor Center • 7900 Birch Bay Drive Come back for your summer getaway!

www.BirchBayChamber.com

SPONSORED BY: Beachwood Resort • Billy Brown/Windermere Real Estate

DraytonHarborOysters.com

360-656-5958

/DraytonOysters

685 Peace Portal Dr. • Downtown Blaine WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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Pacific

Presented by Allied Arts of Whatcom County

ating 40 years of community a celebr rt

of the arts Over 100 local artists November 22 through December 24, 2019 1530 Cornwall Avenue

The former Bellingham Public Market Open 7 days a week 10am–7pm Closed Thanksgiving Day and at 3pm on December 24 Saturday and Sunday Live music, free kids activities and more!

Information visit alliedarts.org or 360.676.8548

Arts Market

THREEWEEKENDS WEEKENDS IN THREE IN DECEMBER DECEMBER Friday - Sunday 10am to 6pm Friday - Sunday 10am to 6pm

Dec. 6-8, 13-15, & 20-22 Locally

by Northwest artisans!

Dec.crafted 7-9, 14-16, & 22-23

Jewelry • Illustrations • Knitting • Soap Locally crafted by Northwest artisans!

Photography • Crochet • Metal Works Jewelry • Illustrations • Knitting Pottery • Woodworking • Glass• Soap Etching Photography Crochet • Metal Works and •much more!

Pottery • Woodworking • Glass Etching and much more!

Sunset Square Between JoAnn Fabrics and El Gitano

Square 1125 E. Sunset Sunset Drive, Suite 115

shop early. shop often. shop local.

MORE STYLES! NEW STORE! Vasque, Heritage and Irish Setter footwear

Between JoAnn Fabrics and El Gitano Take exit 255 in Bellingham www.pacificartsmarket.com

1125 E. Sunset Drive

Take exit 255 in Bellingham

thank you. http://pacificartsmarket.com

for supporting

Northwest Avalanche Center

Monday-Friday 10-6 • Saturday 10-5

133 Telegraph Rd.

(next to our former location, behind Denny’s)

I-5 & Meridian • Bellingham, WA

(360) 733-2500

A Collaborative Approach to Resolution

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Mount Baker

e perience MAGAZINE

Thank you to the 200+ winter enthusiasts who participated and donated at the fun and successful fundraiser for Northwest Avalanche Center on October 9 at 122 West Brewing Co. in Bellingham. nwac.us SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CONTRIBUTORS:

Divorce/Parenting • Eldercare • Marital • Land Use • Contracts • Employment 12

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

When the snow melts...

CLIMB MT. BAKER THIS SUMMER

Climb Mt. Baker or Mt. Shuksan

“My Mt. Baker climb was the most beautiful & rewarding experience of my life.” —Henry Stevens, Mt. Vernon

3-Day Skills & Ascent No previous experience required

Backpacking & Climbing Programs

Intro to Advanced 1, 2, 6, 12, 24 days Rock climbing Glacier climbing

...follow it to the sea!

Explore the islands and learn to sail! Mention Mt Baker Experience for $200 Off a Basic Sailing to Bareboat Charter Certification 6-day liveaboard course or weekend package.

sanjuansailing.com · 360-671-8339 · Bellingham

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THESE EVENTS IN 2020

TOUR DE WHATCOM July 18, 2020

22/44/62/100 mile rides Themed rest stops www.tourdewhatcom.com REGISTRATION OPENS IN MARCH

TRAILS TO TAPS RELAY October 18, 2020

30+ miles/10 breweries Team relay, 5-10 runners www.trailstotaps.com REGISTRATION OPENS IN JULY

Made possible in part by a Tourism Grant from the City of Bellingham.

MAY 24 • REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 6 WWW.SKITOSEA.COM WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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3 URBAN HIKES IN ANACORTES Story and photos by Brandon Fralic

U

rban hikes are having a moment. It seems everywhere you turn, there’s a book, magazine article (ahem) or website touting the benefits of urban hiking.

And for good reason: these backyard trails are accessible for nearly all ages and abilities. You don’t need a bombproof, pothole-gobbling vehicle to reach them. Whether you have one hour or four, a quick urban escape is just what the doctor ordered

GUEMES CHANNEL and SHIP HARBOR TRAILS Distance: 2.8 miles round trip Elevation Gain: Minimal Getting There: From downtown Anacortes, head west on 12th Street (WA-20). Drive 1.1 miles and continue straight onto Oakes Avenue. After 1.6 miles, turn right onto Ship Harbor Boulevard. Drive 300 feet, then turn left onto Edwards Way. Park in the cul-de-sac at the end of the road. No pass needed.

The Trail: A pair of saltwater shoreline walkways connected by cul-de-sac, Guemes Channel and Ship Harbor

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

– especially when high-country hikes are covered in snow.

Anacortes hosts some of northwest Washington’s best urban hikes. Located on Fidalgo Island, Anacortes’ extensive trail network offers excellent sea and island views in exchange for relatively little effort. Hit these three trails during winter (or any time of year) for a quick, rewarding dose of the outdoors – the ultimate antidote to cabin fever.

trails provide a scenic urban outing for all ages. Begin by walking west on the gravel Ship Harbor Trail. The trail runs parallel to a sandy beach with views of the San Juan Islands across Ship Harbor. At 0.3 miles reach a wetland boardwalk, following the short loop to return to the parking area.

Back at the cul-de-sac, head east on the Guemes Channel Trail. This paved path may one day run the length of Anacortes’ waterfront, connecting the San Juan Ferry to the Tommy Thompson Trail. For now, you can stroll 1.1 miles to the trail’s temporary end at Lovric’s Marina. The raised Guemes Channel Trail lacks beach access, but makes up for it with expansive, unobstructed views of Cypress and

Guemes islands across Guemes Channel. On clear days, you can even see Mt. Baker to the east.

Once you spot La Merced – a schooner-turned-breakwater at Lovric’s Marina – it’s almost time to turn around.

Trail-end fence signs explain the ship’s storied history, busting any myths about a shipwreck on Fidalgo Island’s shores. For more information and to support the expansion of Guemes Channel Trail, visit Anacortes Parks Foundation at guemeschanneltrail.com.

Trail Tip: The Ship Harbor boardwalk continues west to the San Juan Island ferry terminal, making this trail a great leg-stretch option for those waiting in the ferry line.

MountBakerExperience.com

LIGHTHOUSE and LOTTIE POINTS Distance: 2.6 miles round trip Elevation Gain: 400 feet Getting There: From Exit 230 on Interstate 5, take WA-20 West for 11.3 miles. At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit and stay on WA-20 West. Continue 0.7 miles. At another traffic circle, take the second exit to stay on WA-20 West. Continue 4.4 miles, then turn right onto Rosario Road. Drive 200 feet, then turn left onto Bowman Bay Road. Continue 0.3 miles, then turn left for the Bowman Bay parking area. Discover Pass required.

The Trail: To get a little farther from the Anacortes, head for the south end of Fidalgo Island. Here you’ll discover Deception Pass – Washington’s most-visited state park. Just 20 minutes from town, the park showcases the best of coastal Washington, from pebble-strewn beaches and headland heights to evergreen forest trails.

From Bowman Bay, walk south along the beach to check out two forested loops: Lottie Point and Lighthouse Point. These two trails offer excellent views over the churning waters of Deception Pass.

Check out the historic Deception Pass Bridge (built in 1935) from afar, then return to Bowman Bay and consider a hike to Rosario Head.

Trail Tip: Hike north from Bowman Bay to extend your hike to Rosario Head for sweeping San Juan Island views from 60-foot sea cliffs. You can also drive across Deception Pass Bridge and explore the south (Whidbey Island) side of the park.

TOMMY THOMPSON TRAIL Distance: Up to 6.6 miles round trip Elevation Gain: Minimal Getting There: For the south trailhead, take Fidalgo Bay Road (parallel to WA-20 south of town) to Weaverling Road, about 2.5 miles south of downtown. Turn northeast onto Weaverling and continue 0.1 mile to a small pullout parking area on the right. For the north trailhead, park in the large paved lot at Cap Sante Marina (east end of 11th Street). No pass needed.

The Trail: Stretching from the edge of downtown Anacortes to a trestle over Fidalgo Bay, Tommy Thompson Trail is a longtime local favorite. You can walk up to 6.6 WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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miles round-trip on this paved trail or skip the less scenic northern section with a shorter walk along the south end.

For the very best of the trail, begin at Fidalgo Bay Resort and head east from the trail junction with Weaverling Road. Walkers, joggers, families with strollers and just about everyone else can cruise along the causeway with ease. But don’t rush – take your time and you’ll be more likely to spot wildlife in the surrounding waters. Loons, herons and more feathery friends hang out here on the regular. Once you reach the trestle, peer down into Fidalgo Bay for a chance to see otters frolicking below. The trail ends at March’s Point Road, one mile from Fidalgo Bay Resort, for an easy two-mile round-trip trek.

From the north trailhead at Cap Sante Marina, users have easy access to the Tommy Thompson Trail right outside downtown Anacortes. This urban access point is convenient, but not nearly as serene as the south end. Take advantage of your proximity to downtown by exploring local restaurants and businesses. Then drive (or walk) up to Cap Sante Park for sweeping saltwater, island and Cascade Mountain vistas.

Trail Tip: If visiting on a Saturday, check out the Anacortes Farmers Market for a pre- or post-hike snack.

The market is located at the intersection of 7th Street and R Avenue, within walking distance of Cap Sante Marina. See anacortesfarmersmarket.org for details.

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Breakfast - Lunch Early Supper

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Strengthen and lengthen your core

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he young children walking beside me through the tiny village in Kenya carried small loads on their heads.

They were practicing to be like their moms, who effortlessly carried 40-pound buckets of well water on their heads every day, singing, smiling and gossiping along the way. They cajoled me into balancing a water

bottle on my head. I laughed, enjoying the balance and challenge involved, as the bottle fell off my head.

To carry the bottle correctly, I couldn’t scrunch my neck or compress my lower back. Instead, my head reached up to the water bottle, creating length in my spine.

