Mount Baker Experience summer 2016

SUMMER 2016

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

YEARS 19 8

6

16 0 2

TAKE A HIKE

Mount Baker’s glaciers

OLYMPIANS ON TRAIL

Mountain bikers train locally

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NORTHERN LIGHT

Closer than you think, BC’s biggest waterpark!

4150 Columbia Valley Highway Cultus Lake. B.C.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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CLIMB MT. BAKER See the world from a new perspective

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SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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June 11 & 12 2016

54TH ANNUAL

DEMING LOG SHOW

Located just 12 miles East of Bellingham, off the Mt. Baker Highway, on Cedarville Road.

Adults $7 | Kids $4 | Seniors $4 Main Show 1pm

Exhibitions start at 11am

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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Welcome to

BREAKFAST

• Breakfast sandwiches • Burritos • Biscuits & gravy • Mini-quiche • Hash browns

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Pre-orders welcome - order on your way up the mountain, pick up dinner on the way down. Call in your order!

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LUNCH & DINNER HOT & COLD DELI

• Fresh made sandwiches and soups • Rotisserie Chicken • Prime Rib Philly Steak Sandwich • Prime Rib French Dip • Italian Pannini • Veggie Burgers • Angus Chuck Burgers • Fried Chicken • Egg Rolls •JoJos • Fish & Chips • Coconut Shrimp • Salads and much more!

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The region’s largest selection!

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SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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TICKETS + SCHEDULE 5Pointfilm.org/Bellingham

Thurs Aug 25 5PM 60 METERS TO ANYWHERE Come enjoy Semi-Rad’s Brendan Leonard as he gives a special presentation of his latest book 60 Meters to Anywhere.

Backcountry Essentials FREE

Fri Aug 26 5PM KICKOFF PARTY + FOOD TRUCK RALLY Live music, Outdoor Research, Sierra Nevada, American Alpine Institute, special guests, and more to get this party started!

Mt Baker Theatre FREE entry 7PM FILM PROGRAM I Begin the adventure with a selection of short adventure films as we set the tone for an inspiring weekend! Take a ride with us as we soar in the sky and remember the places where inspiration lives! Mt Baker Theatre $15

Sat Aug 27 11:30 AM YOUTH ADVENTURE PROGRAM brought to you by WECU A high-energy morning everyone will enjoy! All-ages are welcome as we enjoy some animation and made for youth adventure films. Pickford Film Center FREE for kids, $10 adults 5PM VAN LIFE RALLY brought to you by Wilson Motors Come check out an entourage of “livable adventure vehicles,” enjoy live music, Sierra Nevada Beer and local food trucks.

Mt Baker Theatre – Commercial Street FREE entry 7PM FILM PROGRAM II This inspiring set of short adventure films will leave you ready to get after it! Find perspective on what is important in life and be ready to explore new, undiscovered places int he wild and in yourself! Mt Baker Theatre $15

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

Publisher’s

NOTE

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

FAT-TIRE BIKING

Not just for the fringe

Campers, trucks & van life

SHUKSAN

Splitting the Waddington Hut MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

O

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LLEYMA

T RKE

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CRAFT BEER MOUNTAIN GEAR

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ADVENTURE MACHINES

BC BACKCOUNTRY

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WINTER 2015/16

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his issue marks the 30th year of the Mount Baker Experience, making it one of the oldest outdoor adventure magazines in the state of Washington. Started by longtime newspaper veterans Al and Nickee Magnusson, MBE has covered the local outdoor scene through the seasons and the years in good times and bad and continues to grow and thrive.

For this, we have our readers, our contributors and our advertisers to thank. Without their contribution and support, the magazine could not survive, let alone prosper.

MBE was created in the spirit of adventure and exertion: Al Magnusson’s father, John, came third in the first Bay to Summit to Bay race in 1911 and was the inspiration behind the magazine’s founding. That spirit lives on in the stories and photographs that appear in each issue.

Shown nearby are two of the earlier covers.

Safe to say, we’ve come a long way. When my wife Louise and I bought the publication from the Magnussons in 1999, we figured it was time for a re-design as you can see from the snowboarder cover, the first issue under our ownership. We thought that was a pretty cool cover – what did we know?

