Let The Snowboarding Begin!

I had been dreaming of my first snowboarding trip in the Northwest for years. After weeks of cold weather and a nice early season snow base, I took off with my friend Brian to the home of snowboarding - Mt. Baker in north Washington state.

We were hoping this giant storm system would arrive on the day of our trip but it stayed off-shore until the following day unfortunately (and consequently dumped a foot and a half). Even though conditions were primarily skiier packed snow and ice with only some powder in spots, it was an excellent day for snowboarding with temperatures in the low 20's.

Mount Baker is a mountain like no other. In 2000 it set the world record for snowfall in one season. The traditional skiing trails are there but the lay out of the mountain allows you to go off trail in an instant. This brings you through trees up snow banks and - as we found out all too quickly - bare faced cliffs!! Dave and Mike, a couple of seasoned snow riders and friends of Brian, were up there also and took us all over the mountain completely oblivious to difficulty level signs. Given that most of Baker is 'difficult' and 'expert only' they didn't have much choice.

I took my time and got back into it all nice and easy without too many wipeouts. By the end of the day I was carving exactly the way I wanted and took my best runs just before calling it a day. With just a couple of inches of fresh it would have been a dream day come true. By 2:30 in the afternoon I was in the lodge sipping a hot chocolate and by 5:30 I was at home aching like the 'aul fella I am! (not!).