The heavier the item, the more the women have to contract their abdominal oblique muscles (the abdominal muscles that run at angles along your waist) and intrinsic back muscles (the inner corset). As they contract their inner corsets, their torsos become narrower and taller, lengthening their spines to counteract the weight.

While I definitely don’t walk miles to get water and wood every day, I learned some amazing body mechanics from watching the Kenyan women. Rather than crumpling under the force of gravity and 40 pounds of water, they reached up tall. The best skiers and snowboarders also have these strong inner corset muscles. They stand long and strong, flexing their ankles and bending their knees rather than bending at their waist or rounding their backs.

ENGAGING YOUR INNER CORSET Before you start these exercises, put your

hands on your waist across from your belly button (1). Gently exhale and bring your belly towards your spine. Feel how your abdominal muscles contract just slightly? You have just engaged your inner corset.

Now stand against a smooth door or wall with your heels about one to two inches away from the wall and just feel the back of your body (2). Do you notice both shoulders against the wall? Is one shoulder more forward than the other? How far does your back arch from the wall? Is your head against the wall or is it forward? Without straining, move your head back against the wall. Is your jaw relaxed? How does your neck feel?

If your upper back is severely rounded this movement will be difficult for you but if you keep practicing this every day, your body will change.

Place your hands on your waist again and exhale, gently drawing your belly toward your spine. Now, as you inhale, flex or bend your ankles and bend your knees slowly, keeping your back against the wall, drawing your belly into your spine (3). Place a hand on your lower back and just breathe. If you tend to arch your lower back a great deal, then gently press the arch towards the wall.

This will help stretch your lower back muscles so that your inner corset can contract a

little more. Do you feel how your back slides down the wall as you bend your knees? Notice the arch of your back against the wall and feel how your back has lengthened.

Now as you exhale, keeping your inner corset engaged, slide back up the wall (4). At the very top, make sure that you straighten your legs all the way – feel how your abdominal muscles are engaged. This is your inner corset working. Make sure your neck, jaw and the muscles around your eyes are relaxed. Return your hand to your lower back. If you normally have a great deal of arch, notice if it is less. Do this exercise at least 10 times a day, building up to a minute each time to tone your inner corset and strengthen your legs for ski season. Stop if it hurts your back.

The Kenyan countrywomen and children move with an inherent grace and strength that I envy. Their lives depend on moving well. If they don’t move well they can’t walk for miles to get their water and they can’t plant their fields. By engaging your inner corset muscles gently you too can create healthy length for your back, and strengthen and lengthen your abdominal muscles.

Having a strong inner corset allows you to ski and snowboard for longer and with more agility and balance in all conditions.

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FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS

An ascent in gear from my grandfather-in-law’s famous 1963 climb

By Andrew Waite 20

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

bout halfway across the Cowlitz Glacier, one of my crampons fell off for the first time.

It loosened again on Cathedral Gap and then fell off on Ingraham Flats.

From the front of our rope team, my guide’s headlamp beam swiveled toward me. “Let’s fix it at the first break,” Steve said.

Even as I dragged the useless metal spikes through the snow, this was one of the most glorious nights of my life. We’d left Camp Muir shortly before 1 a.m., and the 17 climbers in our RMI Expeditions-led group now formed a string of headlamps arcing up Mt. Rainier. It was balmy on the Northwest’s tallest peak. So warm that our guides told us we could leave extra water bottles outside the bunkhouse overnight – there was no risk of freezing. On the Ingraham Flats, moonlight glowed just bright enough to reveal the sharp outline of Little Tahoma, a promise of what the Cascades might look like, once awash in full sun, from more than two miles above sea level.

At 11,200 feet, I sat on my pack, refueling the best I could with gummy worms and palmfuls of peanuts, raisins and M&Ms. Steve crouched in front of me, clutching my crampon. A simple tightening should fix the problem. Then he looked up. “It’s a goddamn screw.”

Of course, he couldn’t have been all that surprised. Three days prior, the trip began with a gear check, everyone splaying their equipment across the lawn at the RMI compound in Ashford. The guides needed to examine everything, from head to toe, starting with helmets. While other climbers displayed sleek, polycarbonate shells that didn’t stick out much farther than the circumference of their heads, I held up an orange plastic helmet, which might as well be an overturned fruit bowl with some Styrofoam and a chinstrap. One of the climbers in my group likened it to something you’d see in the North Korean military. Steve did a double take. I told him the helmet belonged to my wife’s grandfather, who’d done all sorts of serious mountaineering in his day. Steve turned it over, tugged on the chinstrap. He said he’d need to think about it.

Soon, we came to the harnesses. Mine, like my helmet, required extra scrutiny. “You know the shelf life of a harness is typically 10 years?” Steve said.

I didn’t know that. I’m not a mountaineer.

Not like my wife’s grandfather John Graham, who long ago summited Denali wearing this harness. He’d gone up the center of the North Face, a member of the first and only expedition to ascend that particular route.

That’s about as much detail as I retained. I’d heard the story from John before, but somehow it lacked meaning to me, a myth from another time, another place. Even when I’d asked to borrow gear, and John had beamed, announcing that this might be the start of a mountaineering life for me, my focus was on the free stuff.

I told Steve that Thursday, June 13, our MountBakerExperience.com

planned summit day, was John Graham’s 77th birthday. I said I wanted to pay homage to a man with hips and quads no longer capable of taking stairs quickly, much less climbing stratovolcanoes. All of this was true, but I mostly wanted to avoid renting expensive gear at the last minute.

Steve rubbed a thumb over the belt. “The stitching looks good,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

On June 18, 1963, John Graham (along with the harness I’d borrowed), and six Harvard Mountaineering Club buddies, parked a VW Microbus on the north side of what was then called Mt. McKinley. John wrote about this in Harvard Magazine for the 50th anniversary of the climb. The oldest among them was 23, and only one member of the group had big-mountain experience. They’d cut their teeth on New England’s rock cliffs and ice gullies, but they were about to take on the Wickersham Wall, a face of ice and rock rising more than 14,000 feet from the Peters Glacier to the north summit. Avalanches fell daily. The sun beat down on snow at the top, sending blocks of ice the size of shipping containers falling for thousands of feet. Winds kicked up by the impacts could flatten a tent a half-mile away.

The expedition took 36 days. The team carried 70-pound packs across the Alaska tundra. Then, each member made five trips 1,200 feet up steep rock and ice to haul food and gear to the bottom of a protective buttress veining the mountain. From here, the group could ascend Denali with less avalanche risk.

Still, the dangers were everywhere. They battled blizzards and 55-mile-per-hour winds that forced them to crawl on hands and knees along one section near the summit. They relied on gear purchased from an Army surplus store and stuff they made themselves, including tents hand-made by one of the climbers. They fashioned snowshoes from aluminum tubing and nylon cords. They installed their own 350-foot pulley system to get food to the top of a cliff.

They climbed at night, when the footing was better, the snow firmer. At one point, a falling rock the size of an anvil skimmed past John’s head (helmets weren’t yet standard mountaineering equipment – he’d acquire the helmet I borrowed for Rainier in the years following his Denali excursion).

They’d learn later that a bush pilot had reported them missing after seeing their footprints track into avalanche debris. When a snowstorm hid their tents from view for half a week, an AP wire carried the news of “Harvard Climbers Missing.” Worry spread across the country.

Through all of this, they made the summit.

In Eiger Dreams, Jon Krakauer describes the Harvard Route, as it came to be known, as “so bold or foolish…that it still hasn’t been repeated.” At least one brave soul has perished in an attempt.

To John Graham, who spent a career in the U.S. Foreign Service, his climb up the Wickersham Wall remains one of his greatest achievements, a catalyst for a lifetime of adventures – first dodging bullets in wars and revolutions, and then, after a transformative moment in Vietnam, turning his life to building peace.

To this day, John half-jokes that if he’s terminally ill, he plans to start hiking up a volcano in a T-shirt and fall into a crevasse so deep nobody would ever find him. Currently, I’m the family member best equipped to help him do it. This is an unlikely scenario, of course, but I thought of it once I was actually on Rainier. Even if I never brought John to his rightful resting place, I could at least take his gear, perhaps one last time, into an environment where it felt at home. I had a responsibility to make the summit.

There were other reasons for wanting to reach it – to prove my fitness, to be able to look at Rainier from back home in Seattle and say I stood atop it – but once I was physically scaling the mountain, I wanted to do it for John.

My crampon fell off for a third time beneath the Icebox, one of Mt. Rainier’s most dangerous locations. On Father’s Day, 1981, a large serac broke apart here, sweeping 11 people to their deaths. It remains the worst mountaineering accident in North American history. Their bodies are still interred in the glacier. Because of hazards, climbers must work to spend as little time here as possible.

“We need to get that fixed now!” Steve was appropriately stern.

“I could practically see my helmet, harness and crampons transforming from laughingstocks into artifacts.

And with that, I was starting to grasp the true significance of the Harvard climb.”

Opposite page: The author’s grandfather-in-law, John Graham, on the first ascent of Denali’s Wickersham Wall in 1963. Photo courtesy of John Graham.

This page: The author on Mt. Rainier in a helmet and other gear used by John Graham in the 1960s.

And probably frustrated. He’d used a utility tool to tighten my footgear on the previous break, only to have the issue recur. My lifelong friend Kyle, making this climb with me, stomped up from the back of the rope team and helped me clip in. Per Steve’s instruction, I used my ice axe to bang the metal toe bar against my plastic boot.

Disappointment Cleaver loomed in the darkness ahead. The cleaver is a 1,200-foot maze of rock, ice and snow for which this particular route up is named. The terrain makes it the most technical section of the climb, and the “trail” contains a hand rope anchored into snow and rock to help prevent climbers – should they fall – from sliding almost straight down.

I was nervous about the cleaver, but I was even more nervous about my crampon. I worried that it wouldn’t stay on while traversing uneven rocks for such a long, pitched stretch. And I feared that if it came off one more time, Steve would tell me I had to turn around, that this old gear was putting others at risk. I didn’t want any of that.

So, ascending the cleaver, I walked as carefully as I could, making sure my feet were a good width apart, not clanging against each other.

In a way, concern over my crampon made me a better climber. More deliberate, more sure-footed. John Graham would have approved.