With luck, someone might be writing something similar 30 years from now. In the meantime, we will continue to bring you the best photography and writing by locals who are passionate in their outdoor pursuits and their desire to share the best of the Northwest.

If you can see Mount Baker, you are part of the Experience. Have fun!

M

BY PAT GRUBB

Official Mascot of Mount Baker Experience

REAL FOOD FROM AROUND HERE

SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NORTHERN LIGHT

RENTALS & RETAIL www.nwmountainshop.com 829 METCALF ST | SEDRO-WOOLLEY, WA SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

7

Summer2016 Jason Griffith photo.

in this issue

16

TANTALUS TRAVERSE

four days on a classic Canadian high route

20

Caleb Smith photo.

Oliver Lazenby photo.

14 Oliver Lazenby photo.

12 CYCLING WITH OLYMPIANS

GO SEE A GLACIER

RECON RACKS

National team training on local trails

A guide to the shortest paths to ice

Local bike rack company takes off

10 WILD DREAMS

33 OVERTENSE

A first ascent at Mount Erie

34 RARE BUT DEADLY

22 RACE TO ALASKA

Inside Passage race returns

35 SUMMER EVENTS

Building a landmark

Happenings and shindigs

38 BLANCHARD LOVE

24 PHOTO GALLERY

What to do when lightning strikess

23 WELCOME GROCERY

How to relax on your bike

Showcase of summer action

A day of advocacy

42 DINING AND LODGING Where to stay and eat

44 PRODUCT GUIDE

Get outfitted for summer adventures

46 30 YEARS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

The North Cascades Institute celebrates

45 FORBIDDEN PEAK

30 8

RETALLACK LODGE A trail building holiday

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

Jason Griffith photo.

Andy Porter photo.

Brad Andrew photo.

A self-rescue when it all goes wrong

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SUMMER STARGAZING Connect with the cosmos MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE PUBLISHERS Patrick Grubb and Louise Mugar EDITOR Oliver Lazenby PUBLICATION DESIGN Doug De Visser COPY EDITOR Kara Furr OFFICE MANAGER Amy Weaver

STAFF WRITERS Steven Guntli • Kara Furr

ADVERTISING DESIGN Ruth Lauman • Doug De Visser ADVERTISING SALES Catherine Darkenwald • Janet McCall Molly Ernst CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE: Brad Andrew, Andy Basabe, Radka Chapin, Mallorie Estenson, Jann Eberharter, Blake Herrington, Jason Griffith, Grant Gunderson, Jason Hummel, Eric Mickelson, Aubrey Laurence, Spencer Paxson, Andy Porter, Brandon Sawaya, Rylan Schoen, Luca Williams

CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTORS MBE Summer 2016

bradANDREW

Brad Andrew is a Bellingham based freelance action sports photographer. He spends his winters chasing the snow looking for the perfect spot to make the perfect image. He is a husband, father and a student of life.

andyBASABE Andy is an educator in Whatcom County. Some of his days are best for words, others for walking. Everyday for eating.

radkaCHAPIN Radka Chapin is an avid alpine climber and backcountry skier who never leaves the house without her camera.

EMAIL: info@mountbakerexperience.com WEB: www.mountbakerexperience.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/mtbakerexperience TWITTER: twitter.com/MB_Experience INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/mtbakerexp If you can see Mt. Baker, you’re part of the experience. Mount Baker Experience is an outdoor recreation guide for and about the Mt. Baker region, distributed from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. and published by Point Roberts Press, Inc. Locally owned, the company also publishes The Northern Light, All Point Bulletin, Pacific Coast Weddings, Waterside and area maps.

Vol. XXX, No. 2. Printed in Canada. ©2016 POINT ROBERTS PRESS 225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230 TEL: 360/332-1777 NEXT ISSUE Fall 2016 • Out late August Hike • Bike • Climb • Paddle Ad reservation deadine: July 29 ON THE COVER Josh Hummel splashes through a puddle on Tiger Mountain.

Photo by Jason Hummel.

