ROAD TRIP: Wyoming to Washington

Jess McMillan’s text message woke me up last Monday at 8:30 a.m.: “Want to go skiing?" the message read. I thought she meant on our home hill, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. But when I called, she said, “No in Washington! Baker got 12 feet of snow a few days ago.”

“I’m packing my bags,” I said.

After 15 hours of rocking out, listening to a book on tape, and guzzling Red Bull, we arrived in my home state at 2 a.m. – 15 hours later. Mt. Baker would have to wait one more day; we were sleeping in. After all, it’s nearly a three-hour drive north from Redmond (our home base) to Baker. So the next day we went to Snoqualmie Pass, just 45 minutes away and skied Alpental backcountry. We rolled up to the parking lot noticing killer inbounds lines, but were disappointed to find out that the lifts didn’t open until Thursday. We didn’t have time to waste. It was McMillan’s first Washington ski, so we wanted to explore Alpental’s 500 acres of backcountry terrain. It was drizzling rain, but we saw loads of snow. The snow-covered rocks looked like a perfect playground for pillow drops, hundreds of them.

In Washington, it can rain; it can snow; it can hail – you name it. As is, the temperature was rising and the snow was sticking to everything, including the bottom of my tele skis. Then, stupidly, I decide to take the exit route that traversed over a 30-foot cliff and found myself breaking through a quarter-inch layer of ice that was atop a layer of melting snow from the trickling water beneath. Excellent. (To reiterate: For those venturing out to the pass, pay attention to your surroundings. The snowpack can be dangerous.) No trips to the hospital. We had to hit the treasure at Baker the next day.

Those 12 feet of snow had flattened the trees, stuck to the rocks, and piled up in the backcountry. While many western ski areas are suffering with terrible snow bases, Baker has about a 100 inches. Nothing can compete in the U.S. right now. In Bellingham, word was 17 inches of snow dumped at the nearby sea-level city on day one of the five-day storm. We arrived a few days late unfortunately, but we were lucky to have dibs on first tracks in the backcountry.