Mount Baker Experience, Winter 2023/24

WINTER 2023/24

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

FREE

NCI: A HISTORY WINTER SURFING TOFINO GRANT GUNDERSON: 25 YEARS AT MT. BAKER

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Winter Wonders Abound:

Experience Unique Festivities in Blaine by the Sea! AT A GLANCE

Holiday Harbor Lights

Upcoming 2024 Blaine By The Sea Events: Wings Over Water NW Birding Festival

Saturday, December 2

March 15, 16 & 17

Get ready to spread your wings and explore the wonder of avian life at the 21st annual Wings Over Water NW Birding Festival! The festival’s nestled in the breathtaking locales of Blaine, Semiahmoo, and Birch Bay.

A seaside community celebrates the season!

Blaine OysterFest May 18

The 3rd Annual Blaine OysterFest is back, promising a family-friendly extravaganza.

Indulge in an array of oyster delicacies, engage in lively outdoor activities, and groove to vibrant live music. Perfect for oyster aficionados and fun-seekers alike, this incredible festival celebrates Blaine’s unique seaside charm.

Scottish Highland Games June 1 Immerse yourself in a vibrant spectacle of culture and tradition this summer, as the Scottish Highland Games come to Blaine! Experience the thrill of heavy and light athletics events, where competitors showcase their strength and agility.

Stay in Blaine!

Festivities In Downtown Blaine & Blaine Community Center Holiday Breakfast & Two Craft Bazaars Tree Lighting on G Street Plaza Free Carriage & Mini Train Rides Live Music • Beer Garden • Food Trucks Holiday Lights Dash • Cookies with Santa & more!

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PUBLISHER’S

NOTE

by Pat Grubb

I

t’s a few days before U.S. Thanksgiving and everyone is anxiously waiting to hear when the ski season will start. Don’t jinx things by bringing up that cyclical global weather phenomenon that has a Spanish name – the snow will come and we will all be happy!

In the meantime, we are here to whet your appetite with all things snow and adventure related. To begin with, we are celebrating world-renowned and local resident Grant Gunderson’s 25th year as a photographic chronicler of all things adventure related but especially people who go fast and stylish on snow. The center section is dedicated to his work over the years.

It’s especially heartening to see that Grahams Restaurant & Bar and Gunners Tex Mex BBQ (in the former Heliotrope/Milano’s space) are up and running this season. We’ve tried the food at both places and can testify to the quality. Add Chair 9, Graham’s Store and Wake N Bakery to the mix and you’ve got the variety you crave in Glacier.

Got three spare days not including travel and recuperation? Sign up for next year’s Vietnam Audax 1000. Dale Nottingham almost makes it sound like fun.

For something a little easier on the quads and lungs, read Tony Moceri’s “Discovering Fly Fishing.”

Nolan Baker interviews John C. Miles and gets the inside scoop on the North Cascades Institute. We also interview John and Drew Adams, owners of the Glacier Ski Shop.

But there’s lots more to keep you occupied while you wait to hear the news about opening day on the mountain!

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GLACIER GALLERY

Jasmine Long explores Glacier’s foodie scene

14

16

DISCOVERING FLY FISHING

NOOKSACK NORDIC TRAVERSING THE VIETNAM AUDAX 1000 SKI CLUB

Follow Tony Moceri’s fishing journey

32 THE PEAK BAGGING DILEMMA

The Insta-impacts of social media on our trails

18

Winter adventure for the less adventurous Battle the elements on this endurance ride

34 BOOK REVIEWS

Learn about our local ecosystem with these book reviews.

36 GLACIER SKI SHOP

42 MOUNTAIN TRIVIA VI

Test your alpine trivia knowledge

44 EVENTS

Races, runs, rides and happenings

The Adams brothers journey

We hope you enjoy the issue!

Stay safe and have fun out there.

21

TOFINO

The history of a once-obscure surf spot

30

AND SLEEPS 41 EATS Where to eat and stay

SHUKSAN Official Mascot of Mount Baker Experience

38 WINTER SURFING IN

GRANT GUNDERSON GALLERY

25 years photographing Mt. Baker

TEACHING IN THE RAIN

In conversation with a North Cascades Institute insider

“Learn to live life one party at a time.”

- Gary Graham

NW Craft Brews on tap NW Comfort Food with a Culinary Twist Live Music OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Fri & Sat 12-10, Sun-Thurs 12-9

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WINTER 2023/24 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE Since 1986

Special publication of The Northern Light and All Point Bulletin PUBLISHERS Patrick Grubb and Louise Mugar EDITOR Nolan Baker PUBLICATION DESIGN Doug De Visser COPY EDITOR Grace McCarthy

MBE Winter 2023

CONTRIBUTORS

ADVERTISING DESIGN Ruth Lauman • Doug De Visser ADVERTISING SALES Gary Lee • Molly Ernst CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE: Erin Deinzer, Madeline Downie, Grant Gunderson, Jasmine Long, Jason D. Martin, Tony Moceri, Dale Peter Nottingham, Meg Olson

EMAIL: info@mountbakerexperience.com WEB: www.mountbakerexperience.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/mtbakerexperience 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. XXXVII, No. 4. Printed in Canada. ©2023 POINT ROBERTS PRESS 225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230 TEL: 360/332-1777 NEXT ISSUE Spring 2024 Ads due: February 2nd

ON THE COVER Skiing in the Mt. Baker backcountry.

Grant Gunderson photo

ERINDEINZER Erin Deinzer has worked as a copywriter, travel writer, and editor, and would one day like to ghostwrite an autobiography. As a recently minted PNW resident, she enjoys exploring her adopted home as well as offthe-beaten path destinations around the world. Planning for Halloween is her favorite pastime, and wherever she celebrates holidays is her happy place.

MADELINEDOWNIE Maddie is a rock climber and skier who lives in the Cascades on the weekends.

She lives in Bellingham with her partner, Adam, and her rabbit, Fab. During the week, she works as the assistant manager at VITAL climbing gym.

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

JASMINELONG Jasmine is a Bellingham-born creative with Olympic Peninsula roots. Owner of Mildcat, a modern art, photography and design collective, lover of Mt. Baker and avid snow sport enthusiast. Find her online @mildcatcreative and mildcat.org

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.

TONYMOCERI Tony is a freelance writer who loves to get out and explore the world with his family.

He shares his journey @adventurewithinreach and tonymoceri.com

DALE PETERNOTTINGHAM Dale is a serial wanderer with an entertaining but unemployable resumé. His early life choices were informed by reading The Dice Man at college and it all went downhill from there. Professionally, Dale spent most of his life working in publishing and media.

Most recently, he was the Managing Director of Forbes Vietnam. Dale is currently embroiled in the never-ending process of setting up his own company, “Afflatus Media.”

MEGOLSON Meg is the co-owner of the Kingfisher Bookstore in Coupeville, which has a bit of everything but specializes in the natural and human history of the Pacific Northwest. She likes to explore, in person or on pages.

WINTER 2023/24

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

FREE

NCI: A HISTORY WINTER SURFING TOFINO GRANT GUNDERSON: 25 YEARS AT MT. BAKER

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Newsroom Notes big and small from around the region Mt. Baker Highway reopened to traffic – and salmon

Fresh Baked Goods Bellingham Coffee roasters Coffee & Espresso Behind Glacier Ski Shop • Open Everyday Glacier, WA

After more than seven months of construction causing extensive delays for drivers headed from Bellingham to Artist Point and Mt. Baker Ski Area, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announced the reopening of Mt. Baker Highway, just in time for winter.

Over the summer WSDOT closed off a 0.2-mile section of the highway that crossed Squalicum Creek, a tributary of the Nooksack River, between Britton Road and Noon Road to remove a fish barrier and replace it with a single-span bridge, allowing for an estimated habitat gain of 3 miles, according to WSDOT. The $8.8 million project was part of an ongoing effort by the state to improve habitat conditions, and keep infrastructure from infringing and destroying fragile ecosystems. Squalicum Creek is a known spawning location supporting pink, chum and Coho salmon, as well as cutthroat trout.

“WSDOT has worked for nearly three decades to improve fish passage and reconnect streams to help keep our waterways healthy,” WSDOT’s website read. “WSDOT fish barrier correction is a priority.”

The state transportation agency surely caught a lot of flak on social media for adding nearly a half hour of commute time to those living in rural Whatcom County and those going to recreate in the popular Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest and adjacent wild lands. But the project was much more labor intensive than the 0.2-mile footprint seems.

“We had to remove the existing road, dig down about 60 feet – and the bridge we are constructing is 105 feet long,” WSDOT North wrote in a September 22 press release. “That takes a lot of planning, coordination, and of course time.”

National Park Service considers grizzly bear reintroduction to North Cascades

Meet Theo Daley

System Design & Technical Sales

Theo has been an educator most of his life. He ran an SAT prep business while in college, taught children’s theatre in southern France, and even opened a few music schools.

Each chapter allowed him to blend his passions and dedication to service and formed him into a natural fit for Western Solar’s design team.

The National Park Service closed its public commentary period on reintroducing grizzly bears into North Cascades National Park on November 13. In conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the NPS remains in the environmental impact statement portion of the bureaucratic process, but locals remain split over what The grizzly bear used to call the North Cascades grizzly bears in Whatcom and Skagit home before populations dwindled due to the fur counties would mean to them. trade and ever-growing development. The NationIn its draft plan, the NPS shows al Park Service is set to make a decision on grizzly three main options for how to deal bear reintroduction to the North Cascades by 2024. with grizzly bears in North Cascades (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

National Park. The first option would create a population of 200 grizzly bears by annually releasing anywhere from three to seven grizzly bears into the park for the next decade. A middle-of-the-road option would create an initial population of 25 bears and manage the population to grow slowly. The last option is a “no action” alternative that would continue current wildlife management practices of keeping grizzlies out of western Washington.

Once roaming continuously throughout western North America, the grizzly bear by 1970 remained in just two percent of its former range before being listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975. As a part of the listing, six recovery zones were identified across the country where grizzly bears could be reintroduced without major threats to human development, the North Cascades being one of those zones.

Continued on page 10

Once joining Western Solar, Theo started at the top—up on the roof! He scraped shingles with frozen fingers and hoisted modules through powerful winds, gaining valuable hands-on experience with solar PV design and installation from start to finish.