Alpinestateofmind.com

mallorieESTENSON Mallorie Estenson is a climber, writer and photographer based in Bellingham. She lives her life on the cusp of being considered a dirtbag, and likes it that way.

jannEBERHARTER Originally from Boise, Idaho, Jann Eberharter came to the Northwest to pursue a degree in visual journalism at Western Washington University and stayed for the loamy trails.

blakeHERRINGTON Blake Herrington is a native of Washington and lives in Leavenworth with his wife Allison. His new guidebook, Cascades Rock, covers rock climbs around WA and BC. He learned to climb in the Cascades.

jasonGRIFFITH Based in Mount Vernon, Jason is a fisheries biologist, member of Skagit Mountain Rescue, husband and father of two young boys. In other words, accidents aren’t allowed when he heads to the hills with the Choss Dawgs.

jasonHUMMEL

Jason is an outdoor photographer from Washington who has documented numerous first descents in the North Cascades.

Alpinestateofmind.com

aubreyLAURENCE Aubrey is an artist and a freelance writer who has written about craft beer, hiking and climbing for a variety of publications in Colorado and Washington. He lives in Bellingham with his No. 1 climbing partner, his wife Jen.

ericMICKELSON Eric is an outdoor photographer and restoration ecologist who is always willing to drop everything for a good adventure outside. He lives in Bellingham with his wife and daughter. ericmickelson.com

spencerPAXSON Spencer is a Bellingham local and Pacific Northwest native who rides professionally for The Kona Bicycle Company.

andyPORTER Andy Porter began his love of the outdoors at 16 during a month-long Outward Bound program in the Sawtooth Wilderness of Idaho. He’s a full-time photographer living in Sedro-Woolley. Andyporterimages.com

brandonSAWAYA Kayaking, mountain biking and mountaineering were all becoming so boring and tame.

So Brandon decided to start a family. He is an image maker living in Bellingham. Brandonsawaya.com

rylanSCHOEN A fortune cookie once told me: “This is a good time for you to enjoy the outdoors.” I have always trusted that cookie.

SUMMER 2016

grantGUNDERSON

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

YEARS 19 8

6

16 20

TAKE A HIKE

Mount Baker’s glaciers

OLYMPIANS ON TRAIL

Mountain bikers train locally

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

One of the ski industry’s pre-eminent photographers, Grant has shot for every major snow sports and outdoor publication worldwide.

Grantgunderson.com

lucaWILLIAMS Luca Williams is a Certified Rolfer in Glacier, WA. She helps snowboarders, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts to get aligned and out of pain. Website: lucasrolfing.com blog: movingwithgravity.wordpress.com

SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NORTHERN LIGHT

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

9

WILD DREAMS

Climbing, community and accomplishment STORY AND PHOTO BY MALLORIE ESTENSON

L

ooking out at the Cascade Mountains to the east, the Olympics to the west, dense green forest below and blue skies above, Chris Weidner chalked his hands at the base of a climb in a landscape rich with memories.

On Friday, July 3, 2015, Weidner made his mark in Mount Erie history when he made the first free ascent of Wild Dreams, 5.13a, one of the hardest established climbing routes on the rocky dome south of Anacortes. In other words, Weidner climbed an extremely technical route without any falls.

The route begins on a tiny ledge 100 feet off the ground in what Weidner calls a “magnificent position” just beneath Erie’s summit. It was a hot day, but the climb was shaded and a cool breeze allowed his attention to focus exclusively to the challenging moves ahead. He had spent the previous afternoon examining the rock, determining the precise sequence of feet and finger placements needed to execute the climb.

The night before, he visualized each of the moves between the belay at the bottom of the route to the safety of the anchor at the top.

Taking in the surroundings, Weidner’s mind flooded with memories. “I’ve had special moments everywhere I can see,” he said. “I just feel lucky to be able to travel up here to spend enough time to see the best views of any climbing cliff I’ve ever been to.”

In future editions of the Mount Erie guidebook, Wild Dreams’ description will likely bear a customary nod to the person to seize the first ascent. It won’t be the first time Weidner’s name appears in the guide.

On the first page after the table of contents is an essay titled “Dallas Kloke: My Mentor, My Rock,” which Weidner wrote. Kloke died in September 2010, at the age of 71, when a loose rock dislodged on The Pleiades in the North Cascades, and caused him to fall. He first set foot on Mount Erie in 1961 and spent countless hours at the mountain running, hiking and establishing new climbs.

Weidner was 17 when he met Kloke, who has had a lasting impact on him. Kloke was known for keeping meticulous records of his climbs; Weidner knows that he has climbed exactly 347 routes rated 5.13a or harder. At 52, Kloke needed a younger partner who could keep up with his brisk pace in the mountains; 40-year-old Weidner guides groups of teens up Mount Baker.