At 12,300 feet, atop Disappointment Cleaver, several members of our larger 17-person group were turning around. One man begged to stay on, but his rope team was significantly behind schedule, and the guides told him he’d done well, but he was in no condition to keep climbing Mount Rainier. Others went back on their own volition, either fatigued or sick from the thin air, or both. With so many members of our group going down, the guides told us that anyone continuing on from here would have to summit – no more guides would be turning around.

I looked away from Steve, expecting he’d tell me it would be best WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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for everyone if I headed to camp, rather than risk a crampon coming loose on the treacherous, snowy grade of the high mountain, which is pocketed with deep crevasses. But no such mandate came. I would summit Mt. Rainier, orange helmet, Midcentury Modern harness, screw-adjustable crampons and all.

The sun came out at about 13,000 feet, as the remaining climbers in our group zigzagged up the snow. I was tired and my head hurt, but mostly I felt a sense of euphoria. This is what John Graham loved.

To be so high above the world that nearby mountain peaks look almost flat. To feel as close as someone can to leaving the planet without actually doing so.

This is why he summited Denali five decades ago and spent a good chunk of his life making his way up mountains around the world. I wasn’t sure I’d follow suit, but at least I could understand its appeal. I told Kyle it was amazing how thrilling such a slow-moving activity could be – an adrenaline sport at a glacial pace.

Back in Ashford, our group celebrated over pints. “We got grandpa’s equipment up there,” Steve said.

People around the picnic table chuckled. Another guide asked what the deal was with the old gear, and I shared the limited version – that John Graham was part of the first and only group to summit the north face of Denali. I hadn’t yet re-immersed myself in the full story.

“Wait, did he go to Harvard?” Steve asked.

I nodded.

Steve nearly spit out his IPA. He had recently returned from a successful trip up Denali, spending nearly a month

staked out at a base camp higher than Mt. Rainier’s summit, waiting for the weather to turn so they could finally make the charge to 20,310 feet, the highest place in North America.

Steve had read how the Harvard Route still holds up as one of the most epic feats ever accomplished in mountaineering, especially because it had been done with such rudimentary equipment. I could practically see my helmet, harness and crampons transforming from laughingstocks into artifacts.

And with that, I was starting to grasp the true significance of the Harvard climb.

I have a tendency to not fully appreciate what older generations have done. Their accomplishments are often decades behind, and what we’re left with are the wisdoms. These takeaways and lessons learned are valuable – essential – to be sure. But in the present, they can cover up the past.

Even though I know John continues to live a meaningful, active life – one that includes teaching democracy in Egypt and motivating anti-government activists in Zimbabwe – it can be hard to reconcile the man who once climbed the Wickersham Wall with the man who now has spent the last 20-something years living a mile into the woods on an island in Western Washington.

But my trip up Rainier, wearing John’s equipment, gave me some insight into the truly impossible nature of the Harvard Route, and, by extension, John’s life. No longer were his sto-

Two days after standing at 14,410 feet atop the Columbia Crest, overlooking the summit crater and the rest of the world, I visited John. On his front lawn, I regaled him with the saga of the climb. I told him about the ways his crampons tested me, but how, in the end, they stayed on. When I got to the part about the adjustment requiring a screwdriver, he nodded. “How else would you tighten a crampon?”

After I finished, John hugged me and told me he was proud of me. I started to say that his gear was primed, he could get back out there, summit Rainier himself again. After all, John Muir was climbing into his 70s. But John Graham stopped me. His days way up in the mountains are gone, and even if I’ve started to understand what it took to climb the Wickersham Wall, I’ll never comprehend how difficult it is for someone like John to know that he won’t ever again stand atop a high peak.

He asked when I was planning to next climb Rainier. At that point, my legs still ached and one of my big toenails was black and blue from the constant slamming going downhill. Nearby, my 18-month-old daughter scaled the porch steps. She’s a climber, up and down everything in sight, always working her way to the tallest parts of playgrounds.

I told John I wasn’t sure when my second ascent would be.

But I was already thinking that my daughter will be eligible to summit with RMI in 14 and a half years, and it’d be nice to experience it together. I don’t think John Graham will mind one bit if we opt for modern crampons.

“My trip up Rainier, wearing John’s equipment, gave me some insight into the truly impossible nature of the Harvard Route, and, by extension, John’s life. No longer were his stories just words or vague concepts that didn’t come into focus.” ries just words or vague concepts that didn’t come into focus.

I knew what it felt like to have the wind whip across my entire body on an open face of snow. I knew what that harness felt like around my hips, the pull of the rope if I lost step with the climber in front of me. I knew the glory of standing in a place where there was truly no more “up” remaining. John Graham is still the man who climbed one of the biggest and most dangerous mountain faces in the world and lived to tell about it. And that accomplishment was just the beginning.

I’m starting to appreciate, in earnest, that John is, and always has been, a badass.

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Clockwise from top: • John Graham on Denali.

• The author on Mt. Rainier • The author’s RMI Expeditions-led climbing team on the summit of Mt. Rainier.

• John Graham and friends en route to Denali National Park in 1963. Historic photos courtesy of John Graham.

Current photos by Kyle Oberkoetter.

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GALLERY From top: Ryan Carter rides atop a moraine at Mount Rainier. Jason Hummel photo | Textures on the Queen Bess Glacier in the Homathko River-Tatlayoko Protected Area. Matthew Tangeman photo.

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Clockwise from top left: Kirsten Rowley ski touring in the Mt. Baker backcountry. Grant Gunderson photo | Waste not want not – economic turns in stellar conditions in B.C.’s Adamant Range. Jason Griffith photo | Scout the dog waiting on humans. Skye Schillhammer photo | Fresh powder and sunshine on Table Mountain. Jason Hummel photo.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

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GALLERY

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Clockwise from top left: Winter parking lot camping. Skye Schillhammer photo | Patrick McCarthy kicking out a method beneath a cold filtered February sun in the North Cascades. Brad Andrew photo | Pete Devries throws some spray into gale force winds while the photographer enjoys coffee and breakfast at a five-star resort in Tofino. Marcus Paladino photo | A snowboarder slashing powder in the Crystal Mountain backcountry. Jason Hummel photo.

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GALLERY

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

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GALLERY

Clockwise from top left: The early bird gets the worm in the Mt. Baker backcountry. Jason Griffith photo | Jack Gavin crossing a lake in the North Cascades. Matthew Tangeman photo | Andy ‘Disco’ Jones braving the elements on Vancouver Island, B.C. Marcus Paladino photo | Sunlight filtered through snowy evergreens. Skye Schillhammer photo | Ingrid Backstrom enjoying some fresh turns in the Stevens Pass backcountry. Anne Cleary photo.

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EXPANDED F

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Photographer Grant Gunderson

Cole Richardson goes big at Mt. Baker in 2019.

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on a changing ski industry, staying safe in the mountains, mountain biking and chasing more free ski days

By Oliver Lazenby | Photos by Grant Gunderson

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

This 2008 photo of Bryce Phillips in the Alta backcountry landed on Skiing magazine’s cover and earned Gunderson a lot of attention.

F

or more than 15 years, Bellingham-based photographer Grant Gunderson has shot for ski publications around the world and exposed skiers to destinations ranging from Japan to the Mt. Baker Ski Area.

He grew up in Yakima, skiing at White Pass, and wrangled his love of skiing and photographing his friends into a dream career while still in college at Western Washington University, studying plastics engineering. Recently turned 40, and with a two-year-old son, Gunderson reflects on his time behind the lens.

Mount Baker Experience: What’s a typical winter like for you?

Grant Gunderson: I think the biggest thing I try to do is follow the snow. Every year it’s a bit different, but generally I try to be around Baker early season. I try to go to Japan in January. I like to be back around Baker for February and March – hopefully, the rest of the season. If it warms up here and starts raining, I try to go to B.C. That’s probably the one thing that’s changed the most for me in the last four or five years. I used to be able to go out all winter long with no set schedule, no plans, no contracts, no obligations, nothing. Just go and create great ski imagery, hopefully. And I would sell enough at the end of the year to pay for all the money I spent during the season and hopefully make a little profit. Those days are gone.

Why is that?

The entire industry changed. No one’s really buying stock images any more so it’s all preset contract work. And magazines definitely aren’t what they used to be, which is kind of sad.

So the balance of editorial vs. commercial work has changed a lot for you?

It’s had to. Ten years ago I could survive solely off print.

When I would sell an ad or whatever I was super happy because it was a nice little bonus. But yeah, those days are gone.

What has that change been like for you?

I think it’s more challenging now. Before, I’d set my own schedule and if it looked like it was going to snow three feet in B.C., I'd drive up last minute and be there for the storm.

Now I have a lot of fixed dates when I have to be places. And even if I show up and conditions are horrible, I have to make it look good. That’s not always easy.

I think now that the dust has settled, it’s actually better for me. It’s easier to pay my mortgage. I know I’m going to get paid at the end of the year and I don’t have a huge credit card bill at the end of the season.

Who do you do contract work for?

A lot of tourism. I have a pretty good contract with the Japanese government to promote skiing in Japan. I do a lot of work for tourism agencies all over the place now. Most of them want me to create imagery that gets people excited to go there – make Japan look like the enticing powder mecca that it is, for example.

I think the one thing that’s stayed consistent for my entire career is, I always thought when I started out that as long as I can create good photos that make people excited to go spend time in the mountains, I’d be successful and it would work itself out. And that’s still true.

Why is that your goal – to get people excited to go to the mountains?

It’s something I have always loved to do. From a pretty early age I felt like my purpose on this planet is to get people

Unknown snowboarders hiking out the Shuksan Arm.

Adam Ü in Myoko, Japan. Gunderson’s photography helped make Japan a ski destination. He says he’ll go back every year.

excited to spend time in the mountains. I feel like I've been really lucky to figure that calling out for myself.

Does doing more commercial work make it harder for you to be fulfilled as a photographer?

It’s different. It used to be all about going out and creating a handful of the absolute best images I could come up with, try to do something completely unique and different. It was more quality over anything, so if I went out and got one really amazing shot, I was happy. Now it’s quantity. It has to be high quality, but I have to produce a lot more than I used to. When I do get that really amazing shot, it’s even more rewarding now.