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Newsroom Notes big and small from around the region Continued from page 8 According to the reviews conducted by the NPS, biologists, historians and park managers agree that while estimates of historic grizzly bear distribution in the North Cascades are uncertain, their numbers in Washington state declined precipitously during the North American fur trade and continued habitat destruction of the last hundred years of development.

Environmental groups such as the state Sierra Club have called for the species to be reintroduced to its historic habitat due to the environmental benefits it creates by dispersing seeds, cleaning up the forest floor by scavenging and aerating soil. However, farm and rancher advocacy groups and local tribes that depend on salmon populations have expressed concerns.

Nino Maltos II, tribal chairman of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, wrote to North Cascades National Park about the tribe’s concern on the grizzly bear’s impact on salmon runs.

“Given the fragility of wild salmon in headwater spawning areas, this resource could be decimated by the introduction of grizzly bears,” Maltos wrote.

Northwest Avalanche Center unveils new mobile app Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC) announced on November 20 a new mobile app, “Avy,” that will hold trip planning tools, weather and avalanche forecasts, weather station data and user observations all on your phone.

Avy offers all of the regular information you’d see on NWAC’s desktop website in an easy-to-navigate mobile app and allows saving all that data for offline use once you’re out in the backcountry with no cell service.

Not only does Avy allow for skiers, snowboarders and snowshoers to stay up to date on avalanche and weather data in the North Cascades, it also allows compatibility with any avalanche center that connects to the National Avalanche Center.

For the upcoming 2023/24 season, Avy has access to NWAC’s data and data from the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, in Sun Valley, Idaho. In a statement, NWAC said they are working on including more and more avalanche centers to make backcountry journeys safer across the country.

Avy is available for download on Apple iOS and Android systems.

American Alpine Institute announces national accreditation renewal The American Alpine Institute, a long-standing mountain guide service founded in Bellingham in 1975, announced on November 1 it received its accreditation renewal from the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), good for another three years of backcountry adventure.

AMGA accreditation is highly coveted by mountain guide companies for assuring a high quality of risk management, business practices, staff training, and compliance with local, state and federal regulations, according to a statement from American Alpine Institute read.

With just 31 guide services in the U.S. holding AMGA accreditation, American Alpine Institute is one of only four in Washington state who

are so certified.

AMGA accreditation is sought after in the outdoor guide community because it assures clients that a specific guide service meets high standards of compliance with federal and state law, and assures rigorous training for guides.

Chanterelle connector trail completed in Lake Whatcom Park On November 18, Whatcom County Parks & Recreation announced the completion of a trail connecting the bridges Chanterelle and Hertz Trail, overlooking Lake Whatcom.

The hiking-only trail offers a unique journey over just four miles of trails. Hikers can expect a hardy elevation gain of 2,100 feet with an average grade of 10 percent, with a stair section that has an 80 percent maximum grade over 300 individual steps. If you were looking for an outdoor stair climb workout, the Chanterelle connector trail would surely be a challenge.

The Hertz Trail is defined as an easy hike by the county website and features mostly flat trails adjoining Lake Whatcom’s shore on the former Bellingham & Eastern railway. The 3.1mile trail is very popular for all abilities and ages, but it was just a straight shot trail until the connector was completed.

On the other side of the connecting trail, the Chanterelle Trail ascends 2,200 feet over five miles, with the scenic Chanterelle Overlook located right at the midway point, 2.4 miles from the trailhead.

For more information on local trails around Whatcom County, visit www.whatcomcounty. us/1787/Parks-Recreation

Washington State Parks reveals 2024 Discover Pass-free days With only one day left in 2023 for local outdoor enjoyers to utilize Washington’s over 140 state parks without a day-use fee – Friday, November 24 – Washington State Parks announced a slate of upcoming pass-free days for 2024.

January 1, January 15, March 9, March 19, April 22, June 8 and 9, June 19, September 28, October 10, November 11 and November 29 will be free for all day-use visitors.

SnoParks are not a part of the free days and will still require a daily permit for use from November 1 to March 31. Any overnight fees are also still required on those days, Washington State Parks wrote in its November press release.

Normally, a one-day pass is $10, and is only valid for one vehicle at a given time. Washington State Parks encourages visitors who plan on going to multiple state parks over a season to invest in an annual pass for $30. The pass can be assigned to two vehicles, but only one vehicle may use the pass at a time.

Businesses impacted by Sourdough Fire eligible for disaster loans AAI guide Jared Drapala high above a sea of clouds while climbing the Southeast Ridge of Sharkfin Tower in North Cascades National Park during a 12-day AMTL 2 Course. Photo by Tali Levin, courtesy American Alpine Institute.

In the aftermath of the Sourdough Mountain wildfire that scorched thousands of acres of land just north of Diablo Lake in North Cascades National Park, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that local businesses are eligible for 4 percent interest, 30-year loans if they suffered financially due to the fire.

The blaze and subsequent wildfire smoke forced the closure of many businesses during the summer of 2023, notably the North Cascades Institutes’ Environmental Learning Center, on the shores of Diablo Lake, and Diablo Lake Boat Tours, which take tourists on a cruise around

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the famous lake.

“SBA’s mission-driven team stands ready to help Washington’s small businesses impacted by the Sourdough Wildfire,” SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced in a November 2 statement. “We’re committed to providing federal disaster loans swiftly and efficiently, with a customer-centric approach to help these businesses.”

Washington governor Jay Inslee requested the SBA to declare a disaster on October 30, after the fire had mostly subsided and businesses were able to return to the area and assess damage.

If you own a business in Chelan, Island, King, Kitsap, Okanogan, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish or Whatcom County that you believe was adversely impacted by the Sourdough wildfire, contact the SBA at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov

After Sourdough Wildfire forces closure of learning center, NCI is bouncing back When the Sourdough Mountain wildfire was sparked by a lightning strike on July 29, the North Cascades Institute was just beginning its summer of instruction after the pandemic forced it closed in 2020 and 2021.

NCI’s Environmental Learning Center is a unique outdoor campus in the middle of North Cascades National Park that offers educational opportunities to elementary and middle school students from across western Washington.

But in the summer of 2023, none of that was happening when smoke blocked out the sun and fire crews were preparing the campus for the worst.

The campus was spared from fire, but classes were cancelled for the

YEPStudents – Local high school students in North Cascades Institutes Youth for the Environment and People program listen to Jen Willup of the Swinomish Department of Environmental Protection to learn how areas in the Swinomish Reservation have been affected by flooding.

remainder of 2023.

Since that fateful summer, NCI has been busy.

Since the beginning of the school year, NCI has been engaging with local high school students through their Youth for the Environment and People program, educating them in the field with local experts and learning about climate action projects. In October, a group of high school students met with Jen Willup of the Swinomish Department of Environmental Protection to see how areas around the reservation have responded to flooding, and the positive impacts floods can have on an ecosystem.

NCI has also continued its Nature of Writing Speaker series, holding events at Village Books in Bellingham, featuring NCI historian John C. Miles and his new book Teaching in the Rain: The Story of the North Cascades Institute.

Although the Sourdough Mountain wildfire may have knocked the Environmental Learning Center out for the rest of 2023, NCI knows how to adapt, and will keep holding events and spaces for conservationists and nature lovers.

For more information on what NCI is up to, visit www.blog.northcascades.org

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Glacier’s

Back

By Jasmine Long

L

eave your sack lunch at home this ski season, because the restaurant scene is heating up in Glacier. If you haven’t gone east lately, here’s the scoop: There are two new phenomenal spots to eat. Both are just steps off the highway, both have menus that will leave your mouth watering.

Gunners Tex Mex BBQ touts a selection of barbecue and southern comfort food. Smoked meats are the star of the plate but the side dishes like elote and mac and cheese do make a solid attempt at stealing the show. Gunners is located in the former Heliotrope restaurant.

Across the highway, Grahams Restaurant & Bar is back in business in a big way.

Tenured locals bring a creative NW flair to the table with an eclectic pub-inspired menu, highlighting local, seasonal ingredients. Sockeye salmon, Pasta Fresca and grilled flank steak are just a few of

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the choices available to hungry skiers and snowboarders.

This beloved and historic space is once again hosting live music since their late summer grand opening. Make no doubt, ski season will bring out many more stomping boots to its dance floor.

Tried and true eats are going strong.

No trip is complete without, at the very least, grabbing a roadside hot drink from Mt. Baker Highway’s legendary coffee shop, the Wake N’ Bakery. Maybe add 10 Magic Bars to your order, for good measure.

Graham’s Store is serving up the best bagels in east Whatcom County, a local secret no more, which seems to be a lesser-known local treasure.

Looking for a place to unwind and shoot some pool on the highway? The only place is Chair 9, home of the infamous last and first cocktail on Hwy 542, which also boasts karaoke, and delicious pizza.

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

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WINTER 2023/24 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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Dis c Fly ove r F i i in t s n he h g Sha i n dow g o fM t. B ake r

by Ton yM oce ri

T

he flight of a fishing line is one of the most beautiful things humans can do in nature. The action is one of the few movements that feel as graceful as the animals with whom we share these wild places.

Since I was a kid, the idea of being amid nature with my fly rod flicking was alluring. I had seen Brad Pitt in “A River Runs Through It” and that scene where he floats down the river, never letting go of his rod, seemed so exciting. Whenever I had the opportunity to go fishing, I always expected I would be in the most tranquil environment, accompanied by the rush of pulling fish after fish out of the water.

The reality of my fishing always turned out to be much different.

My buddies and I would go to Silver Lake on opening day, sit in a boat, usually in the rain, and drop our hooks in the water, hoping the stinky PowerBait we had put on would attract the fish. I would never get so much as a bite before my line became a tangled mess. I would huddle in a ball to stay warm, usually eating all my candy within the first 30 minutes.

With my limited success with fishing, I had all but written it off, preferring to do my fishing at the grocery store. Then, a few years ago, my friend Eldad Efendi got into fly fishing.

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Soon, he was sending me pictures of his catches in incredible locations. I quickly forgot about all the disappointment fishing had brought me, and I once again started daydreaming of becoming a fly fisherman, basking in America's most beautiful places.

