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