Social media has played a big role in that shift.

What do you think about it?

I have a love-hate relationship with it. I’m probably way less into social media than people would think. The truth of the matter is, I only really post on social media because I have to for work. I’d prefer to totally be off it.

With social media I kind of feel like everything got diluted. Everybody is now a media producer; anyone with a cell phone is going to be posting ski photos now.

And a lot of them are really good.

They are. It’s pretty cool. But there’s no filter, so stuff tends to get lost in the mix unless it’s really spectacular. The sheer amount of amazing stuff you scroll by and never see again is crazy when you think about the way it used to be with print, where you’d look at the same magazine all year long.

You get on Instagram and scroll through 100 photos, can you remember a single one?

It has got to that point where my social media following has a lot to do with what I can charge. For the athletes,

Mt. Baker locals Micah Evangelista and Sophia Rouches on a dawn patrol ski tour.

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From the archives: James Heim jumps the road gap at Mt. Baker on film in the early 2000s

what they get paid for on a lot of projects is totally based on their follower count. I know people who have gone out and bought a huge follower account because that’s how the sponsors decide to pay them now. Does that mean those followers are worth anything?

I think the industry needs to figure out what the right balance is. At some point, the social media stuff is going to get pulled back and people are going to realize that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. If you’re a ski brand and you put everything on Instagram, I don’t know if you’re really getting the return on investment you think you’re getting.

Is there anything you say to upcoming photographers?

I would say it’s definitely not easy to make a living doing what I’m doing and I think it’s more difficult now to break into it than it ever has been, which is sad. On one hand, it’s easier access than it ever has been for someone starting out.

It’s a lot easier to build a big following with social media. But how do they monetize that?

Shooting skiing means you spend a lot of time in avalanche terrain. How do you manage that?

Something I really want to stress is, if conditions are dangerous, I’m not looking to push it at all. I’m probably more conservative now than I ever have been. We’re way more proactive with it than we were 20 years ago. We know more.

But you know, in the last 20 years, I’ve lost more friends to

Carston Oliver, Kersten Koegler and Brice Shirbach mountain biking in Zermatt, Switzerland.

the mountains than most people have to begin with and I don’t want to lose any more.

On one hand, I feel a little guilty about it because we’re producing imagery that gets people excited to go spend time in the mountains and ski, go find a powder stash outside the resort. But what people don’t see when they see a photo is the entire safety apparatus behind the scenes.

I think people are taking close proximity to the ski area for granted these days. Back in the day we might not have been as on top of snow science as we are now, but we had unwritten rules. When I showed up at Mt. Baker, all the old-timers were like, “We’re not going to go out until at least 24 hours after it stops snowing. We want to let it settle and stabilize.”

That was pretty smart. Now, during the storm people are going out and pushing it.

George Dobis, who used to own Mt. Baker Snowboard Shop, gave me the best advice I think I’ve ever gotten about the mountains. “You start your life off in the mountains with a handful of luck, and you hope you have a handful of knowledge before it’s gone.”

Have you taken flak for being in close calls with avalanches in the past?

Oh, for sure. Nobody’s perfect. You’re going to make a mistake no matter what at some point. There’s no way around that. If you have a close call, that’s a good learning experience and the best thing you can do is tell people so they can learn

from your mistakes.

That’s why it’s really important to make sure you’re as prepared as you can possibly be and stack all the odds in your favor; you always have avalanche gear, you’re checking your beacon at the parking lot, you’re actually practicing using your beacon, you’re practicing rescues and have good communication tools like radios, so if something does go wrong, you’re able to deal with it.

I lost three friends in an avalanche at Stevens Pass. Right after it happened, I told myself, you know what, I don’t care how much it costs, I’m buying professional-grade radios.

And I know the athletes don’t have the money to do it so I’m going to buy six of them so no matter what crew I’m with, I’ll just take care of the radios.

I have all the ski patrol frequencies so if there’s an accident at the ski area I can talk to them right away. In B.C. we do a lot of backcountry skiing. I have every single helicopter frequency for the entire province. If there’s an accident, chances are – there’s so much mechanized skiing – I can pick somebody up right away. That’s the behind the scenes stuff people don’t see or understand.

How do you keep photography interesting?

Anytime I take a photo, I’m always looking for a way to do it better, how to do it differently and come up with new ideas.

It's really easy to fall into a rut and start doing the same stuff over and over.

The schedule of a ski photographer in the social media age makes it harder to capture more time-consuming photos like this one, of Dave Treadway skiing at Monashee Powder Cats in 2013.

32

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

One of Gunderson’s favorite photos, the only exposure captured during a break in the weather on the Shuksan Arm.

But what keeps it fun and interesting for me is, I’ve gone out and shot certain runs on Baker probably 1,000 times at this point and every single time it’s completely different – the snow comes in different, the wind’s different. Yeah, it may be the same location, but it’s always something new and it doesn’t get boring that way.

I believe a lot of it is because I get to spend so much time in the mountains. Because of that I think the way I’ve looked at it has evolved. I see a bigger picture. It’s not just the action; it's the lifestyle, the culture, the nature. And I found that people get really excited about that stuff.

How has having a son affected your work?

The biggest thing for me is, especially now that I can take him out and do stuff with him, I have as much fun taking him biking or skiing as I do if I go out with my friends. It’s really, really enjoyable and I think it’s actually helped me a lot, because the stuff I’m seeing him pick up on and get super excited about, it’s a lot of small details you and I probably totally gloss over. So it’s given me a lot of ideas on how to capture some of that stuff.

What was it like branching out from just shooting skiing?

I didn’t shoot anything besides it for a really long time. I think branching out has allowed me to refine my photography skills. With mountain biking I use a completely different set of techniques than I do with skiing. Now, every once in a while I'll shoot skiing in a totally different way than I ever had before, because I've been exposed to something through mountain biking, hiking or whatever. It keeps me sharper.

Skiing has always been my first and foremost passion.

Mountain biking has always been a very close second. It’s almost exceeded it sometimes. And I was really hesitant about turning another one of my hobbies into work.

For the longest time I wanted to keep mountain biking totally separate – just for myself. I kind of changed my mind with it a little bit. I was like, you know what, I really like mountain biking in Bellingham but I’m going to go check out some other spots. If I can shoot just enough mountain

biking to pay for the cost to do it, that’s a good mix.

With skiing I go a lot of places that I have to. With mountain biking, I'll set up a trip to a place I want to go first and foremost, and then I’ll reach out to the tourism agency or whoever else might want to support that.

Do you have a favorite photo from your career?

I think one of my favorites is a black and white ski touring shot of Shuksan Arm. I think the reason it’s one of my favorites is I did literally nothing on it besides convert to black and white. We were skiing pow all day, it was storming, I met three buddies when they got off work at ski patrol. When everything was getting shut down for the day, we decided to go for a ski tour. The frame before it’s snowing. All the sudden the light was epic. I didn’t try to set anything up, we were just breaking trail going up the Arm. I took the one photo, skied down and it was snowing again. It was as pure as you could possibly get.

You broke your ankle early last December.

How did that impact your ski season and the rest of your year?

I ended up skiing 40 days. If I actually knew that I had broken as many bones and done as much damage to my ankle as I did, I probably wouldn’t have skied at all. Every time I went to the doctor last winter, they’d find another fracture, so it was kind of a painful winter.

Are you recovered now?

I’d say like 90 percent.

What did that do to your career?

I was able to get out just enough to cover most of the contracts. And then the ones that I couldn’t really fulfill, I’ve done some mountain bike shoots and stuff to make up for it.

It was definitely a scary situation financially.

How did you get out to fulfill those contracts?

A spoonful of concrete. I just kind of made it happen.

Luckily, all the fractures were confined to my ankle, and a ski boot is kind of like a cast. So I was able to limp around a little bit, but I definitely couldn’t ski like I normally would.

What are your plans for this winter?

Ski as much pow as I can to make up for missing it all last year. I think I’m hungrier to have more free ski days this year than I’ve had in a long time because I didn’t get a single one last year. But literally, it was so painful for me to put a ski boot on.

I guess that’s the one time this actually felt like a job. That made me more appreciative of the career I've built for myself than anything. I think maybe I started to take it for granted a little bit. I was getting a little jaded by it. Being stuck on the couch, knowing it’s a sick day to go skiing, and not being able to physically go do it … I was like, you know what?

I’m lucky.

x

Gunderson mountain biking with his son in Bellingham.

WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

33

Avalanche skills guide

To overcome the human factors that lead to most avalanche burials, learn to identify them

Jason Hummel photo

By Jason D. Martin

Y

ou’ve skied this slope a hundred times and nothing’s ever happened before.

The line isn’t what you thought, but, hey, you’re here. You may as well stick to it.

You know you’re a badass. You can ski anything.

You know all about avalanche terrain. You’ll be fine!

It’s a beautiful day. Nothing could possibly go wrong!

It doesn’t matter what the report said. Nothing’s happened all day, there’s no avalanche debris, you can ski this last steep run. The snow is solid.

Backcountry skiers and snowboarders ride slopes that – under the right circumstances – can avalanche. Knowledge of avalanche hazards is important, but in most cases the science of avalanches isn’t the problem. Instead, it’s the science of the human brain. We want to be on a given slope.

We want to ride that slope. And that desire can override rational thought.

A heuristic is a method by which we solve a problem or make a decision. In avalanche terrain, our desire to ride a certain line can lead us into heuristic traps. In other words, our objective thinking is corrupted by cognitive biases that undermine our ability to think rationally.

The examples at the opening of this article represent a

34

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

handful of these types of traps. They are by no means the only heuristic traps that exist out there, but they are some of the most common. Let’s tear these examples down and see where they can get us into trouble.

You’ve skied this slope a hundred times and nothing’s ever happened before.

Two types of cognitive biases exist within this statement.

The first is a non-event feedback loop. This is the idea that since nothing has happened in the past, nothing is going to happen in the future. Non-event feedback loops can give one the impression that they are doing everything the right way.