Lindsey Moceri, my better half, also got the fly fishing bug and, being the proactive type, she bought herself a setup and was on the waters in no time. She had limited success, as discussed in the Mount Baker Experience summer 2023 issue, “The Perfect Pairing: Fly Fishing and Gold Panning,” but she was out there doing it. I occasionally borrowed her fly rod and swung it all over the place, thinking I looked like a pro, only to catch nothing but branches and sometimes myself. While she tolerated me borrowing her setup, she was tired of me tangling her line and losing her flies. This past summer I decided to get my own setup and take a serious run at fly fishing.

I purchased an inexpensive rod sized for catching trout and other small stream and lake fish. I haphazardly dropped my line in different spots, firmly maintaining my streak of no bites. Then, it happened.

It was a calm evening standing on a Lake Whatcom dock; the mosquitos had started dancing on the water. I loaded my

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

line, a term Efendi taught me, which means getting it wet so that it has weight to cast and sent my little black fly out into the lake.

In the past, I had been what I would call an active caster.

I would send the fly out, reel it back in, then cast it again.

That was the only way I ever had any fun with it. This time, I let the fly sink a bit as I slowly brought it back towards the dock. Efendi had told me to always keep my rod pointed at the water, so as I slowly reeled in my line, I made sure it was always pointed down.

Just as my fly was returning to the dock and I was about to recast, I felt a strike. I could not believe it.

With no sticks around to snag, I couldn't imagine what might be pulling on my line. I frantically reeled in my catch, and low and behold, it was a fish. I didn't have a net because I hadn't expected to catch a fish. I brought it up excited beyond belief. I remembered to dip my hand in the lake to wash the oils off my hands before freeing the little bass from my hook. I excitedly snapped a picture of my trophy before releasing it into the water.

This one evening changed my entire outlook on fishing.

I went on to catch a couple more fish and was officially as hooked as them. I felt like a professional, so I knew I needed MountBakerExperience.com

to step up my game. I had met Scott Willson, owner of The Confluence Fly Shop in Bellingham, at a free clinic he was teaching at the Nooksack River at Nugents Corner.

I knew he would be the key to taking my fishing game to the next level.

As a local expert, I quizzed Willson on the ins and outs of local fly fishing. He recommends people start with a four to six-weight rod, which is good for trout and small bass. That should work well for Whatcom County's many stocked lakes and the small creeks in the foothills of Mt. Baker.

If the creek game is where you want to be, a lighter two- to three-rod allows one to more nimbly navigate the often-tight areas.

To catch steelhead and salmon, which run in the Nooksack and Skagit rivers, as well as our bays, you need to step your game up to a nine-to ten-rod. At that point, you will also need to invest in boots and waders to deal with the chilly waters. To catch a fish, a net will be handy. Once you have the basic gear, it is time to select the correct flies for your area and what you are trying to catch. There are whole books written on this subject, so I won't go into detail here, but Willson would be happy to help you choose the correct ones for what you are after. This part is fun as each fly is almost its own character setting out on the fishing adventure with you.

At any given time of year, there is a wide range of fishing options locally. I like to ask locals who know what's going on, but another option is the Fish Washington app put out by the state department of fish and wildlife. This free app has a plethora of information, from available fishing locations to up-to-date regulations. Many fish species are closely monitored, so openings and closings can change quickly depending on runs. Make sure that before you go fishing, you have the proper license and are fishing in an allowable place.

When I went to chat with Willson, I aimed to learn how to catch a ton of fish.

What I walked away with was a better understanding of what fly fishing is all about.

Catching fish is fun, but depending on what you are fishing for, those catches may be few and far between. The real reward is the time spent in nature enjoying the beautiful place we call home.

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Nooksack Nordic Ski Club

club receives yearly grants from the parks commission and from federal institutions, it still needs hundreds of hours of labor from its team of volunteers to get everything ready for winter.

“We have a number of backcountry trails that are ungroomed,” Tryon said. “Those require more or less yearly maintenance for trees falling down on them and brush growing up. We use brush cutters and chainsaws to clear that, and that’s totally the club volunteers’ responsibility.”

That might sound like grueling work to some, but Tryon said many of the club’s volunteers relish the opportunity to get out in nature and break a sweat.

“There’s a number of us who think it’s real fun to go clear brush,” said Tryon, who hails from the cross-country ski Mecca of Alaska.

“It’s a chance to meet up with your friends, it’s a chance to get out in the woods.”

Before those terrified of yard work go running for the hills, Tryon said trail clearing is not a requirement of members. Membership costs $20 annually for an individual, or $35 for a family or household, and grants access to monthly, weekly and daily updates on conditions, a contact list to find groups to go out with, and overnight trips to high-quality ski areas around Washington and British Columbia.

The club uses two main trail systems alongside SR542: the lower Salmon Ridge SnoPark, featuring multiple groomed and backcountry trails of varying length and difficulty, and the upper-elevation White Salmon trail, which is more difficult to access and features mostly ungroomed trails.

Those two trail systems offer more than a dozen different adventurous paths to take, some of which are about a mile round trip, while other trails like the Salmon Ridge parking lot to “Big Tree Meetup” loop can reach 7.8 miles, with a mix of groomed and backcountry features.

Just recently, the club was given a permit by the U.S. Forest Service to create a backcountry connection between the Salmon Ridge trails to the higher-ground White Salmon trails. The recent connecting trail allows for the hardiest cross-country skiers to make an entire day of meandering through dozens of miles of forested, snow-covered trails.

For those just trying out cross-country skiing or snowshoe-

offers winter adventures without heart palpitations

By Nolan Baker

NNSC ski/snowshoe trip up the Huckleberry Trail.

W

hen asking a local Washingtonian what images come to mind when thinking of skiing at Mt. Baker, the first thing is usually some lunatic dropping down dozens of feet into endless powdery nothingness.

But that doesn’t have to be the only option, says Pete Tryon, president of Nooksack Nordic Ski Club. For those who aren’t interested in the heart-pounding adrenaline of backcountry skiing, don’t want to shell out for increasingly expensive lift tickets, or just don’t have the knees they used to have for downhill skiing, cross-country skiing can be a viable option.

Nooksack Nordic Ski Club has been organizing like-minded skiers to get out on groomed trails around its namesake river since the 1990s, Tryon said. What started as a small group of dedicated winter recreationists has slowly grown into a yearly institution in the Mt. Baker foothills.

The club works alongside the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to keep dozens of miles of trails groomed, maintained and usable. Tryon said that while the

Grandpa and grandson starting on a ski at the Salmon Ridge Snopark. (Pete and Kaison Tryon) ing, Tryon recommends the River Trail Loop. The route offers passage for both backcountry skiers and snowshoers and is just 1.4 miles round-trip. The trail begins right off the Salmon Ridge SnoPark parking lot and features views of the Nooksack River along an almost entirely level gradient that twists in and out of thick forest and onto river overlooks.

Like any winter sport, cross-country skiing is weather dependent, and needs good snow to have prime moving conditions, Tryon said. With an upcoming El Niño winter predicted by meteorologists, Tryon worries that this season may not have enough cold weather to offer good snow conditions in the lower foothills of Mt. Baker.

Tryon assures that even if snow conditions aren’t great, there’s still plenty to do.

Just across SR542 from Salmon Ridge SnoPark is the Silver Fir Campground, which Tryon says is closed for overnight camping during the winter but can still be a great resource for a family looking to recreate in the mountains, with or without snowfall.

“Even if there’s no snow, it's a great family and small kid hike.” Tryon said. “The campground has big trees right up next to the river, and you could take a baby stroller through the rain, through the trees and have a pretty neat afternoon.”

Most Pacific Northwest recreationalists know how to enjoy themselves while drenched and freezing cold, but what the Nooksack Nordic Ski Club uniquely offers is a chance for folks who spent their whole lives skiing, or someone who just got fitted for their first pair of snowshoes, to interact and enjoy the boundless beauty that the North Cascades and its wilderness provides.

“Some of us are downhill skiers that have gotten older and don’t want to spend so much money on downhill skiing, or they’re not quite the gonzo-style backcountry skier anymore,” Tryon said. “One of the things I’m actually quite proud of is that the club really support snowshoers as well as skiers. We have snowshoers that have joined the club specifically saying, ‘we appreciate what you’re doing, and we’d like to join to support it.’”

Those that want to support or join the Nooksack Nordic Ski Club can find more information on their website: www. nooksacknordicskiclub.org

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Big grind S the Vietnam Audax 1000

By Dale Peter Nottingham

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uddenly, it’s here. No time left to train, to procrastinate; even to pull out. Tomorrow morning at 4 a.m., I will take my place on the dimly lit start line for three days of unremitting pain and suffering.

This is the Audax Vietnam 1000.

It really wasn’t supposed to be like this.

I was supposed to be trained, tapered and teed up, ready to burst out of the blocks on a 1000-kilometer rampage up the coast to the city of Danang. And yet here I sit, fat, flabby and feeble, my fingertips still red raw from an inglorious tire-changing debacle on a monsoonal ride a week ago and a knee still stiff and swollen from some geriatric mishap I can’t even recall.

I go to bed at 7:30 p.m., when Spanish people are still ordering lunch, thinking to bank some extra sleep in advance of the all-night-rides ahead. Of course, I can’t fall asleep; who could at 7:30 p.m.? I lie there, fretting over the ever-diminishing number of hours, then minutes, until I must wake up and ride 1,000 kilometers.

The more the time passes, the more I fret, making it still less likely that I will fall asleep. Hours go by in this way. I glance at the clock on my phone: 1 a.m. I need to wake up in 2 hours. I finally resign myself to not getting any sleep before I have to wake up. I promptly fall fast asleep. Two hours later, the alarm goes off. Exhausted, I haul myself out of bed.

It’s 3:30 a.m. and a fit-looking posse of

endurance athletes is assembling at the entrance of the local school. They’re chatting and laughing and smiling like they’re filming a Pepsi commercial. I’m so tired I can’t control the muscles in my face, which twitch like mild epilepsy. I try to make small talk with some of the less ebullient members of the congregation but even their cheeriness saps what little zest I can muster, so I retreat into a dark corner and wait for someone with a whistle or a flag to send us on our way.

It’s a long ride, so I team up with my athletic friend MAM, in the hope that “a problem shared is a problem halved.”