Kloke wrote a handful of guidebooks for climbing Mount Erie, the most recent of which he published in 2005. A 2013 edition bears a note from Kloke: “Erie doesn’t have the best rock or longest routes, or a high level of difficulty; but it’s unique. The scenery is beautiful and most of the time you have to do some hiking and scrambling to get around. I hope you enjoy your climbing on Erie.”

Following his first ascent and reflecting on his climbing career, Weidner said, “Ultimately, what matters most to me about climbing is the relationships you build with your partners.”

He and Kloke built their relationship on the summits of more than 80 mountains, from British Columbia to Colorado. Weidner likens Kloke and his love of Mount Erie to the hub of a wheel of which he and his partner, Jim Thompson, among other climbers, are spokes.

Thompson belayed Weidner on his first ascent and helped author the 2013 edition of the Mount Erie guidebook, “Rockin’ on the Rock.”

“I’m glad he sent it,” Thompson said, which is climber-speak for climbing a route without a fall. “Several people have looked at it and tried. Hard climbers just don’t come to Erie; that’s just the truth.”

Besides the exceptional challenge of the route considering the average difficulty of most of the routes at Mount Erie, Weidner perceived a unique community dedicated to the area.

“It’s neat to be able to do a first free ascent where there just aren’t that many really hard established climbs,” Weidner said. “I just needed to be invited by Jim to give it a try.”

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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visit: ncascades.org to learn about all 2016 learning adventures

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11

TRAINING FOR THE

OLYMPICS Sharing Bellingham’s trails with the country’s top mountain bikers

STORY BY SPENCER PAXSON PHOTOS BY CALEB SMITH

“Lean it harder!

Lean it! Now open it up!” I hear the coach shout from above as we careen like frenzied beasts down a slippery northern slope at Galbraith Mountain. Everything is a blur except for the steady flow of brown trail through the focal point of my vision.

Since moving to Bellingham in 2013, I’ve ridden this trail, called Oriental Express, dozens of times and I’ve got it down just fine. But today we’re going beyond just “having it down.”

Today is about focusing on the minutiae of mountain bike racing skills, cleaning up bad habits and aiming for perfection.

At an intersection, I look around and feel a swell of pride for my backyard. A group of past and future Olympians, World Championship medalists, National Champions – the top cross country (XC) racers in the country surround me. Our big objective for the year is to qualify for the Brazil Olympics in August, and these top riders flew into Bellingham to train on local trails.

Our sensei is Shaums March, founder of Bellingham-based mountain bike coaching and guiding company March Northwest. He is also the technical skills coach for the USA Cycling (USAC) national and olympic teams. March is running a skills camp with a group of U.S. national team riders, me included, to critique our movements in a way we can apply to racing faster.

We’re far from the din of air horns and howling spectators we might experience at the mountain bike World Cup. But riding well on these trails will help get us closer to achieving success at those big races.

This morning we are working on cornering – something simple, yet essential. We take turns cornering, working on maintaining speed through slippery, off-camber turns. Once we digest a few good reminders about body position, brake timing and entry points, we add a more realistic racing simulation by pedaling hard into the difficult section of trail. The point is to maintain focus and flow while we’re utterly exhausted. During a race, you’re never fresh going into challenging obstacles.

This is the equivalent to agility drills in the gym, except here we don’t sprint between cones or jump through hoops; we leap over rocks and roots, swoop through corners and fly between

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

the trees.

Bellingham is known more as a haven for trail riders than as a training destination for spandex-clad racers. But the fact that USAC, the country’s governing body for competitive cycling, sends its top racers here to train is yet another testament to Bellingham’s trails and community.

“Over the last couple years, Bellingham has become the USAC Mountain Bike National Team's go-to location for skills training,” said Marc Gullickson, USAC mountain bike program director. “The combination of technically varied mountain bike terrain close to the city and the availability of highly qualified skills coaches living locally, such as March, make Bellingham the perfect location to send riders when we are looking to boost their skill level in preparation for the highest level of international competition.”

Indeed, we’re in good hands training with March, who founded the formal instruction program for the International Mountain Bike Association. Several of March’s riders have won National Championships, and five have even won World Championship titles.