If you ski a slope in certain conditions and it doesn’t slide, is that because you made a good choice, or because you got

lucky? If you hear whumpfing or see signs of unstable snow but ski the slope anyway, and get away with it, you might think you could do that in the future.

The second heuristic trap that exists in this line is familiarity. When we go to the same place a lot, we become complacent. One could argue that the most dangerous backcountry slope in the world is the one you ski the most.

The line isn’t what you thought, but, hey, you’re here. You may as well stick to it.

This is called commitment bias. It often feels harder to correct an error than it feels to commit to it. You know you made a mistake, but instead of fixing it, you figure that it will be easier to ride it out. The problem, of course, with this line of thinking, is that you might not get down the slope intact.

In wilderness risk management, we often talk about cascade effects. Most accidents don’t happen because of one bad decision. They often happen when one thing goes wrong, or there’s one poor decision, that is followed by several more. A bias toward commitment can easily lead to a cascade of additional problems that could ultimately lead to an accident.

You know you’re a badass. You can ski anything. You know all about avalanche terrain.

You’ll be fine!

Avalanche knowledge is a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum there are those that know just enough to get into trouble, and on the other end of the spectrum, there are those who become complacent in their deep knowledge base.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where an individual believes they have more knowledge and skill than they actually do. The people most deeply corrupted by this bias are often even arrogant about their skillset. They might MountBakerExperience.com

even believe that they are superior to others in their knowledge. Commonly, but not always, these are younger people who have a little bit of avalanche training, but see themselves as backcountry masters. Clearly, this is a demographic that is at risk in the backcountry.

On the other end of the spectrum are those that hold an expert halo. These are individuals with years of backcountry experience. They might be instructors, or trip leaders; they might be ski patrollers or guides; or they might even be avalanche forecasters.

Regardless, they are the people that others look to for guidance in avalanche terrain.

Experts are at risk in two ways. First, they can become complacent in their knowledge and make assumptions without confirming them. And second, others may not question an expert’s decision-making because they don’t see themselves as equal in avalanche knowledge. Either thing – or both – can lead to catastrophic results.

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It’s a beautiful day. Nothing could possibly go wrong!

The blue-sky syndrome is the belief that the weather, or lack thereof, will protect you from hazards. People often take risks on beautiful days that they wouldn’t have taken if there were whiteout conditions and it was windy. And indeed, in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most hazardous times is right after a storm, often on a beautiful day.

It doesn’t matter what the report said. Nothing’s happened all day, there’s no avalanche debris, you can ski this last steep run. The snow is solid!

In this example, we can see a non-event feedback loop in action again. However, there is a second trap here. It’s the “back-tothe-barn” trap.

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CLOSE CALL IN

THE

CANADIAN

ROCKIES

The Stanley Mitchell Hut is the gem of the Alpine Club of Canada’s hut system. But dangers lurk in a complicated and unfamiliar snowpack.

Story and photos

by Jason Griffith

The crew on the summit of the President, in B.C.’s President Range in Yoho National Park.

36

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

O

ur group was in high spirits as we skinned up the Little Yoho Valley last April. The weather forecast was perfect. A warm storm had settled out deep weaknesses in a typically complicated Canadian Rockies snowpack. The avalanche bulletin’s regular updates had transitioned to a boilerplate spring message.

This was somewhat of a relief to our group. While we all had been through some avalanche education and kept up on the forecasts and snowpack discussions published throughout the season, we were not “experts” in assessing avalanche risk, and the Canadian Rockies are known as a tricky range to predict danger.

We were destined for the Stanley Mitchell Hut, one of the oldest in the Canadian Rockies (built 1939). It is recognized as a federal heritage building, and considered the gem of the Alpine Club of Canada’s hut system. Groups skiing out past us reported excellent and stable powder on north aspects – we couldn’t wait to ski the many glaciers and peaks surrounding the hut.

Our first day at the hut dawned clear and, naturally, we set our sights on the highest peak in the area – the President, at 10,295 feet. We were the only party heading up that day and broke trail through boot-top powder on the scenic glacier nestled between the Vice President and President. Caching skis at the col, we booted up the steep and rocky ridge to the summit of the President and reveled in the panoramic views of the high crest of the Rockies. The trip was already a success!

We downclimbed to our skis and clicked in for the short skin over to the Vice President. As we turned a slight corner out of the col, it got icy and I stopped to put on ski crampons. Kit was breaking trail when I heard excited yelling. He had skinned onto a shallow wind slab

after a hasty snow pit seemed to indicate a decent bond to the snow beneath. However, the slab failed far above Kit, dragging him towards a large cliff before he could dig into the bed surface to stop.

Chastened, we regrouped back at the col to discuss. Had the slide been any bigger, it could have carried Kit over the edge to injury or worse. Reflecting on the close call we turned our back on the Vice President and skied excellent powder back to the hut.

On day three, we opted to change aspect and ski more south-facing slopes off the summit of Mt. McArthur. Despite the change, we triggered a section of the summit cornice just by walking on the rocks nearby. Then, gingerly working our way down one at a time, we ski cut a short convex slope, triggering a hard slab that ran a short distance.

We were beginning to realize that any slope steeper than 30 degrees was suspect, but mostly where the warm storm had left crusts. This appeared to mostly be on southerly aspects, but was there anything lurking deep below that powder on the northerly slopes?

We opted to not test anything of consequence on day four, content to gawk at the views of Mt. Marpole from the mellow slopes leading to Emerald Pass. A short snow squall sent us scurrying back to the hut midday, but by staying on lower angled slopes we avoided triggering any avalanches. It was hard to say if that meant that steeper slopes higher up were stabilizing or not. However, a conversation in the hut that night with some local guides indicated that the Vice President might be a viable option for the next day. They had just come back from skiing it and reported stable snow.

The Vice President is the first peak that you see as you walk out of the hut each morning, incredibly alluring in the early light. So back up we went to try it again. The scare we had on its slopes the first day had faded and now the consensus was that we should try a slightly different line from the col, presumably where the guides had ascended the day before.

Though a few inches of snow fell during the night, it didn’t seem that the level of danger would be changed significantly.

No pressure, we said, we could always just ski powder on the glacier if it didn’t look good.

Arriving at the col, we knew the right hand option was out, since that’s where we triggered a slide earlier and there was still snow on the slope that hadn’t slid. That left three possible options. Option 1 was a steep, large and seemingly wind-loaded northerly slope with a bad runout. Option 2 was a couloir that looked steep and also potentially wind loaded. Option 3 was another couloir farther right that didn’t look as steep and had the shortest run out to easy slopes, but it was also potentially wind loaded. We opted to nose up into the third option and assess the snow.

We lashed skis to our packs and got in line, plugging steps up the side of the couloir. As we ascended, we peri-

odically called observations up and down the line. We encountered a shallow wind slab and dug to isolate a column. It seemed decently bonded to the crust underneath, so we kept climbing. Higher up we began to separate a bit as we relaxed and neared the summit ridge, letting our guard down.

I took a step and watched in horror as a crack shot across the couloir and all the snow below me began sliding. “Avalanche! Avalanche! Avalanche!” I shouted in a panic as everyone below scrambled to get clear.

Austin and Gord took a couple of hurried steps out of the way but my eyes locked on Steve, a ways below them, as he quickly kicked into the snow and buried his axe. The snow battered him, breaking like a wave over the skis lashed to the outside of his pack. He hung on for a long second or two, and then … he was gone.

When the snow stopped moving, I radioed to see if Steve or Kit was on the surface (most of us had radios, which I highly recommend). I thought Kit was far enough below us and around the corner to escape the slide. I was wrong. I Looking toward the Vice President.

The east shoulder of the Vice President from the hut at sunset.

WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

37

A shallow wind slab on the Vice President triggered on the second day of the trip.

heard his stressed voice saying that he and Steve were carried about 300 feet and bounced through some rocks but were both on top and relatively OK. They were still assessing things but had lost gear and would appreciate help searching the debris field for it. I breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that it wasn’t a whole lot worse.

Kit and Steve were slowly digging around the debris, snow plastered to their clothes, when I arrived. The slide ripped a ski from Kit’s pack and he was missing a pole, hat, and sunglasses. Otherwise, even with the adrenaline wearing off, they seemed unhurt. We all had time to think as we methodically kicked and prodded our way downhill in a grid, searching for the gear. It was not lost on any of us that we just

as easily could have had our beacons on search mode looking for a teammate. I couldn’t help but kick myself at all the warnings we had over the week and, still, here we were, with party members caught and carried in an avalanche not 100 yards from one we had triggered on the first day.

We eventually found all of the gear, but still hadn’t really figured out how to talk about what had happened. We all knew that avalanches could happen in the terrain we were in, and now that they had happened multiple times on moderate terrain during relatively “safe” days, were we willing to commit to more conservative decisions in the future? Were we even aware that we were making risky deci-

sions? Would we get another warning before something worse happened? Looking up at the summit of the Vice President and the excellent powder all around us, the beauty and fun wrapped around these temptations suggested that these were questions without easy answers.

In the coastal mountains of the Pacific Northwest, we get used to a relatively stable snowpack. Storms come in warm and wet, with the new snow typically settling out within 24-48 hours. This often leads to a deep snowpack without the persistent weaknesses preserved by cold temperatures common to inland ranges. However, regardless of the range, it is hard to know if an avalanche-free day of backcountry skiing is a result of good decisions or just plain good luck.

It’s easy to think your avalanche education and decision-making is keeping you safe, but accidents involving avalanche professionals are disturbingly common, and often fatal. Regardless, despite reading reports each season of accidents near and far, a long string of good days almost always leads to complacency. It only takes one shooting fracture, sometimes without the warnings we got, for it all to change.

Four days after we skied out from the Stanley Mitchell Hut, three of the world’s best alpinists, Jess Roskelley, 36, David Lama, 28, and Hansjörg Auer, 35, died in an avalanche on Howse Peak, about 20 miles away.

x

Skiing toward Emerald Pass and Mt. Marpole.

38

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

Are we wingnuts, trendsetters or just lucky?