Whoever said that was clearly no mathematician. But while riding with MAM doesn’t do much to diminish the pain, it does provide solace in knowing that someone else is also experiencing the same abject misery as I am. This cheers me up to no end. And the coffee stops are also vastly more entertaining than they would be had I just sat there commiserating with myself.

After 200 km, MAM and I are sitting at a checkpoint where you get your brevet card stamped, when this young woman rider arrives. She looks about 16 years old and fresher than chopped parsley. She asks if she can ride with us. And then there were three! For the next 260 km, we ride together, swapping turns at the front of the group, edging ever closer to our destination for the day; and for me, some desperately needed sleep. After 360 km, we pull

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into a rather well-appointed hostel for four heaven-sent hours of sweet repose.

I can barely keep my eyes open. I go to the room, shower and get into bed.

Suddenly I’m wide awake. Three-anda-half hours to go before I have to wake up. Oh my God, it’s happening again. I lie there, in a state of mild panic as the minutes, and then hours, tick by. Finally, with about one hour until I need to wake up, I resign myself to getting no sleep. I promptly fall fast asleep. One hour later, I am woken by the alarm on my phone. It’s Groundhog Day. I feel like I just walked out of a John Belushi all-nighter.

Downstairs, Miss Parsley, who goes

by Tuyen Nguyen when not cycling alongside MAM and me, is looking like a million dollars – and even MAM looks good. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I see a pug looking back at me. It’s going to be a long day.

We ride all morning, all afternoon and well into the night, swapping turns like prison guards changing shifts. The sun beats down on us as we climb mountains and toil through sweltering valleys. I get saddle sores, which sting like paper cuts, as I shift uneasily on the bike. Eventually, I try riding standing up to get some respite from the infestations raging deep within the bowels of Mordor. After 370 kms we pull into the final checkpoint for the day and one more chance of a few hours’ sleep. I go to the room, drop everything on the floor and walk over to the

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Overview

minibar. I take a beer, open it and pour it down my throat like a pelican guzzling a fish. I shower and get into bed. I promptly pass out.

Three hours later, I am woken by the alarm on my phone. I open my eyes. Three hours sleep. I want to cry with joy but I’m too dehydrated. So, I just lay there and take it in. It’s beautiful.

Another day we ride, the three of us; swapping turns on the front. The sun

continues to scorch the earth beneath us, the hills come steep and often, but I don’t care. I am awake. I am alive. Another 300 km day passes, and we finally reach the outskirts of Danang. It is past 9 p.m. and the end is near. We are each revitalized at the imminent prospect of finally stepping off the bike and sinking our bruised bodies into a soft cushioned sofa, nursing an ice-cold beer. All of a sudden, Miss Parsley jumps on the pedals and starts drilling it on

the front at over 40 km an hour. MAM and I look at each other; I shift uncomfortably in my saddle, heave a sigh and we join in.

The three of us are hammering it through downtown Danang, sprinting for the finish in a fluorescent finale to our epic odyssey.

It is done. We have hugged and celebrated and retired to our rooms. I shower and get into bed. I look at the clock on my phone. Twelve hours until I have to wake up. I smile and promptly fall fast asleep.

The Saigon – Da Nang Audax 1000 began on October 26, 2023. A total of 91 cyclists finished with times ranging from 64 hours to 76:34. Dale, Michael and Tuyen each finished with a time of 66:34.

From Audax Randonneurs Vietnam: “Audax, or Randonneuring, are names for a style of self-supported, non-competitive long distance cycling events that started over 100 years ago. These events, traditionally called brevets, take place over distances greater than 200 kilometers and are time limited.

Brevets are not races, but an opportunity for riders to challenge themselves. All who finish within the time limit are equally recognized.

“Audax Vietnam was created in 2023 in order for cyclists in Vietnam to enjoy audax riding as well as to assist in offering qualifiers for the 1200 km Paris-Brest-Paris 2023. Audax Vietnam is a member club of the sport’s governing body, Audax Club Parisien, which has been validating events since 1921.”

The Paris-Brest-Paris 2023 brevet began on August 20 and attracted 6,749 riders, 75.7 percent of whom finished. Nicolas Dehaan of the Detroit Randonneurs finished first with a time 41:46:30. The average time was 78:57:19.

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Grant

Gunderson Gallery

T

wenty-five years ago, Grant Gunderson moved to Bellingham to ski and pursue a degree in plastics engineering at Western Washington University. That year, Mt. Baker was about to set a world record for snowfall and Gunderson’s life was forever changed.

He has spent the last 25 years pho-

tographing and sharing that joy for the mountains with others. When he began, he told himself that as long as he could create images that inspired people to spend time in the mountains, he would be successful. A quarter of a century later, that saying still rings true to him.

He considers himself to have been

very fortunate. That philosophy has taken him around the world shooting amazing athletes in great locations more times than he can count.

These days he is still as excited as ever to share his passion for the mountains with others, but most importantly he is now sharing that love for the mountains with his 6-year-old son Stian.

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John C. Miles Author of

Teaching in the Rain: The Story of North Cascades Institute in discussion with Mount Baker Experience

By Nolan Baker • Photos courtesy

N

orth Cascades National Park and its surrounding wilderness are truly one of the great treasures of the Pacific Northwest. While it’s not one of the most-visited national parks in the country, or even the state, this alpine wilderness area holds a special place in the hearts of climbers, backpackers, and school children from around the area who learned in the North Cascades Institutes “Mountain School.”

If there’s one person who can illustrate the tumultuous history of the initial incorporation of the park, the inception of its caretaker, North Cascades Institute, and the ongoing efforts to educate and share the pristine wilderness with all, it would be John C. Miles.

The former dean of Western Washington University’s College of Environmental Studies, Miles was a founding board member during the Institute’s early years in the 1980s, and watched it grow to educate hundreds of thousands of local elementary and middle school students with Mountain School, as well as countless adults eager for outdoor experiences.

In his new book, Teaching in the Rain: The Story of North

Cascades Institute, Miles explores in rich detail a story that starts with a group of scrappy young park rangers and continues on today as NCI rebounds from pandemic and wildfire closures.

The following is an excerpt from Miles’ conversation with MBE, edited for clarity and space.

Mount Baker Experience: MBE has been covering the North Cascades region since our inception, but you have us beat in your expertise and connection to the North Cascades area, and the National Park specifically. How did North Cascades Institute start?

John C. Miles: Back in the early 1980s, there were some backcountry rangers who worked for the National Park Service. They were also biologists and they loved to teach. They decided they’d try to figure out a way to create an organization that would allow them to advocate for the North Cascades, teach about nature and give them an opportunity to work in the outdoors.

The model they wanted to build – originally called the Shuksan Institute – would be what they called a field school.

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Classes would be taught in the field so that participants could understand exactly what they were doing and what they were encountering directly.

These guys proposed this idea to the National Park Service, but – in their first approach – the NPS rebuffed them.

In 1985, a new superintendent by the name of John Reynolds came to North Cascades National Park. John was not cut of the same bureaucratic cloth that his predecessor had been, and he thought a field school was an interesting idea.

This idea was advocated not only by these backcountry rangers, but also by Bill Lester, the supervisor of these backcountry rangers. Bill said, “These guys know what they’re doing, they’re really good at what they do, this is a great idea.”

It just so happened that John Reynolds had been instructed by the regional director of NPS to get more things going in the North Cascades, and one of the ideas [NPS] mentioned was to start implement something similar to the Yosemite Institute and the Teton Science School. John immediately thought NCI could work, so he invited Saul Weisberg, Tom Continued on page 40

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The peak bagging dilemma The effect of social media and overcrowding in our alpine wilderness

By Maddie Downie

I

t’s no secret that the glaciers and the alpine environment are changing, yet despite extensive media coverage, it remains an issue that’s tough to fully comprehend.

Those who are lucky enough to live in the shadow of big, glaciated mountains can only see so much change from down below. From Bellingham, it’s easy to spot the difference in Mount Baker’s soft, snowy winter coat and its rocky summer skeleton, but it’s hard to notice how increasingly famished it becomes each summer.

It’s easier to notice the glacial change when you’re actually on them, which was something I experienced in August on Glacier Peak, one of Baker’s volcanic neighbors. While I wasn’t expecting an easy, snow-filled boot up the volcano, I also wasn’t expecting the stretch-marked glaciers my partners and I found ourselves on. The climbing route was riddled with loose, rocky hillsides, gaping crevasses that divided bootpacks, and mud saturated by ice melt. One of my partners who’d been on Glacier Peak the same time of year three years prior was shocked by the decrepit state of the glaciers.

“I don’t think we can call it ‘Glacier’ Peak anymore,” he said.

In the weeks following my climb, I wanted to learn more about how Washington’s glaciers have been changing and, more specifically, how they’ve affected climbing routes. I met with Richard Riquelme, a long time guide at the American Alpine Institute for his unique perspective on the changing environment. He has been climbing mountains for 38 years; 30 of those as a guide. Riquelme’s guiding career began in his native Chile before moving to the United States and guiding in the North Cascades.

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“Now I guide tip-to-tip,” Riquelme says, meaning he guides mountains between Alaska and Chile.

Riquelme explains that receding glaciers pose risks to mountain climbers. Riquelme says that rockfall poses immense danger, as well as open crevasses and icefall. The increased danger of popular climbing routes has created a domino effect as people look elsewhere for a safer path.

Riquelme points out that the companies that guide Mount Rainier were forced to end their climbing season early this year. International Mountain Guides ended its season on August 28, about a month earlier than usual. Since then, they’ve been traveling north to guide Mt. Baker instead, which has led to overcrowding there as well.

Overcrowding on mountains has certainly added a new factor to the already changing mountain landscapes. Riquelme notes an increase in the demand for guided courses since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. When the pandemic began in March, and indoor spaces closed, people were forced to look outside for ways to spend their time. Government organizations such as the National Institute of Health suggested the Covid-19 pandemic was a positive for the environment as there was less greenhouse gas emissions, less fossil fuel use, and less light pollution. However, Riquelme argues that the increase of crowds outdoors affected the environment in a plethora of other ways.

“It’s like a highway,” Riquelme explains. “The more cars there are, the more likely there is to be traffic and accidents.”

These “accidents” include littering, improper disposal of human waste, widening trails by trampling delicate plants,

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

noise pollution, water pollution and general crowding of wild spaces. That’s not to mention literal accidents, such as climbers pelted by rockfall.