Notable riders in our group include Vermonter Lea Davison, the 2014 World Championship bronze medalist, and Coloradan Erin Huck, Pan Am Games bronze medalist. All three women are Olympic hopefuls. The quality of Bellingham’s mountain bike trails hardly needs introducing, but it’s great to hear the praise from seasoned out-of-towners.

“It's awesome how well laid out, maintained, and managed [the trails] are with just the right amount of technical challenge,” Huck said. “I feel like it's kind of a ‘choose-your-ownadventure’ with so many different trails that are easily accessed.

You can ride up as far as you want, then peel off on any number of trail options.”

Current US National XC Champion Chloe Woodruff from Prescott, Arizona, has attended camps in Bellingham for the last two years. For her, the instruction and riding experiences were an important factor in her winning the coveted stars and stripes jersey in 2015.

It’s not just seasoned pros who come here to study the trails.

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Jason Jablonski, reputable mountain bike coach and founder of SET Coaching in Wenatchee, Washington, recently led a junior national team camp in Bellingham.

“The reason for choosing Bellingham was to take advantage of the great terrain that the area has to offer, as well as to give the kids a glimpse into where some of the country’s best elite mountain bike athletes train,” he said. “We were impressed with the options for riding, as well as the community enthusiasm. We hope to be able to expand this camp every year, returning to the great community of Bellingham.”

The broader mountain bike community is a well-connected collective, and in the last few years, places like Galbraith and Chuckanut have attracted much positive attention. The work of organizations such as the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC), the education-focused Ride Run and Dig (RRAD) program and March Northwest, are setting strong examples of how to develop a thriving and inclusive riding community alongside a world-class trail system.

Stephen Ettinger, 2013 national champion and 2016 Olympic hopeful took things a step further by relocating from Bozeman, Montana in order to prepare for the 2016 race season.

Like many others who now call Bellingham home (myself included), Ettinger moved here for the trails.

“It’s been a total paradigm shift for me this winter, being able to train on trails that are as or more technical than anything we’d face at a World Cup or the Olympics,” he said. “And it’s all just right out the door, miles and miles of it.”

“I have incredible people to train with and resources for strength training and massage,” Ettinger said. “Having access to those resources really helps complete the deal here. And then there are a ton of great people I’m meeting that’ll help keep me centered when I amooff the e M untain to bike.” fo th That’s no surprise to those of us who call Bellingham home, but hearing such a consistent message from jet-setting professionals who have experienced literally hundreds of places to ride around the world – that’s a special validation.

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Hiking guide:

GLACIER

BY OLIVER LAZENBY

N

isqually Road in Mt. Rainier National Park was touted as “the first road in America to reach a glacier” when it was built, according to the Library of Congress. The Nisqually Glacier once came within 140 feet of the road at the Nisqually bridge, but now the glacier isn’t even visible from the bridge.

Though it’s no longer possible to get anywhere near a glacier on a road in the lower 48, it’s still pretty easy to go see a glacier from a trail, at least in the Mt. Baker area. Trails on the north and south sides of the mountain bring hikers within spitting distance of the Coleman and Easton glaciers, where they can gape at cracked ice and human-swallowing crevasses without leaving the relative civilization of a trail. Bring a Northwest Forest Pass for both hikes.

PARK BUTTE-RAILROAD GRADE MORAINE Length: About 7 miles Elevation gain: About 2,500 feet Getting there: From Burlington, go east on Highway 20 for 23 miles.

Turn left on Baker Lake Road, just after milepost 82. Continue for 12 miles and turn left on Forest Service Road 12. In 3.4 miles, turn right onto Forest Service Road 13, which is signed Mt. Baker National Recreation Area. Follow this road for 5 miles to its end at the trailhead.

The hike: The snout of the Easton Glacier has a different character than that of the Coleman. Its slope is gentler and the ice is more continuous than the mass of seracs at the bottom of the Coleman. What crevasses you can see from the trail, however, seem to lead to the bottom of the earth.

The walk to the Easton Glacier starts in a huckleberry-dense meadow dotted with clumps of trees. The tread crosses several rocky alleys of decimated forest, with vegetation torn from the ground by flood runoff from the mountain above. Find a safe crossing over Rocky Creek; the best place to cross changes from year to year.