One shop owner on why skis are fatter in the Northwest, and other regional trends

By Chris Gerston, owner of Backcountry Essentials

I

n the Pacific Northwest, and definitely in Bellingham, we seem to like our beers hoppy, our snow plentiful and our skis fat. We are in an oddball corner of the country that the national news outlets seem to forget exists. And that’s not bad. But, when it comes to ski gear, we might be setting trends for the rest of the country. Personally, I think we are lucky to live in a place where we have so many different varieties of skiing and a high density of wingnuts amongst us.

I meet twice per year with a company called the NPD Group, which collects sales data from specialty ski shops and aggregates it along with data from thousands of other stores, as well as chain stores and internet sales, to learn what the rest of the country is seeing or doing. The following data about national trends is from their summary of winter 2018-2019, as are the numbers I share from my own store, Backcountry Essentials in Bellingham.

or touring; those widths accounts for 36 percent of all the skis sold in the U.S, 57 percent of sales in the West, and 89 percent of sales at Backcountry Essentials. Nationally, the biggest portion of skis sold is in the 80-90mm waist range, at 31 percent, but this segment is trending down nationally while 91-100mm skis is the only category growing.

Don’t get me wrong, I think skiing is fun no matter what width you choose if it is right for you and the terrain you enjoy. Sometimes a narrower ski is better, especially if you love carving on groomers. But groomers are not always Baker’s strongpoint; the open gate policy to access the slackcountry and fresh powder, along with our deep snowpack, are the attractions for many local skiers. The tool of choice when seeking powder is a wider ski as our local sales show compared to the rest of the country. And this isn’t just the Baker area, as the west includes the Rockies and all of Cascadia.

I find it helpful to use a continuum of terrain to describe the various boots, skis, or bindings today. Alpine ski gear is made for inbounds only. Slackcountry gear is made for terrain accessible with the help of a chair lift, but is suitable for some hiking in addition to skiing inbounds. Backcountry, Randonee or Alpine Touring (AT), gear is made to access terrain by getting yourself out and back, and volcano gear is backcountry gear optimized for weight and up-hill efficiency for ski mountaineering adventures.

Of all the factors that indicate our area is distinct from the rest of the country, the percentage of sales by waist width stood out the most. In the ski world, the waist width or millimeters “under foot” is the quickest way to reference where a ski wants to go – skinnier skis are for groomers and fatter skis are for powder. Typically, in our neck of the woods, I recommend skiing about 90-110mm as your best all-around ski that can handle groomers, powder, inbounds,

The other major trend evolving from the backcountry’s influence on inbounds skiing is the improvement in ski boots. In the past 13 years, I have witnessed AT boots get stiffer, lighter and more efficient walkmodes in two full evolutionary cycles. Then, in part from how many ski patrollers started to use AT boots on duty due to comfort, both alpine ski boots and bindings started to change. The slackcountry boot offers alpine performance, AT comfort and a walk-mode, which either allows backcountry touring as an optional activity or at least to get across the parking lot without that wonderful, sometimes terrifying, heel-toe ski swagger.

It’s an exciting time in the ski industry as gear continues to evolve for a variety of skiers and all the terrain that we have available to us. The biggest tip I can share is to think of your skis, boots and bindings as a system that should make sense for the terrain you will be experiencing for at least 60 percent of the time.

x

Ski width

National

South

Midwest

Northeast

West

BCE

% of National sales

100%

9%

19%

34%

38%

.000001%

<70 mm

9%

3%

17%

11%

6%

0%

70-79mm

21%

39%

31%

33%

6%

2%

80-90mm

31%

37%

31%

37%

29%

3%

91-100mm

28%

18%

18%

18%

43%

58%*

101-110mm

8%

2%

2%

1%

14%

31%

>110mm

3%

0%

0%

0%

3%

6%

*Two ski models with bindings priced at $399 also influences this category. Without those two models, the 91-100mm and 101-110 would look more equal.

WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

39

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Winter Medicine Soup Recipe Remember how – botanically speaking – plants send their energy to the roots when winter arrives? Humans should relish all those nutrient-dense root veggies in warm soups, curries and crockpot dishes. Medicinal mushrooms (like chaga, shiitake and reishi), grains, fats (in the form of animal fats or plant-based oils), and warming spices (start with cinnamon, black pepper, and ginger – think pumpkin spice lattes, but nix the sugar) are all superfoods for the season, and can be incorporated into nearly every dish.

Ingredients: 1 sweet potato or yam 1 cup shiitake mushrooms 1 carrot 1 onion 4 cloves Garlic 1 quart bone broth, chicken broth, or vegetable broth 2 tablespoons butter, ghee or coconut oil 1 teaspoon each whole mustard seed, cumin, whole coriander seed, turmeric, oregano ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper Salt to taste Directions: Dice the sweet potato, carrot, onion, garlic and mushrooms. Heat your oil of choice in a skillet at medium low, then add mustard and coriander seed. Stir until the seeds start to pop, then add the remaining spices and diced veggies. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the onion begins to turn translucent.

Transfer the veggies and spices into a pot or crock-pot and pour the broth over the mass until it is covered. Cook the soup over medium heat for at least one hour, adding spices to taste.

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WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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Community-built hut is the first of three on the Spearhead Traverse Kees and Claire Hut provides shelter and access in the Whistler backcountry

By Lisa Pulsifer

2 stories • 2,500 square feet • well-stocked kitchen • large dining space • common area with fireplace • six sleeping areas with three or four bunkbeds • gear drying room • waste-separating toilets • LED lighting • a dozen USB ports • propane generator with batteries for solar power storage

The first of the huts took two years to build and involved the help of over 250 volunteers, 70 businesses and hundreds of helicopter flights.

Photos courtesy of Jayson Faulkner

42

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

J

ust beyond the chairlifts and busy slopes of Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort lies over 750 square miles of protected land encompassing jagged peaks, deep valleys, glaciers, rivers and lakes. Multiday backcountry exploration beyond the confines of the ski resort has been limited to the committed few. That changes this season.

The community-built, 38-bed Kees and Claire Hut opened this fall in the heart of some of Whistler’s best backcountry terrain. It’s the first of three huts to be completed along the world-class Spearhead Traverse. First skied in 1964, the traverse follows the peaks and ridges of the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons ranges, forming a 22-mile horseshoe from Whistler to Blackcomb.

A group of representatives from local mountaineering clubs proposed the hut system to the B.C. government in 2012. They aimed to provide high MountBakerExperience.com

quality, low cost, year-round recreation opportunities in Garibaldi Provincial Park and to reduce environmental impact from that recreation. Concentrating human use to the huts reduces the environmental footprint of backcountry visitors and reduces potential wildlife conflicts. The huts will be roughly evenly spaced along the traverse, offering amazing views and a wide range of access to the surrounding terrain.

The first of the huts took two years to build and involved the help of over 250 volunteers, 70 businesses and hundreds of helicopter flights.

“In this day and age, it seems that this kind of project can only happen with a massive amount of volunteer and community commitment,” said Jayson Faulkner, chair of the Spearhead Huts Committee. Faulkner is especially passionate about the hut and the access it provides to this remote area of world-class mountains.

“Demand for backcountry recreation is bigger than it’s ever been, yet we don’t have a very good system of trails, nor a great system of backcountry infrastructure,” he said. “Infrastructure provides reanimation and rediscovery of the best parts of Whistler – the terrain and the adjacent backcountry. If people don’t have an outdoor experience, they don’t know the value of these places.”

The Kees and Claire Hut is about five miles east of Whistler Peak.

The hut sits just shy of 6,500 feet on a south-facing bench above Russet Lake, below the towering Fissile Peak. There are two routes to access the hut by trail – from Whistler Peak along the Musical Bumps or from Whistler Village along the Singing Pass Trail.

The trail from the village starts at the base of the Whistler Gondola. It follows Fitzsimmons Creek and gains over 4,200 feet, reaching the hut in just under nine miles. The easier Musical Bumps route starts from the gondola atop Whistler Peak and undulates along a ridgeline and passes over a trio of summits named Piccolo, Flute and Oboe. Skiers will find plenty of lines along the six-mile route between the peak and the hut, and even more surrounding the hut.

The Kees and Claire Hut was designed for comfort, affordability and energy efficiency, making use of the sun, internal heat sources and heat recovery. The two-story hut has about 2,500 square feet of usable space. The upper level houses a well-stocked kitchen, a large dining space and a comfortable common area with a fireplace. The lower level is divided into six sleeping areas, each with three or four bunkbeds and minimal storage space. There’s also a gear drying room and waste-separating toilets. The hut has LED lighting and a dozen USB ports powered by a propane generator with batteries for solar power storage. There isn’t currently water available on tap, but a water system is planned.

Nearly all the building costs were raised through donations, the largest of which came from the Kees Brenninkmeyer Foundation. The foundation was established in memory of Brenninkmeyer and his partner, Claire Dixon, who were killed when their snow cave collapsed while on a traverse in the Rocky Mountains.

Their friends and family thought that a shelter providing safety along the Spearhead 2011 Large Business of the Year Traverse was an appropriate legacy.

To learn more about the Spearhead Huts and to make a reservation at the Kees and Claire Hut visit spearheadhuts.org. Family Owned and Operated Since 1929!

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GOOD STUFF GUIDE

BURTON RULER MEN’S STEP ON BOOT WITH STEP ON BINDINGS $549 Step in, step out. Step on bindings have come a long way in terms of performance and reliability. Burton offers a boot and binding bundle that’s as easy as it is convenient. Three connection points – two at the toe and one at the back – keep you well-attached and under control.

LIMELIGHT WOMEN’S STEP ON BOOT WITH STEP ON BINDINGS $549

ROSSIGNOL EVO GLADE 59 IFP CROSS COUNTRY SKIS WITH BINDINGS 2020 $199.95 Is this the year you try cross-country skiing?

The Rossignol Evo Glade 59 IFP is an ideal choice for the novice cross country skier looking for decent trail performance but wanting to do some light backcountry skiing. A waxless base works well regardless of temperature or snow condition. The skis come pre-mounted with a tour step-in binding that is compatible with most brands of boots.

SWIX T73 PERFORMANCE WAXING IRON 2020 $180 Using your mom’s old iron isn’t a good idea when you’re waxing your skis or boards. For one thing, they’re too hot – most waxes melt at temperatures far lower than the typical clothes iron. The T73 Performance Waxing Iron adjusts from 100C to 160C and is a favorite choice of many shop technicians for performance and durability.