But that’s the Catch-22: As climbing, mountaineering, and outdoor recreation becomes more popular and more accessible, the environment suffers. It’s not as simple as blaming accessibility. Riquelme explains that it’s ignorant recreation specifically harming the environment: Those who don’t understand why it’s important to stick to trails, to dispose of their apple cores and banana peels just like they would plastic, and keep their music in their headphones rather than playing it over a speaker while hiking, are doing harm.

When I ask Riquelme about a possible solution, he laughs and says, “You can’t ask the problem to solve itself.”

However, when he does come around to an answer, it’s one I’m surprised to hear.

“It’s all this thing,” he shakes his cell phone in the air. “People see that their friend has done something cool, and suddenly they want to do it too.”

Riquelme isn’t the first climber I’ve met to quickly put the blame on social media. In fact, there seems to be resounding resentment in the climbing community around oversharing on social media. Many people blame Instagram for the excessive popularity of iconic Washington hikes, such as Colchuck Lake and Maple Pass Loop.

However, there is truth to social media’s effect on the sudden popularity of outdoor recreation, especially since the pandemic. Being “outdoorsy” has become a trend on social media, whether that means being a casual weekend hiker MountBakerExperience.com

or bragging about big mountain summits. When I search “Washington state'' in my Instagram search bar, countless accounts spill their top five hikes or their favorite alpine lake destinations with thousands of likes and comments.

Unfortunately, outdoor social media influencers are often creating idealistic, unrealistic, and uninformed representations of outdoor recreation. For instance, German “Van-lifer” Yvonne Pferrer has over one million followers on her adventure-driven Instagram account where she links promo codes for outdoor clothing on posts like her climb up Exit Glacier in Alaska. Her filter-heavy posts give her followers an idealized view of outdoor recreation, one that ignores the big issues, such as the fact that the Exit Glacier has retreated about 2,300 feet in the last 13 years. Yet her followers can easily use the link in her bio to purchase the outfit she wears

in the video.

Other influencers in the outdoor community, such as Alex Honnold who has two and a half million followers on Instagram, are more cause-driven than Pferrer, but still contribute to the trend. The National Health Alliance on Mental Illness suggests that social media encourages people to compare their lives to those they see online. It’s hard not to experience FOMO while watching Honnold defy heights from your living room couch. Climbing has even crept its way into Hollywood; actor Jared Leto posts about the weekends he spends climbing in Yosemite for his 11 million followers.

However, the trend doesn’t stop with those who look up to the influencers and celebrities. Climbers who participate in “peak bagging” also seem to get sucked into the instant gratification of social media. Whether we like it or not, the

climbing community is a competitive one, and many people within it are addicted to letting others know when they have another mountain under their belt. I’ll be the first to admit to falling for the social media appeal in this way. I’ve even gone so far as developing Instagram captions in my head mid-climb for that mountain’s inevitable post.

As Riquelme explains, as long as climbing continues to be a trend and people continue to recreate outdoors while ignoring their impact, the environment will continue to suffer.

It’s easy to point fingers at Instagram and Facebook, but he reiterates that, at the end of the day, it comes down to us.

He believes that a collective mindset change needs to occur before we start seeing the environment recuperate. He suggests that people need to rework why they climb mountains.

After climbing for 38 years, Riquelme knows there’s no rush, no reason for the urgency and greediness of peak bagging and there’s certainly no reason why mountains must suffer for our satisfaction.

As we talked, Riquelme continued to come back to this phrase: “People know, but they don’t understand.”

While it’s hard to ignore the fact that the glaciers are receding or that the alpine landscapes are changing, there seems to be a lack of understanding of why it’s important that we care about it. It’s tough for people who only experience glaciers and alpine landscapes a few times a year to truly witness the change occurring, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t. Riquelme has a unique perspective as he watches these glaciers shrink year over year. Yet his voice, among others, seem to be unheard by those caught up in likes and reposts.

As fall rolls into winter and I watch from Bellingham as Mt. Baker pulls on its winter coat over the next few months, I want to challenge myself to take on the mindset shift that Riquelme prescribed. Though revisiting our own reasons for mountaineering and furthering our understanding of the alpine landscape is only a drop in the bucket of change, it’s a step in the right direction. At the very least, it should refocus our attention on the real-life glaciers while we still have them instead of the edited versions we see on our phones.

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Book Reviews by Meg Olson

“Soul of the Skagit”

by Christian Murillo From the birthplace of the Skagit River in the glaciers of the North Cascades to the river’s estuary and the Salish Sea, Christian Murillo takes you on a thoughtful journey through a watershed in a changing climate and the web of dependencies it holds.

Leaving his engineering career to connect with wilderness, Murillo says his primary focus has been “to address climate change through photography and storytelling.” He chose the Skagit because its source is “the most glaciated part of the continental United States but also because it is a place where glaciers in the wild and the people who depend on those resources intersect.”

Chapter titles are elevations, starting the journey at 8,868 feet with Eldorado peak and the five major glaciers on its flanks that serve as the reservoirs for some of the smaller rivers and creeks that feed the Skagit. We meet the gray-crowned rosy finch, the highest-nesting bird in North America, and learn how warming temperatures are threatening their life next to a shrinking glacier. With meticulous research and conversations with scientists and stakeholders, Murillo then takes us downstream.

“The narrative follows the water and navigates those conversations the way the water navigates through the watershed,” he said.

Descending through the subalpine, forests and floodplain to the estuary, Murillo combines science, adventure writing and wilderness cultural lore.

Following meltwater buzzing with insects through the subalpine zone, we learn about pockets of aquatic invertebrates that face extinction as the glacier their stream depends on shrinks.

That disruption in ecological balance trickles downhill and up the food chain. Below the tree line, from the tops of massive trees to fungal networks underground, dense old growth forests can hold twice the biomass of a tropical rainforest. While much of the public land in the watershed is protected from logging, forests are facing growing risks from fire during longer, drier summers.

The three Skagit River dams, from their history to their future, occupy the middle of the book, separating the upper reaches of the river from the salmon bearing waters that meander through the Skagit Valley. Built for power generation, the dams are playing an increasing role

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in flood control as a warmer climate leads to more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow in winter, with concerns it may become too great a volume of water for the dams to control.

One of the only rivers in the continental U.S. to host all five species of Pacific salmon as well as several freshwater salmonids, the Skagit’s ecosystem depends on healthy salmon, and the salmon and people who depend on them need a healthy watershed. “The Skagit is our people’s life blood,” Upper Skagit elder Scott Schulyer told Murillo. Schulyer has fished the Skagit for 42 years. He has seen salmon runs return while others dwindle and has been a powerful voice for environmental protection and riparian restoration, such as a recent agreement with Seattle City Light to return natural flow to an area adjacent to the Gorge dam.

“I’m a believer in restoring wilderness in all areas that are practical, that make sense,” Murillo said.

As the nutrient-rich waters of the Skagit flow to the Salish Sea it is boxed in by levies or meanders freely through protected or restored wetlands. While removing levees and restoring tidelands is being done successfully in small areas, on a larger scale it would disrupt the rich agriculture of the Skagit Valley that feeds millions in our region and beyond, Murillo said.

“There are a lot of approaches we can take that don’t come at such a high cost and I’m a fan of taking the low hanging fruit.”

Murillo said a Fir Island farmer used the old proverb popularized in the Mary Poppins movie “enough is as good as a feast,” speaking to how we can all live more sustainable lives and make impacts where we can. The farmer works with salmon restoration efforts on land his family has farmed for generations and said he wouldn’t mind losing his farm if it saved the salmon, but he sure would mind if it didn’t. “We can’t gamble with solutions,” Murillo said.

“There’s a lot we can be doing better that’s not hard to do.”

Ultimately, Murillo said, “The health of the Skagit demands changes from us humans.”

Soul of the Skagit is available through Murillo’s website or from independent bookstores in Washington and Oregon. To order or for a list of stores carrying the book go to www.murillophoto.com/Books.

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“The Joy of Winter Hiking”

by Derek Dellinger Countryman Press In his introduction, author Derek Dellinger asks, “Why winter?” Why head out on the trail and risk hypothermia – or at least discomfort – in the season of coziness?

Subtle light, a quiet stillness, crisp air and a dramatically transformed landscape all make winter a unique time to experience the outdoors. With the right preparation and equipment, Dellinger promises, you don’t need to miss out on time in nature when the weather turns cold, and you can enjoy a landscape many fair-weather hikers – and even winter adrenaline sports enthusiasts – miss.

Interspersed with hundreds of photographs that would lure anyone to the winter landscape, the meat of the text makes sure you can enjoy it when you get there. You will find tips for choosing your route as well as your shoes, with advice to cover a wide spectrum of winter outdoor experiences, including an afternoon walk in the woods, overnight trips, and technical climbs.

Dellinger is thorough in illuminating the risks as well as the joys of hiking in winter, and how to prepare for them.

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Just pure luck and hard work

How the Adams Brothers created the Glacier Ski Shop Once upon a time, there were two brothers, John and his younger brother Drew, who grew up in their parents’ ski shop on Northstar Mountain in California. When they weren’t outside sliding on the snow, they ran around the ski shop getting in the way of ski techs and other mountain people and generally making a rambunctious nuisance of themselves. Sure, they learned about DIN settings, camber and torsional rigidity but what really rubbed off the on these boys was their love of mountains and skiing.

But all good things must come to an end and so it was with the Adams brothers. Their parents lost the ski shop lease and moved away, John joined the Navy and Drew went to college.

During the summers, Drew worked at his dad’s bike shop on Lopez Island who in 1995 suggested the two boys should start a kayak rental business just as kayaking was beginning to reach peak popularity. A few years later, John drove up to Mt. Baker on his motorcycle and happened to strike up a conversation with Gary Graham, the owner of Graham’s Restaurant and store.

The Pool Room Next thing you know, the two brothers

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had rented out the pool room and started a ski rental business. It was 1999, the year after Mt. Baker set a world record in annual snow fall, 1,140 inches. That’s 95 feet. You couldn’t beat the free publicity, say the brothers. Or the dumb luck.

“We worked our tails off,” says John. “As far as having a business or marketing plan, zero. It’s purely based upon us being passionate about skiing. You kind of get that feeling when you come into this place, right?

