Winter in the Baker Backcountry
DATES HIKED: 2/28/26
TOTAL MILEAGE: 11.5 MILES
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 5,000’
There isn’t much that compares to the Baker backcountry on a bluebird winter day. A sea of mountains cloaked in white stretching in all directions, dreamy pillow drifts, and, of course, the crown jewel, Mt Baker, dominating the horizon.
On February 28, after a storm subsided and the veil of clouds lifted, Alex, Sander, Morgan, and I decided to go on a backcountry tour. Picking just where to go was tricky, though. In most of Washington’s avalanche forecast zones, NWAC had persistent slab listed as one of the main avalanche problems. Persistent slabs are not something that we typically get in the PNW, but this season’s snowpack was weird. Prolonged sunny stretches created weak layers in the snowpack that were subsequently buried by storms. The West North zone did not have this problem listed; it had storm slab and wet loose slab listed as the main problems. Additionally, since it was the first warm and sunny day after a storm, it meant the solar aspects were going to cook and start shedding throughout the day. All these variables meant we needed to be cautious about our terrain selection. We kept going back and forth on objectives, and at 8PM the night prior, we decided to go on an exploratory mission to the Ptarmigan Ridge area in the Baker backcountry, skiing north facing slopes. We landed on Ptarmigan Ridge for two reasons. First, this would keep us away from southern slopes cooking in the sun most of the day. Second, since the Ptarmigan area has plenty of low angle runs we could stay out of steeper terrain where storm slabs could be an issue. While we would have loved to have ventured into steeper, burlier terrain on a bluebird day, it seemed like a good, conservative choice for the day.
Given the expected warmup, we arrived to Heather Meadows parking lot early and were skinning by 8AM. We made it to Artist Point in about 45 minutes and soaked in the stunning view of Baker across the valley while we caught our breath. We chose to downhill skin past Table Mountain to save time (no matter how many times I downhill skin, it always feels rowdy!), then we quickly skinned up to Ptarmigan Pass and transitioned for our first descent of the day. Only one group of three was ahead of us so we all were able to find fresh tracks down to our next transition point. From there, we headed up to Ptarmigan Ridge and dropped into Heli Run. The snow was skiing incredibly well, the lovely boot-top powder and we enjoyed first tracks all the way down. Since we had made great time and the snow was skiing well we decided to push further into the backcountry and made our way to the col under Coleman Pinnacle. By this point more groups were arriving, the Ptarmigan area was being skied out, and we fell in line behind a few other groups headed toward the col.
We arrived at the col about half an hour before our turnaround time. Perfect. The views from this high point were spectacular in all directions. The clear skies revealed the staggering amount of terrain there is to explore in this region. Just another reason to keep coming back!
Eventually, we peeled ourselves away from the views and began our descent. The 1,500’ mostly low-angle run from the col was the highlight of the day. We skied until we hit a low point near Wells Creek and then began our long ascent back toward Ptarmigan Pass, Artist Pass, and finally arrived back at Heather Meadows just under 8 hours after we left, grinning from ear to ear.
This winter season was weird. Not enough snow, then too much snow, creating dangerous snowpacks and funky conditions. I didn’t get out on nearly as many tours as I hoped, but the quality of this day in the backcountry made up for the lack of quantity overall.
And now, for some big spring ski objectives!
