Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Winter Evening Trek to Artist's Point


On Saturday, January 14th, my wife and I decided to get out our snowshoes and head for the Mount Baker Ski Area and Artist's Point.  I'd been down with a cold all week and needed to get out and we decided we'd see the sunset on snowshoes.

Artist's Point is a viewpoint between Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and Table Mountain that offers stunning views of some of the great peaks of the North Cascades.  It is accessible by road in the summer months, but the road is closed in the winter.

After driving up to the ski area, we left the parking area about 2:30 p.m. and were back again at 5:00, having spent plenty of time at the top and having seen the sunset.  We stopped for our evening meal on the way home, the end of a very pleasant day.

Mount Shuksan from near the parking lot


Table Mountain and a strange sky


Herman Peak


Border Peaks and Mount Larrabee



slopes of Table Mountain


Huntoon Point (note the campers at the very top)


Mount Shuksan and Shuksan Arm






Mount Larrabee


Baker Lake and the North Cascades


Mount Baker



Mount Shuksan



Table Mountain


 Mount Baker and sunset



Huntoon Point



Herman Peak, the Border Peaks and Mount Larrabee


campers


the ridges east of Baker



snow sculpture


Mount Baker


the view west


Table Mountain


Mount Baker




sunset colors


Mount Shuksan



headed down




panoramic view from the top
(Table Mountain, Herman Peak, Border Peaks, Mount Larrabee, Mount Shuksan, left to right)

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Snowshoeing to Artist's Point


On January 2 a group of us, including several Australians, went on snowshoes to Artist's Point from the Mount Baker Ski Area.  Artist's Point, accessible in the summer by car, is inaccessible in winter except by skis or snowshoes.  The car park and toilets there are now buried under 25 feet of snow.  The viewpoint lies on Kulshan Ridge between Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan and offers fabulous views of those peaks and of the peaks to the north including Mount Larabee, Winchester Mountain and the Border Peaks.  The round trip on snowshoes is about 5 miles and we were gone for several hours.  The Australians had never experienced so much snow or temperatures so cold, but they were game and all made it to the top.  There was a stiff wind blowing at the top and it was bitter cold so we did not stay long, but did get plenty of photos.

some of the peaks to the east early in the morning





Mount Larrabee


Table Mountain from the beginning of the trail


getting higher


Table Mountain



Herman Saddle


the ridge above the trail






Table Mountain again


Mount Shuksan



Mount Larrabee and the Border Peaks


Mount Shuksan and Shuksan Arm





the valley between Shuksan and Kulshan Ridge



trees




shadows

snowshoers


snow and more snow







 Table Mountain coming into view again near the top


at the top



Mount Shuksan


Table Mountain


Mount Baker




still at the top






Mount Shuksan again


headed down


the valley between Kulshan Ridge and Shuksan



Kulshan Ridge from below


trees



Mount Shuksan


lone snowshoer


east


snowy branches





Table Mountain



one more view of Table Mountain


more trees


Mount Shuksan from the lower ski lodge