It’s built by skiers for skiers.”

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

“This is the kind of knuckleheads we were,” said John. “We were telemark skiers, that’s the equipment we carried. People would come in to rent, take a look around and ask where the downhill ski gear was.

‘We’re going to the ski area, they’d say.’” After Christmas, John drove down to Lake Tahoe to a friend who had a ski shop. “He had some beat-up ski rental gear, we packed that van and I turned around and drove back home. Down in one day, back in another.”

That got the Adams established in the ski

By Pat Grubb

rental business.

“If we didn’t have something and people came looking for it, we’d get it. People would come back and we’d say, here’s that thing you were looking for and I think people appreciated that,” Drew said. “Rentals were always the cornerstone of the business because you’re able to get a longer term benefit out of the equipment. You’d use for a couple of years and then you’d sell it. We created a used market along the way.”

Running out of space, the brothers once again lucked out. The lot down and across the highway from Graham’s came up for sale. It was owned by a man, George Savage, who previously had the ski shop up at the mountain but “was run off ” by the ski area, said the brothers. He had intended to start a ski shop on the property “so he could stick it” to the ski area but happily sold it to the Adams. “The irony of that was, it was the same thing that happened to our parents at Northstar,” said John.

Above, John, l., and Drew and dogs in the ski sales area. L., Drew showing the extensive selection of clothing and snowboard gear.

MountBakerExperience.com

The Log Cabin Ski Shop “We proceeded to build this shop from the ground up,” said Drew. “That’s the beauty about log cabins, once you stack up the logs, you’re done. No drywall, nothing,” added John. Each log was numbered and they’d put a strap on the middle and use a rented forklift to drop it in place. “Just like Lincoln Logs,” said Drew.

“And we did the entire thing on credit cards,” said John. “Back in those days, they gave you convenience checks and everytime a contractor would ask for $10,000, we’d peel off another convenience check and pay them.”

Their timing on starting the kayak business also helped out by providing income they could apply against the credit card bills.

The Adams’ luck continued to hold out.

That autumn happened to be one of the driest in years which meant construction could continue without a pause. “The ski area opened December 14. We threw stuff into the store the night before, put the lock on the door, and we opened up at 9 a.m. on the first day of the season,” said Drew.

The original iteration of the ski shop was 24x36 for a total of 836 square feet. Since then, they’ve added a loft, a boot fitting area, and covered over two outside porches. In all, with the used equipment building, the rental shop, the retail and the warehouse, the operation occupies 7,000 square feet of space.

Creating a Used Market “We were always a ski rental operation,” said Drew. “We didn’t have space for anything else. We gradually added things like gloves but we’d use the equipment for a few years and then we’d sell it. We became known for good used equipment.”

There now is a separate building devoted to used equipment sales. While the shop offers season rentals for families, some people prefer to buy used equipment for themselves or for their kids which then gets passed down to younger siblings.

Sharing Responsibilities Asked how the two brothers share responsibilities, both reply that while each has done all facets of the business, they tend to stick to their individual areas of interest and strength. “It’s varied throughout the years,” says John.

“Drew looks after the accounting and the banking and I was here so I was on-site so I deal with operations and buying, he does the paying. At the same time, we both communicate on what we’re doing. If I make a bad buy, Drew gets to ...”

Have they ever disagreed on a major decision? “Nothing large,” Drew said. “Again, there’s never been any vision, it’s just been shooting from the hip the whole time,” John says. “The whole goal was, one person could run the shop, take a ski break and come back to finish the day. On your day off, the other person would show up. We’d both work on weekends.”

Trust underlays the brother’s working relationship. Both trust the other one to do what needs to be done. “That’s the secret sauce,” says Drew. “If John tried to do this himself or if I tried to do it myself, we couldn’t do it.” “No way,” agreed John.

“We just caught it at the right time and we had the right attitude and the rest of it just kind of fell into place,” said Drew.

“We try not to be too serious even though it’s a serious business,” said John. “We focus on the fun and bringing that to the people.

We put on a good show. And we love the sport and people pick up on that.”

“The core of our success is that John and I really enjoy the sport and that comes across to the customer,” said Drew.

The brothers go online The shop first started selling online back in 2008. “John recognized that you could get some pretty good deals buying manufacturers lot deals and we started selling them.

We had a pretty clunky system, no shopping cart, stuff like that,” said Drew. “We figured we could sell even when there wasn’t a car driving by on the highway.”

“And then the 2014 season came along,” said John. “The worst year in the history of skiing, you remember that, and we thought, boy, we’re pretty vulnerable in this area. So we started pouring money into it, we put up a new website, cleared out [another] building for storage and continued to buy what we knew to be good items from closeouts.”

The online business struggled to make money. “One day Marcella (Dobis, of Mt. Baker Snowboard Shop fame) walked by, we struck up a conversation and she said she could help us with the online stuff,” said John.

“She came in, pro bono, it took a little time, we started to see some sales, started picking up until there was a snowball effect,” said John.

“It’s the same story as the shop,” added Drew. “It grew really fast and we were running out of space. Now she’s kind of the third partner.”

Running out of space Asked about how the pandemic affected them, the brothers groaned. It turned out to have a silver lining, although. “I saw that there was going to be shortages so I bought like crazy. Trucks were pulling up and would ask where do you want these four pallets to go. I was saying to myself, what did I do,” said John.

“I called Gary Graham and said, ‘Gary, you’ve got to bail us out again.’ It turns out that his building next door was empty and we started piling all of that stuff into it,” he added.

“That’s how we really got into retail,” said Drew. Coupled with fiber optic internet service, people can buy right off of the floor at the same time that people are buying online.

That allows the shop to offer an in-store inventory that is probably the best in Washington, if not anywhere.

“If you tried to survive on people driving by on the highway, you could never do that,” said John. “The sky’s the limit when it comes to e-commerce. It’s fun to grow. If you have the right team, it’s fun to see growth.”

Is it tough to get employees? “We have a reputation as a fun place to work but where they live is tricky,” said Drew. “If they live in Bellingham, it’s a bit of a stretch. When we find a good one and they’re local, we really try to cultivate that into a long-term thing.

“It’s kind of pre-requisite to be a skier or a snowboarder, it’s a male dominated sport but we do have good females working here,” said John.

Asked what their next steps will be in growing the business, the brothers grow serious. “We watch these behemoths like REI in the market and watch how slowly they react to trends – we’re able to see new trends because we live on the mountain, we live it, “There’s not a lot of meat on the e-commerce business, so we have to identify exceptional products that no one else can find and if we can’t find them, we make them ourselves,” says John.

The Glacier Ski Shop offers their own house version of a Fatypus ski along with shorty skis with their own skin attached.

For snowshoers tired of going downhill at a snail’s pace, these shorties put the fun back into the sport.

Their big secret?

“Families. They really love us. Families are huge to our business,” they both agree.

“Here’s some secret stuff,” says Drew. “You make the kids happy. That makes mom happy. Which makes dad happy.”

“When you make dad happy, that’s when things happen. Wham!” said John.

“That’s what we tell our staff, they want to rap with the dad. We tell them, talk to the kids. ‘Hey, dude, were you shredding today?’

Mom is just beaming,” said Drew.

“Our strength is getting the right gear on the right people. Our depth of knowledge is unmatched,” said John.

“The entire business of sliding down mountains, we are the experts in that field,” he concluded.

I’m much inclined to agree.

(For more information, go to glacierskishop.com)

From top: John showing snowshoereplacing shorties with Glacier Ski Shop-branded skins; Custom Glacier Ski Shop Fatypus skis; boots waiting for new owners; and more snowboard inventory.

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Wet & Wild Winter Surfing in Tofino, BC

By Erin Deinzer

A

sk most people to picture a surfing Mecca and they’ll likely envision sun-drenched beaches, Volkswagen vans with the windows rolled down and surfers wearing the least amount of clothing possible. But a winter-waves hotspot in chilly British Columbia will quickly turn that image upside down.

The modest town of Tofino is located on the western shores of Vancouver Island, a three-plus hour drive from the ferry landing at Nanaimo – which itself is a two-hour ferry ride from Tsawwassen. In order to get there; you have to really want to.

Local lore says draft dodgers looking to avoid Vietnam “discovered” Tofino.

But it wasn’t until the 1980s that the area started showing up on people’s radar as a surfing destination. Today, the town boasts more than 10 surf shops and a mere 2,000 full-time residents.

Previously known as “Tough City” (named for the nature of the town’s long-abandoned logging and fishing industries), Tofino has three main beaches perfectly suited for catching winter swells: Chesterman Beach (both North and South), Cox Bay, and Long Beach – which sits inside the boundaries of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Surfing didn’t organically start in Tofino in the same way it did in Polynesia. Visitors to the area brought their boards with them, introducing locals to the sport. The growth of Tofino as a surfing destination wasn’t initially promoted as a tourism draw; it simply evolved into something people who

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lived and visited there started doing.

“In its early days, Tofino was a rough, backcountry place where women were basically doing the same things as the men, so it makes sense that when surfing came along, they’d want to do it, too,” explains Tiffany Olsen, general manager of Surf Sister, a woman-owned surf shop. But because there weren’t that many people surfing at the beginning, there were no instructors or rentals available.

In 1984, Liz Zed moved to Tofino with her two young children and decided to build a small shed on their beachfront property where they could rent out surfboards and gear to summer visitors. Almost 40 years later, Live to Surf (which labels itself as Tofino’s “original surf shop”) is run by Zed’s

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

daughter, Pasquale Fremont, and her brother Jean-Paul, in a hefty storefront location on Tofino’s main street.

Another woman entrepreneur, Jenny Hudnall, opened Surf Sister in 1998. Once considered Canada’s top female surfer, her inspiration for opening the shop, and giving lessons, was to help female surfers learn from others, rather than trying to figure it out on their own like she had to when she first started surfing at age 13.

Surf Sister also enjoys the success of a homegrown competition that’s become more prestigious and well attended with every passing year. Its annual Queen of the Peak offers the largest purse in Canada for a women’s surf contest. Held in late September, it boasts three divisions: shortboard, longboard, and Princess of the Peak (for those 16 years of age and younger). The two-day event hosts mainly locals but welcomes entrants from all over the globe. For 2023, the 100 available slots filled up in less than five minutes.