RADAR POLA $299 A helmet with integrated visor, which combines the advantages of wearing a goggle, with that of having a visor helmet. Comfort is guaranteed, not only for wearers of prescription glasses. In addition, this helmet provides unrestricted field of vision, and at the same time offers protection against wind and water. The double-lens visor with polarization is built like a traditional goggle, the lens can be exchanged in seconds by simply using the integrated buckles.

The new, and patent pending Sphere Fit system assures the perfect fit of this innovative helmet and the magnetic Fidlock buckle quickly secures the helmet without any hassle. Add a modern sporty design and you have a helmet that has it all.

THULE ROUNDTRIP SKI ROLLER WHEELED SKI BAG 2020 $279.95 If you’re flying to your next ski vacation, you want to be sure that your sticks arrive in the same condition they left in. The Thule RoundTrip Ski Roller is a huge ski bag that can carry two sets of skis and poles up to 192cm.

Both internal and external compression straps along with a padded ski divider prevent the skis from rubbing up against each other. Smooth rolling wheels and multiple grab handles allow you to move through the airport with a minimum of struggle.

Book excerpt

David Guterson’s “Turn Around Time”

D

avid Guterson, famous for his best-selling 1994 novel “Snow Falling on Cedars,” has always been drawn to mountains. Guterson, 63, has channeled that passion into a recently published book-length narrative poem, “Turn Around Time: A Walking Poem for the Pacific Northwest.”

The title refers to that point in an adventure when you must head for home or camp to make it back safely, whether or not you made the summit or destination. An uncle introduced Guterson to that concept on hikes in the Cascades and Olympics. To young Guterson, those turn around times often seemed too early or altogether unnecessary, but he soon found value in the idea.

In “Turn Around Time,” Guterson celebrates the landscape of the Pacific Northwest and ruminates on the concept of turn around time, both on the trail and in life.

Every step the same Here, setting out, booted, burdened, let’s suffer not to ask about our end, and do what we came to do: wend.

I mean you! Before you’re grass.

No sitting on it undoes fact.

Let’s rise and go as trees go— that is, with loss, and making way for light— like trees traveling time’s throw, like stones interred, like stars, birds, dusk, the dark, a piped lament, a river’s arc, a hint, a dream, a moonlit ridge, like snow or fog—let’s go!

Caveat emptor—rain falls here.

We’ll critique ourselves in current terms.

We’ll walk beneath a shroud, a pall.

We’ll lose ourselves in drapes of moss.

Contextually abroad then, let’s consumer our hour’s trail, drink our fleeting compass needle, gorge on green, graze in streams, make our way to that distant aerie where the ripples in snow say tread is query.

Such is our path, not asked for, not left, not traced by desire or paced by tears, not stormed by steps or lulled by cliffs.

Leaf, mire, meal, sepal, the breathless shadow of a casting eagle, the bog-borne gentian incognito, shallow lobed or deeply pleated— this is us by sojourn kissed, shorn of stasis, tripped.

Illustrations from “Turn Around Time,” courtesy of Justin Gibbens

Excerpted with permission from Turn Around Time: A Walking Poem for the Pacific Northwest (Mountaineers Books, September 2019) by David Guterson.

WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

45

EATS ACME

BLUE MOUNTAIN GRILL 974 Valley Highway (Hwy 9) 360/595-2200 bluemountaingrill.com Fresh, homemade fare, including backed bread and desserts made daily, steaks and burgers. Enjoy a beautiful view of the Twin Sisters. Open daily 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

BLAINE DRAYTON HARBOR OYSTER CO. 685 Peace Portal Drive 360/656-5958 draytonharboroysters.com Farm fresh oysters served raw, grilled, fried, stewed. Also serving other delicious seafood specials. Local craft beers on tap.

Open daily at noon.

BOW THE SKAGIT CASINO RESORT 5984 North Darkk Lane 877-275-2448 theskagit.com The Market Buffet features a vast array of both local and international specialties.

Open for lunch and dinner and Brunch on weekends. Also enjoy Encore, an epicurean dining experience.

BURLINGTON SKAGIT’S OWN FISH MARKET 18042 Hwy 20 360/707-2722 skagitfish.com Offering the highest quality in local seafood. Daily lunch specials freshly prepared. Local jams, jellies, salsas, honey and sauces. Visit us on Facebook.

CONCRETE 5B’S BAKERY

5bsbakery.com Skagit County’s premier bakeshop serving home-style breads as well as a full array of fresh baked goods and classic American desserts. Dedicated gluten-free. Great food for everyone. Open 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

ANNIE’S PIZZA STATION 44568 State Route 20 360/853-7227 anniespizzastation.com Family-owned pizza restaurant focusing on fresh, homemade quality Italian fare.

Friendly service, helpful information and great food combine for an unforgettable experience.

DEMING THE NORTH FORK BREWERY AND BEER SHRINE 6186 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2337 northforkbrewery.com Looking for a pint of fresh ale and handtossed pizza? This pizzeria, brewery, and beer museum is your place! Open to all.

Open every day at noon.

EVERSON GOOD TO GO MEAT PIES 128 W. Main Street 360/966-2400 goodtogomeatpies.com Artisan Hand Pies made from scratch in the heart of Whatcom County’s organic farmland has made Good to Go Meat Pies a popular destination. Pastries are offered hot, chilled or frozen.

HERB NIEMANN’S STEAK HOUSE RESTAURANT 203 W. Main Street 360/966-2855 herbniemannssteakhouse.com Nestled in the middle of Everson, serving a mouth-watering array of steaks, Bavarian specialties, seafood and desserts to customers since 1993. Offers atmospheres for adults and families alike, including parties up to 50. Open at 5 p.m. everyday.

45597 Main Street 360/853-8700

Adventure

starts here!

X

Mount Baker

e perience 46

MAGAZINE

FERNDALE SILVER REEF HOTEL CASINO SPA 4876 Haxton Way 866/383-0777 silverreefcasino.com We offer diverse dining options from woodstone pizza to themed buffet and award-winning fine dining at The Steak House.

GLACIER CHAIR 9 WOODSTONE PIZZA AND BAR 10459 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2511 chair9.com The perfect place to enjoy a great family meal or a brew after a day on the mountain. Bands play weekends. Try the “Canuck’s Deluxe” pizza, a staff favorite.

Open for lunch and dinner. Dine in or take out. Check music events on Facebook.

GRAHAM’S HISTORICAL RESTAURANT 9989 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-1933 grahamshistoricalrestaurant.com Great food with vegetarian, vegan and GF options. Legendary bar. Live music. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

WAKE ‘N BAKERY 6903 Bourne Street 360/599-9378 getsconed.com Open daily 7:30 a.m.–5ish p.m. Serving breakfast burritos, quiche, soup, lunch wraps and freshly baked goods. Savory and sweet gluten-free options. Organic espresso and coffee. Indoor and outdoor seating. Dine in or take out.

MAPLE FALLS FROSTY INN RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE (Opening Winter 2019) 7461 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-1004 Gourmet burgers, fish & chips, awardwinning pizza. Cozy wood-burning

fireplace. Open daily from 3 p.m. Monday – Thursday, and from 9 a.m. Friday – Sunday.

MOUNT VERNON THIRD STREET CAFE 309 South Third Street 360/542-5022 thirdstreetcafe.coop Brought to you by the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, Third Street Cafe is a communityowned restaurant and bar offering a fresh perspective on Pacific Northwest cuisine with its made-from-scratch dishes and hyperlocal ingredients.

SKAGIT VALLEY CO-OP 202 S. 1st Street 360/336-9777 skagitfoodcoop.com We make our deli food from scratch using fresh, quality ingredients, sourced from local and organic suppliers whenever possible. Stop in for entrees, side dishes, soups, salads, sandwiches, or our handmade, organic ice cream. We offer vegan, vegetarian, raw, gluten-free, and whole food choices for every meal.

888/724-1640 theskagit.com/hotel Simply cozy hotel features scenic views of the North Cascades and Skagit Valley while preserving a secluded setting for your next getaway. Located just off I-5 at exit 236.

FERNDALE SILVER REEF HOTEL CASINO SPA 4876 Haxton Way 866/383-0777 silverreefcasino.com Located off I-5, exit 260, we’ve got 206 luxurious rooms or suites to make yourself feel at home with beautiful Mt. Baker views, complimentary breakfast, and free WiFi.

GLACIER BLUE T LODGE 10459 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-9944 bluetlodge.com Conveniently located behind Chair 9 Woodstone Pizza and Bar, this six-room inn is ideal for families or groups. Clean rooms have queen-sized beds, a full bathroom and private small patios as well as access to a meeting space.

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DEMING THE ROBYN’S NEST AIRBNB Book online: airbnb.com/h/ therobynsnest Our hidden gem is a cozy refuge, perfect for couples! Situated just off a scenic byway between Bellingham, Mt. Baker National Wilderness and the Canadian border, we are a great jumping off point to your next adventure. We welcome you!

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LUXURY GETAWAYS 9989 Mt. Baker Highway 360/398-9590 or 877/90-BAKER luxurygetaways.com Redefining the cabin in the woods.

Luxury Getaways offers a variety of vacation rentals located in the heart of the Mt. Baker Recreational Area.

Our accommodations are perfect for hitting the slopes and relaxing.

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Since 1986, Mount Baker Experience magazine has inspired outdoor enthusiasts of all ages throughout Washington and British Columbia.

From skiing to kayaking to hiking to surfing, MBE gets readers outside. Whether it’s reporting on environmental issues, stories of adventure travels, gear reviews or epic photography, the award-winning Mount Baker Experience is the publication outdoor enthusiasts turn to when they need a hit of adrenaline. Copies are distributed from Vancouver, B.C. north to Squamish, and south to Seattle and Port Townsend, and on Washington state ferries.

WINTER 2019

SPRING 2019

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Glacier Research

Squamish mountain bike

guide

hana beaman BC Snowshoe guide protecting the nooksack

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

SUMMER 2019

Micah

Evangelista HOMEGROWN MT. BAKER MASTER

Special Publication of The Northern Light

www.MountBakerExperience.com

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

FALL 2019

Don’t miss an issue!

