We managed to pull together another iteration of the Barney Clark Memorial
with a quick visit to Mt Baker. Similar to a previous trip here in 2013, it was also
rained out, but we got a day together at the mountain to keep the tradition alive.
The 43rd annual Barney Clark Memorial ski trip
Full size
Our coffee table book of James Niehaus' ski maps is always a wonderful way to start a trip and
see what kind of terrain and lifts are in a new ski area.
Full size
I popped into Nitro Pinball in Abbotsford to try to see a few of the new Stern Pinball games but they
weren't open.
Full size
Mt Baker from Abbotsford. Lots of snow! It turns out we likely missed the big storm cycle by a
couple of days, but them's the breaks.
Full size
Paul and Bill and our liquor stock for the weekend.
Full size
Ross brought a weird potato game but the batteries were dead so we didn't try it.
Full size
After five stops, I was able to find Ross' Kelli these weird British jelly tots in Canada.
Full size
The sweet place that Ross rented for us at Snowline in Glacier, WA had a foosball machine. Admittedly
the handles were a bit beat up, but it was still fun to play.
Full size
Paul with his sweet new moustache waiting at chair 1 for Ross to rent poles. Yes, Ross, it turns out
you need poles to ski.
Full size
The four of us riding a chair at Mt Baker. The snow pack was pretty solid having received about 1.5m
of snow the week before. But it was also pretty skied out so it needed a bit of a refresh.
Full size
In the four trips I've been to Mt Baker, this was the first one where I could actually SEE mountains
as most trips have involved either rain or snow or both.
Full size
The four of us enjoying the nice views of the Baker wilderness.
Full size
Ross and I with some dark clouds showing more precip coming in.
Full size
Apparently there are 'lodge cats' at the three huts at Mt Baker. We were introduced to one at the
Raven hut.
Full size
This was probably the lowest I've felt prior to skiing, but as Barney would have, you buck up and
make it happen.
Full size
Nice view of fresh corduroy at the resort.
Full size
Bill and I before skiing into some steeper lines.
Full size
Bill and I had a bit of adventure when he followed me into an area off North Face that looked like
'it would go'. It turns out we got to a sign that said 'Should You Be Here?' and we turned around
before a cliff. So that involved ~80m of uphill hiking through the 1.5m of fresh snow that hadn't
been skied out in this zone.
Full size
Here's a look at our ski tracks for the day, zoomed in to where Bill and I went adventuring marked Lap 13.
Some of the Garmin data from our outing is HERE .
Full size
One of the lodge cats at Heather Meadows. One of the ladies next to us called this a 'chonky cat', the
exact term that my son Henry would have used.
Full size
This proves that although we had a great dinner of pizza at Chair 9, we ALSO ate salad, both Caesar and
spinach salad. So, YES, we are getting old.
Full size
Paul sizing up a shot with his sweet stash upstairs at Chair 9.
Full size
While there was a LOT of rain coming in, I made the call to zip up to Baker for a few hours before
the monsoon arrived. This is the short line-up on chair 1 just before they opened. I got to ski with
a young geology student named Shawn on this morning.
Full size
Shaun dropping into 'Sticky Trees', a nice line off chair 6.
Full size
And then it got really wet really fast. It turns out that my ski pants are not waterproof and this is
a great way to figure that out since my socks were so wet, they weighed a few pounds when I was done
at lunch time.
Full size
Three of the four tracks here are mine, proving that there was fresh snow.
Full size
So, after a morning of skiing in the wet wet, we decided to head into town and check out
a cool climbing gym in Bellingham.
Full size
Getting shoes on for our bowling afternoon in Bellingham after hitting the climbing gym.
Slo-mo of me bowling
Slo-mo of Bill bowling
Slo-mo of Paul D bowling
Full size
The boys checking out a Godzilla pinball machine I'm looking at from Stern Pinball. This is at a
bowling alley in Bellingham, which apparently I had been to before.
Full size
My sample pours at Aslan Brewing in Bellingham where we had dinner.
Full size
This shows we're getting older as Paul can no longer read menus without both a light and either
reading glasses or at least an aggressive squint.
Full size
The boys enjoying a pint at the german beer hall in town. You can see who had the man's sized beer
and it wasn't Ross (since Ross was a rock star and drove us into town).
Full size
Paul showing off the benefit of his stash - now it's a flavour saver!