But that wasn’t the only memorable aspect to this year’s lineup.

In late October, Tofino surfer (and former Princess of the Peak winner) Sanoa Dempfle-Olin earned a spot on the Canadian Surf Team to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Stepping onto a board for the first time at age six, the Tofino-born and raised surfer honed her skills as a future Olympic contender competing in Surf Sister’s yearly contests and was the youngest female surfer to win the Tofino Rip Curl MountBakerExperience.com

Competition.

While you can surf in Tofino any time of year, many choose to go when the air temperature is colder than the 50-degree water – making it an oddly comfortable experience.

“In one day, you can practice in the white-water wash that’s about waist high, getting a feeling for what it’s like to stand up on the board,” Olsen said. From there, students can progress to riding what she calls “unbroken green waves.”

Because there aren’t any lifeguards on Tofino’s beaches, it’s up to everyone to take responsibility for themselves. Waves can go from two to 18-feet in a matter of days, so it’s important to recognize you shouldn’t be out surfing when the waves are too big for you to handle.

Regardless of whether there’s snow on the ground or you’re wearing a neoprene leotard that resembles a full-sized Gumby suit, you’re still looking at a commitment of time and devotion to learn the basics. As surfer Jay Bowers (who runs Pacific Surf School) explains in the October 2023 issue of Tofino Times, there are certain faux pas to avoid on the water.

“Bigger surf means more duck diving, more paddling, increased wave knowledge, and the ability to understand proper etiquette in the water,” Bowers writes.

“We’ve seen lots of people paddling right to the peak and catching the first wave (while others) have been waiting for the sets, freezing their butts off, before they paddled out.”

In addition to freezing cold locals, Tofino’s winter waves have also hosted celebrity surfers (actor Chris Hemsworth

shared photos of his rides with 57 million Instagram followers), but some surprise surfers, too.

“We did a surf lesson for a group of nuns,” says Olsen. “They were very modest, so each one had to change in private inside the van. And they wore their habits on top of their wetsuits,” she recalls with a smile.

As Olsen and I chat on the grounds of the Pacific Sands Beach Resort (where one of Surf Sisters’ shops is located, making the property the ideal place to stayand-surf) a young woman walks past us. Wearing a 5/4 wetsuit, a neon-green surfboard tucked under her arm, she doesn’t appear to notice that the wind’s picked up, bringing a sudden chill to the air. The only thing she seems focused on is diving into the forest-green water and paddling out to catch one of Tofino’s incoming waves.

“People end up here because it’s beautiful,” Olsen tells me. “The landscape, the people, the vibe. It’s an amazing place to live. If you look at the lineup on any given day, it’s 50 percent men and 50 percent women. I’ve never surfed anyplace else in the world where it’s like that.”

Perhaps no other sport has its proponents’ waxing poetic about the environment like surfing does. Standing on the sand at Cox Bay watching a cloudless sky meet wave-etched rocky promontories, it’s easy to understand why you become one with nature in a place like Tofino.

Take a lesson. Respect the ocean. Cherish the environment.

That feels like an apt motto for a surfing Mecca that’s as wild as it is welcoming.

If You Go:

For tips on understanding winter weather along the BC coast: https://coastsmart.ca/ For lessons: https://www.surfsister.com/ Stay-and-play: https://www.pacificsands.com (currently celebrating its 50th year)

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WINTER 2023/24 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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people in the park than were being engaged.

Hopefully, NCI would reach out to the millions of people that lived in the greater Puget Sound region and bring them to the park – which, of course, it has done. It’s brought in over 150,000 kids along to Mountain School over the years.

Teaching in the Rain

How did the idea of a “Mountain School” come about? What made NCI want to specifically engage local school children?

The Mountain School program started in the early 1990s, and I was board chair until 1994. As the book describes in more detail, some of the board members, especially Brian Scheuch, were strong advocates for reaching out to the youth.

The original model was to conduct field seminars for adults. So Brian and others thought that we really ought to expand the field education to reach young people.

The first real youth program started when NPS provided a camping area at Newhalem campground. Eventually, with the help of the Washington National Parks Foundation, they built a little shelter. But for the first number of years, Mountain School operated out of a tent, which was quite a challenge given the intense moisture they had to deal with. Thus the title of my book, Teaching in the Rain.

The Story of North Cascades Institute

J ohn C. M iles Continued from page 30 Fleischner and Bill Lester to a meeting, and the NPS embraced the idea.

How did you personally get involved with North Cascades Institute, and how did you become its unofficial historian?

In 1986, I was the dean of the College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University. John Reynolds, the superintendent of North Cascades National Park, called me one morning and said, “We’re thinking of creating this organization and wondered if you’d like to come to a meeting. We want to pull together a board.”

I had first come to Bellingham in 1968. I was a climber. I started climbing in New Hampshire and then in Oregon and so when I got to Bellingham, it was like I had died and gone to heaven because there were all these mountains all around.

So I had been climbing all over the North Cascades for years and was a great enthusiast and student of the place.

I had also written a book about Mt. Baker, Koma Kulshan: The History of Mt. Baker, so I was very excited about anything devoted to the North Cascades.

At the end of that first meeting, I walked out of there as the Chairman of the Founding Board of North Cascades Institute, which I held for the next eight years. So I was right on the ground floor and very involved in the creation of the Institute as the board chair.

What were those early days of the Institute like? How would you compare it back then to how it operates today?

North Cascades National Park is a wilderness park. It was created that way. It’s not as accessible to the average American tourist as, to some degree Olympic, but especially Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, places like that. So visitation has always been low, and compared to other parks it’s still low. But in those days, it was really low.

The North Cascades Highway was the only access point for most visitors, there was no visitor center yet and most visitors just passed through in their vehicles.

The Institute offered a model that would engage more

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Why did you decide to write this book?

I thought it would be sad if the story wasn’t told, because those things tend to just disappear into the mists of time. I love to write, I’ve written a number of books and I knew the North Cascades as well as anybody because of my intimate involvement with the organizations.

Another reason was to have it as a resource for the Institute to use in its recruiting and orienting of its staff, and for fundraising and outreach. When you go out to ask people for support, it’s really good if you can say, “We’ve been going for 37 years, this is our story, in incredible detail.”

So people will know they’re supporting something that has a solid record and isn’t going away tomorrow.

Plus, it was a great trip down memory lane for me. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with them.

What is it about being outside that is so conducive to learning, especially for children?

It involves the whole person.

It’s not just book learning – which is important, of course – but it’s immersing the entire person in the subject.

For instance, the Institute would take a youth program and hike them up the railroad grade on the south side of Mt. Baker, overlooking the Eastern Glacier. That glacier has been receding dramatically for the last century or more and it’s receding even faster with global climate change.

The students hike up, sit on that moraine, look out over the glacier, and a North Cascades National Park geologist can explain to them exactly what’s happening. They not only get the information from an expert, but they could see the whole story. They hiked up and made the effort to get there, so they were totally immersed in the place. You don’t go away from that with any misunderstanding of what you were focusing on.

I think one of the fundamental principals of learning is if you can relate what you’re learning to yourself, it sticks with you more than if it’s an abstraction. That’s what I call experiential learning; it’s a really important form of learning.

What was something new you learned in writing Teaching in the Rain?

I think the story I learned over the years, both in research-

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

ing for the book and in being there, was the power of partnerships. The reason the North Cascades Institute has been as successful as it has is because Executive Director Saul Weisberg and his staff have been masters of creating partnerships.

It’s a small organization, it always has been. But it’s had partnerships with Seattle City Light, North Cascades National Park, the Park Service, the Forest Service, WWU, Village Books, you name it. Hundreds of partners have participated in creating this program, let alone the people who donate.

I think the power of partnerships is a big part of this story.

What do you want people to come away with after reading Teaching in the Rain?

When I was in Bellingham doing public events for the book, a question that came up often was, “What is the case for hope in this world where we’re facing so many difficulties, particularly the myriad difficulties associated with climate change?”

What I hope readers take away from Teaching in the Rain is hope that people in a small community can band together and do good. NCI is a small group of people, but they were able to spread the word, to reach out to 150,000 young people over 35 years and educate them on what’s happening with our environment.

I hope people will realize this is the kind of thing we need to do: create more of these institutions, put our support into this effort. If there’s going to be a future, it’s the young people who are going to be living in it. So I think of this book as one way that we can do something to at least reach out and start to make a future that could be better than we think it might be, given the current circumstances.

You’ve worked in the environmental science world for decades, have you noticed a shift in the way people see and discuss the environments they live in?

There are two things I see happening at the same time.

Number one is that awareness and understanding of the nature of climate change is growing astronomically.

For years and years when we were trying to promote this kind of learning about geophysical forces in the environment, it was an uphill battle. We couldn’t imagine we would get the kind of global coverage that is currently happening.

Number two is a counter-trend; the problem seems so huge. But I wouldn’t call it apathy. It’s more fear.

I think there’s a lot of fear in the statements of younger people who are organizing to tackle this environmental problem, because they see it as their future. It’s energizing when you get pushed into a situation that frightens you and you feel, “Maybe I can do something about it, I have to do something about it, it’s my future.”

What else can we learn about NCI through this book?

If there’s a star of this story, it’s Saul Weisberg. He was the executive director for 35 years – that’s a long time to be a founding director. He kept the organization focused on its mission, even as that mission evolved over the years. He was a real inspiration in terms of the way he interacted with staff and partners, so he gets a lot of the credit for the success of NCI. Not to deny all the help he certainly had, but he was the glue that kept it together.

But now, NCI has been hit with a whole series of problems.

There was the Sourdough Mountain fire, there was a pandemic before that, and there are always problems with the highway. So they’re trying to adapt to these new realities of the challenges they face.

The Institute will have to go in some new directions. The Environmental Learning Center may change.

The North Cascades is a natural area that’s always feeding the lower Puget Sound basin. So what happens up here has all kinds of implications for what happens in the lowlands.

Everybody’s in the watershed, so I think we’ll be seeing more connections in people’s minds made between the North Cascades and the lowlands.

x

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Mountain Trivia Round Six

By Jason D. Martin

T

his article marks the sixth time that the Mount Baker Experience has featured mountain trivia. I hear it all the time. When is the next mountain trivia issue coming out…? Well, you asked. And so, you shall receive.