Subscribe to Mount Baker Experience for $20/year. Email info@mountbakerexperience.com 360.332.1777 • www.MountBakerExperience.com

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

SURF TOFINO | WOMEN’S WORK | SLUSH CUP

Special Publication of The Northern Light

www.MountBakerExperience.com

BC MINING THREATENS THE SKAGIT FIRST PARAPLEGIC BAKER ASCENT WHISTLER ON A BUDGET Special Publication of The Northern Light and All Point Bulletin

www.MountBakerExperience.com

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

MountBakerExperience.com

EVENTS

find more events and submit your own at mountbakerexperience.com

DECEMBER SEDRO-WHOOLLEYVILLE TREE LIGHTING: December 7, Sedro-Woolley.

Ring in the holidays in Sedro-Woolley with a tree lighting ceremony and parade. Santa isn’t going to miss out, and even the Grinch made it last year. More info: sedro-woolley.com

JINGLE TRAIL RUN: December 7, Coupeville. Run, walk or stroll the 5K route through the unique and scenic trails of Camp Casey and Fort Casey State Park, with sweeping ocean vistas, evergreen and salal forests and crisp winter air. More info: jingletrailrun.com

CHUCKANUT 50K MT. BAKER LEGENDARY BANKED SLALOM

FAIRHAVEN FROSTY 5K AND 10K: De-

cember 7, Fairhaven. The Greater Bellingham Running Club hosts this race on roads and hard packed trails starting and ending in Fairhaven Park. Registration closes November 27. More info: grbc.net

GUNNAR SHAW MEMORIAL CROSS COUNTRY: December 7, Vancouver,

B.C. 5K and 10K trail runs known for their challenging, traditional style and post-race food and company. More info: lgrr.com

MT. BAKER SANTA PHOTOS: December

14-15, Mt. Baker Ski Area. Get the best holiday photo ever, on the ski slopes with Santa and Mrs. Claus. You’ll have real mountains, real snow, real trees in the background! Save it for your own memories or send it out as a special holiday card.

More info: mtbaker.us

JANUARY RESOLUTION RUN & PADDEN POLAR DIP: January 1, Bellingham. A perfect

celebration of the new year. Walk or run around Lake Padden as many times as you can before the dip into the lake at noon.

More info: cob.org

NEW YEAR’S DAY 50K: January 1, Van-

POLAR BEAR PLUNGE

January 1, Birch Bay. Start the new year off right and take a cold dip in the Salish Sea. More info: birchbaychamber.com

February 7, 8 & 9, Mt. Baker Ski Area. Join the best snowboarders from around the world to watch the legendary race. More info: mt.baker.us

MARCH SEATTLE BIKE SHOW: March 7 & 8, Se-

MLK LBS LOCAL’S QUALIFIER: January 19 & 20, Mt. Baker Ski Area. Local snowboarders can race to qualify for the Legendary Banked Slalom. More info: mtbaker.us

FEBRUARY 24 HOURS OF WINTER: February 22-23,

Grouse Mountain. Grouse Mountain is once again opening its doors to 24 consecutive hours of winter fun. Ride the slopes from sundown to sunrise, dance under the night skies, or enjoy ice skating, snowshoeing and other all-night family-friendly activities. More info: grousemountain.com

attle. Check out the biggest bike expo in the Northwest at CenturyLink Field Event Center. More info: seattlebikeshow.com

BAKER SPLITFEST: March 13-15, Gla-

cier. Now in its 10th year, the Baker Splitfest at Chair 9 in Glacier has become one of the largest splitboarding events in the world. Many people think of this as the highlight of their snow season and come back every year to touch base with their backcountry brothers and sisters. More info: splitfest.com

BAKER BEACON RALLY: March 14, Mt.

Baker Ski Area. Bring your shovel, probe and beacon or use a demo for a free avalanche rescue workshop at Heather Meadows. More info: mtbaker.us

couver, B.C. Vancouver’s Fat Ass 50K and Freeze Your Fat Ass Swim is a great way to start the new year, and so are the shorter options. All runs feature beautiful scenery on trails and bike paths, starting in Stanley Park. More info: clubfatass.com

M

s in t he Ke t t l e s s le s u

Coo

kinʻ in the Ke t t le s

Penn Cove MusselFest

Whidbey Island March 7 - 8, 2020 Coupeville, WA

CASCADE CROSS SERIES FINALE: Jan-

uary 11, Bellingham. The Cascade Cross cyclocross series ends with Cornwall Cross and an awards party at Cornwall Park in Bellingham. The Cornwall course has a little bit of everything and is great for spectating. More info: cascadecross.com

March 21, Bellingham. The Chuckanut 50K is a lollipop course. The first 10K and last 10K repeat on the Interurban Trail with smooth running to start and finish.

The middle 30K is what this race is known for as you get to climb (5,000 feet), traverse and descend the Chuckanuts amongst beautiful Pacific Northwest terrain. More info: chuckanut50krace.com

musselsinthekettles.net Hundreds of exhibits showcasing the best outdoor gear & adventure travel experiences!

www.OutdoorAdventureShow.ca

WINTER 2020 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

47

Thinking of buying or selling in the Foothills?

I can help you!

...Let Food Be Thy Medicine continued from page 40

Cocoa Bliss Balls

Jim Klessig 360-303-0302

jimk@vansonsales.com

• 20 year Glacier resident • Listing and buyers agent specialist • 2 decades experience in raw land development • Washington State licensed septic system designer since 2000 • Licensed septic system inspector

Northwest Multiple Listing Service

While we lean into the darkness of rest and regeneration, incorporating uplifting herbs into our regiment also becomes a beacon of balance. Cacao, originating from Central America, was well known as an emotional and physical heart medicine. The cacao bean in its least processed form is cacao paste, which contains the greatest bioavailability of its medicinal properties; however, responsibly sourced cocoa powder is still full of antioxidants, is anti-inflammatory, improves blood flow and has been proven to improve

mood and depression. You know how chocolate makes people happy? Well it is not just because it tastes good.

Ingredients: 1 cup nuts of choice (almonds and walnuts are a nice option) 1 cup dates ⅓ cup cocoa powder 1 tablespoon cinnamon (optional) 1 tablespoon ginger powder (optional) Directions: Soak the dates in water for at least 10 minutes. Then, combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until you have a doughy consistency. Roll the dough into small, bite-sized balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder to prevent them from sticking together.

Milky Oat Nourishing Infusion In addition to cacao, milky oats (or oatstraw) are a major contender to fight the midwinter blues. Milky oats are one of the most nourishing mood boosters available, and are used to strengthen and soothe the nervous system, balance the endocrine system and ease stress and anxiety. This profoundly restorative herb addresses mood, stress and mental and physical ex-

®

haustion while working gently so that – like a multivitamin – it can be enjoyed on a daily, long-term basis.

Ingredients: 1 ounce dry oat straw or milky oats (same plant, two different parts) 1 quart boiling water

Directions: Using a kitchen scale, fill a quart-size mason jar with 1 ounce of dry oat straw. Fill the jar with boiling water, stir, then top off. Cover and allow the infusion to sit for at least four hours or overnight. Strain the infusion, squeezing the plant material to get every last drop of goodness! Reheat and drink your quart of infusion throughout the day. It is most effective when taken daily!

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A small town cozy refuge on the way to your next adventure in Deming, WA! To learn more or book your stay, visit: airbnb.com/h/therobynsnest

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Pick up your FREE copy!

2019 - 2020

Mt. Baker WASHINGTON

MAP

Streets and Trails • Business Directory Events and Useful Contacts PICK UP YOUR FREE COPY at Glacier Public Service Center and the following businesses and visitor centers or call Mount Baker Experience at 360-332-1777.

ACME

BELLINGHAM

Baker Bear Grocery Coldwell Banker Bain/ Bethnie Morrison John L. Scott/Marty Kutschbach Windermere/Julie Brown

EVERSON

Everson/Nooksack Chamber of Commerce Good to Go Meat Pies Herb Niemann’s Steak & Schnitzel House Kelley Insurance

X

Chair 9 Woodstone Pizza & Bar Blue T Lodge Glacier Ski Shop Graham’s Historical Restaurant Luxury Getaways Mt. Baker Bibleway Camp Snowater Resort Condominiums Wake N Bakery Wild & Scenic River Tours

DEMING/NUGENT’S CORNER MAPLE FALLS The North Fork Brewery WCW Cannabis

Hiking near Artist Point. Photo by Oliver Lazenby

GLACIER

Acme General Store Blue Mountain Grill

KENDALL

Crossroads Grocery & Video Mt. Baker Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center Mt. Baker Lodging Green Stop

SUMAS

Kelley Insurance Sumas Medical Clinic Sumas Chamber of Commerce Sumas Shipping & Storage Valley Plumbing & Electric

Paradise Market

Mount Baker

View Pictures & Book online at

www.vrbo.com/563675 or call 360.303.2887

e perience MAGAZINE

www.MountBakerExperience.com

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A special publication of The Northern Light Newspaper

Email: info@mountbakerexperience.com

Making Memories in the Mountains

www.luxurygetaways.com 360.398.9590

9989 Mt. Baker Highway, Glacier, WA 50

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2020

MountBakerExperience.com

VOTED BEST CASINO!

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MORE OFTEN! Over 140 Hotel Rooms

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CASIN O • R ES O R T C A S I N O • R E S O RCTA S I N O • R E S O R T theskagit.com • On I-5 at Exit 236 • 877-275-2448

theskagit.com • On I-5 at Exit 236 • 877-275-2448 Must be 21 or older with valid ID. Details at Rewards Club. Management reserves all rights. ©2019 Upper Skagit Indian Tribe dba Skagit Valley Casino Resort.

Must be 21 or older with valid ID. Details at Rewards Club. Management reserves all rights. ©2019 Upper Skagit Indian Tribe dba Skagit Valley Casino Resort.

EARN A DIPLOMA: GUIDE TRAINING MARKETING & MEDIA MOUNTAIN RETAIL & MANUFACTURING Students accepted can apply for a study & work permit