With that said, let’s get to it!

1. In November of 1915, Washington state gained its very first state park. Charles Larrabee and Cyrus Gates donated the original land that made up Larrabee State Park. What was the park’s original name? a) Cyrus Gates State Park b) Chuckanut State Park c) Mud Bay State Park d) Clayton Beach State Park 2. In June 1891, a party made a serious attempt to climb Mt. Baker. Though the mountain had been climbed in 1868, this team would still be one of the first to summit. But unfortunately, their trip ended with the mountain’s first known fatality. Richard Smith was buried on Bastille Ridge after this happened to him: a) He fell into a hidden crevasse. b) A boulder from the Chromatic Moraine fell and hit him. c) He succumbed to an infection he got after cutting himself several days earlier. d) He accidently shot himself while using his rifle as a walking stick.

3. In 1979, the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America arrived. This iconic book was written by Steve Roper and Allen Steck. Though six routes were included in the Pacific Northwest, only one is located in Whatcom County. What local route was included? a) Mt. Slesse’s Northeast Buttress b) Mt. Baker’s North Ridge. c) Mt. Shuksan’s Fisher Chimneys d) Mt. Shuksan’s Price Glacier 4. If you want to learn about mountain accidents on a monthly basis, you likely listen to this podcast hosted by Ashley Saupe. a) The Sharp End Podcast b) The Enormocast c) Accidents in North American Climbing Podcast d) Outside Alive

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5. Stephen King’s novel, The Shining, was adapted into a Stanley Kubrick film in 1980. The film about a haunted hotel features a shot of a car driving alongside Montana’s St. Mary’s Lake and exteriors from what Pacific Northwest ski destination? a) Crystal Mountain Ski Area b) Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood c) Whistler Ski Resort d) Big White Ski Resort 6. Although the Snurfer made its way onto the slopes first, this icon of snowboarding is credited with crafting and marketing the first modern snowboard. a) Sean White b) Jake Burton c) Travis Rice d) Jeremy Jones

11. It is well known that Mt. Baker is Washington’s northernmost Cascade volcano. Which is the southernmost Cascade volcano in British Columbia? a) Silverthrone Caldera b) Mt. Garibaldi c) Mt. Meager d) Three Sisters 12. Black Diamond Equipment has a versatile ski pole in its product line with a small steel picked ice axe integrated into the pole’s handle. What is this product called? a) Hand Axe b) The Hatchet c) Whippet d) Pocket Spike Answers are on page 44.

7. At 12,840-feet, this ski resort has the highest lift-served terrain in North America. a) Silverton Mountain, CO b) Arapahoe Basin, CO c) Telluride Ski Resort, CO d) Breckenridge Ski Resort, CO 8. What A-list actor teamed up with A-list rock climber, Chris Sharma, to produce a reality-style TV show on HBO Max about rock climbing? a) Jason Momoa b) Jared Leto c) Tom Cruise d) Zac Efron 9. Reinhold Messner is famous for being first to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks. Recently his accomplishment was put into question by what organization? a) Guinness Book of World Records b) The American Alpine Club c) The UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) d) The International Federation of Sport Climbing 10. British climbers use some different terminology than those in North America. When a British climber abseils, what are they doing? a) Successfully completing a rock climb without any hangs. b) Top-roping a rock climb c) Free-soloing a rock climb. d) Rappelling down a climb or steep slope.

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Kyle’s design philosophy centers on finding the best-fitting solution for a customer’s energy needs. If you’d like to learn how Western Solar can support your sustainability goals, give Kyle a call.

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RACE, RUNS AND EVENTS ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION JINGLE BELL RUN: Saturday, December 9, 2023

Bellingham High School. 5K run or walk, 1 mile Dog Trot. Get decked out and be festive, while racing to raise funds and awareness to cure America’s #1 cause of disability. For more information, go to JBR.org/bellingham.

SANTA 5K AT CORDATA: Sunday, December 17, 2023

Run, skip or walk in our Santa-themed 5K at the fabulous new Cordata Park.

Participants are welcome to run as fast as humanly possible or take an hour while enjoying a coffee and chat with friends.

Costumes are encouraged, but not required. For more information, go to cob.org/ezreg.

36TH ANNUAL LEGENDARY BANKED SLALOM: February 9-11, 2024

What started out as a challenge organized

by Bob Barci to beat snowboard pioneer Tom Sims in a slalom race in 1985 quickly became one of snowboardings most

highly regarded gatherings. To this day the race holds a special place for locals and legends alike and offers the simplest form of competition pitting each rider against the clock on the same banks, berms and bumps to see who can ride the course faster than the rest. For more information, go to lbs.mtbaker.us.

MUSSELS IN THE KETTLES: Saturday, March 2, 2024

Mussels in the Kettles is a non-competitive mountain bike ride and poker ride in Coupeville. You pick your pace and your route, 3 courses set up from 10 mile easy trails mostly double track, 15 miles of moderate trails double and single track, and 20 miles of expert trails mostly single track. For more information, go to bit.ly/3xgWkz3.

FROSTY MOSS RELAY: Saturday, March 16, 2024

Experience the green season on the Olympic Peninsula. Frosty Moss Relay is an 80-mile running relay on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. The course takes place on the paved Olympic

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Discovery Trail as well as the singletrack Olympic Adventure Trail. Teams of 3 or 5, 15 legs. For more information, go to frostymossrelay.com.

CHUCKANUT 50K: Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Chuckanut 50k is a lollipop-shaped course. The first 10k and last 10k repeat on the Interurban Trail with smooth, relatively flat running. The middle 30k is what this race is known for — you get to climb (5,000ft), traverse and descend the famous Chuckanut Mountain Ridge amongst beautiful Pacific Northwest terrain. For more information, go to chuckanut50krace.com.

OUTDOOR ADVENTURE & TRAVEL SHOW: March 2-3, 2024

BC’s largest showcase of outdoor gear and adventure travel experiences. Over 250 exhibitors and 60 adventure presentations. For more information, go to outdooradventureshow.ca.

Answers to the Mountain Trivia on page 42: 1) B – Chuckanut State Park. In February of 1923, the name was changed. In 1937, Larrabee’s widow, Francis, and her son, donated an additional 1,500 acres to the park, bringing the total acreage to nearly 2,000.

2) D – Smith was hunting mountain goats with others from his party. While moving up loose terrain he used his rifle as a walking stick. It discharged into his upper arm, he lost consciousness and fell down the slope, suffering additional injuries. He passed away shortly thereafter.

3) D – Mt. Shuksan’s Price Glacier is seldom climbed today. Climate change has made the hanging ice on the route extremely unstable. Mt. Slesse’s Northeast Buttress is on the list, and Slesse can easily be seen from Artist Point, but it is not in Whatcom County. The other local routes are Mt. Rainier’s Liberty Ridge, Mt. Stuart’s North Ridge, Forbidden Peak’s West Ridge, and Liberty Bell’s Liberty Crack.

4) A – The Sharp End Podcast breaks down mountain accidents every month.

Outside Alive also explores accidents, but it is more eclectic. The Enormocast is a rock climbing only podcast. And there is no Accidents in North American Climbing podcast.

5) B – The exteriors to The Shining were done at Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge. Due to remodels, the exteriors for the 2019 sequel, Doctor Sleep, were not shot at the lodge, but were constructed for the movie.

6) B – Jake Burton founded Burton Snow-

VANCOUVER SUN RUN: Sunday, April 21, 2024:

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WHIDBEY ISLAND MARATHON: Sunday, April 21, 2024

One of the Pacific Northwest’s hidden athletic gems is the perfect destination race. Starting at the famed Deception Pass Bridge then winding its way through picturesque ocean views and tranquil farmland, the courses promise to be scenic from country back roads to waterfront coastlines, snow-capped mountains and rolling hills.. Boston Marathon Qualifier. Go to runwhidbey.org

SKI TO SEA: Sunday, May 26, 2024

Ski to Sea is the original multisport relay race, from Mt. Baker to Bellingham Bay. Organize your team of 3-8 racers and join us on Memorial Day weekend.

Celebrating 51 years. Registration opens January 1, 2024. For more information or to register, go to skitosea.com.

boards in 1977. The biggest difference between his boards and the original boards on the slopes was the implementation of rigid bindings, which allowed for more functionality and control. Burton Snowboards is still thriving today.

7) D – The Imperial Express Chairlift in Breckenridge holds the title of highest chairlift in North America. If you want to hike up a bootpack from the chairlift, Silverton Mountain has the highest inbounds ski accessible terrain at 13,487-feet.

8) A – Though every actor listed is a rock climber, Jason Momoa was the inspiration behind HBO’s reality competition show, The Climb.

9) A – The Guinness Book of World Records has published research indicating it doesn’t believe the veracity of Messner’s claim to have reached the absolute summit of Annapurna (8,091m/26,545ft). The mountaineering world has ignored Guinness and continues to hold Messner as “the first.”

10) D – When Brits refer to rappelling, they call it abseiling, or even “abbing” down.

11) B – Mt. Garibaldi is the southernmost Cascade volcano in British Columbia. The northernmost volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc is the Silverthrone Caldera.

12) C – The Whippet Ski Pole was designed for extreme ski and snowboard adventures in no fall terrain. In recent years, thru hikers have also used Whippets when their trails cross steep snow slopes instead of carrying an ice axe.

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Northwest Avalanche Center

Thank you for your support!

Thank you to the businesses and individuals that donated prizes and purchased raffle tickets at the fundraiser for Northwest Avalanche Center at Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro in Bellingham on October 12.

The mission of the Northwest Avalanche Center exists to increase avalanche awareness, reduce avalanche impacts, and equip the community with mountain weather and avalanche forecasts, education and data.

Grant Gunderson PHOTOGRAPHY

MICHAEL G. IMPERO

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | WINTER 2023/24

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Your Mountain Real Estate Expert

Julie gets it SOLD! Buy or Sell a home with Jason and he’ll donate $500 to the WMBC. "Since 2015, Jason has helped 86 mountain bikers with their real estate needs in Whatcom County and raised $44,000 for the WMBC! Personally, my wife and I have worked with Jason several times and his expertise and advice have always been spot on!”

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Welcome to Mt. Baker Lodging’s rustic to luxury getaways The Mount Baker Recreation Area is a year-round playground!

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