After a series of switchbacks through firs and cedars, the trail reaches Morovitz Meadow, a park-like setting filled with flowers, clusters of trees and shallow ponds. Bear left at a junction with the Scott Paul Trail two miles from the trailhead, and go right at a junction with the trail to Park Butte a half-mile later. Soon you’ll be chugging up the Railroad Grade trail toward the glacier, with Mt. Baker straight ahead with the Twin Sisters Range behind you.

The Railroad Grade trail and its close-up view of the Easton Glacier is just one of many places to explore in the area. To extend your trip, check out the fire lookout on top of nearby Park Butte or take the long way back on the Scott Paul trail, which crosses Rocky Creek on a bridge below the glacier and continues east on a 5-mile loop back to the trailhead.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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HELIOTROPE RIDGE Length: About 5 miles Elevation gain: About 2,000 feet.

Getting there: From Glacier, go east on Highway 542 for slightly more than a mile and turn right onto Glacier Creek Road/Forest Service Road 39. Follow the road for about 8 miles, bearing left at a junction just before the trailhead.

The hike: The Heliotrope Ridge Trail is the quickest route to a glacier in the area. In just 2.5 miles, it reaches the icy, broken snout of Coleman Glacier. The trail is also the beginning of the most popular route to Mt. Baker’s summit, the Coleman/Deming route.

The trail starts out in the forest on a well-worn path through old-growth fir and hemlock trees. You’ll wind through groves of trees and on bridges over glacier-fed creeks for a couple miles before reaching the tree line. In the subalpine zone, little waterfalls spray onto gardens of pink monkey flowers and purple lupines sprouting from rocky soil.

Above the forest the trail splits. A climber’s path heading right toward Hogsback Ridge, which leads to base camp for climbers intending to summit. The hiker trail goes left to cross Heliotrope Creek’s sprawling, rocky bed. This can be dangerous, depending on the water level. If the creek is low enough to safely cross, head toward a dark basalt outcrop on a ridge.

The hike ends on the ridge just past the outcrop, on top of a lateral moraine. Down below, the Coleman Glacier is a mess of blue seracs and pinnacles. Chunks of ice grind down the valley, pushed by the massive glacier stretching nearly to the mountain’s summit, more than 5,000 feet above.

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THE TANTALUS TRAVERSE expect shenanigans STORY AND PHOTOS BY JASON GRIFFITH

“

Highly recommended. This is a fine adventure over 11 km of superb high alpine terrain, long on distance and with moderate climbing, but demanding skill at route finding and speed.

Virtually all ascensionists today fly in by helicopter … an entirely by-foot approach would be an arduous affair, best done via the trail up Sigurd Creek … and render the traverse into a 28 km, three- to four-day affair…

– Kevin McLane, Alpine Select

”

T

he Tantalus Range is a rugged ridgeline of peaks 10 miles northwest of Squamish, B.C. If you’re driving to Whistler, the range is to the west – up close and intimidating. It’s close to town but guarded by brush, rugged trails, river crossings and lots of elevation. Most climbers fly in but our team couldn’t resist the challenge McLane hinted at in his description. Consequently, on the 6-mile hike up Sigurd Creek and over the shoulder of Pelion Mountain (6,000-plus feet of elevation gain), Tim, Gord, Steve and I debated the meaning of “arduous.” We all agreed, between gasps, that we had a physical trip ahead of us, but we were somewhat wor-

ried about a guidebook author using the term, since mountaineering is not typically considered a relaxing hobby.

Four days later as we sweated our way across a swaying cable hanging over the Squamish River, we all concurred: McLane’s description was apt. Arduous, however, doesn’t mean it’s long on objective hazards, monotonous toil or uncomfortable camps. Rather, expect spectacular scenery, engaging route-finding, quality climbing and fantastic camps and huts. And solitude. We had every route and summit to ourselves in mid-July. You could certainly make the trip faster or slower, but this is what we did:

DAY 1.

Sigurd Creek almost to Pelion/Zenith col ~ 8 hours We stashed a road bike at the logging spur that leads to the cableway over the Squamish River, at the south end of the trip, and drove to a wide spot in the road that marked the start of the trail up Sigurd Creek, at the range’s north end.

A well-marked and recently maintained trail ends at the moraine below the summits of Pelion and Ossa mountains. We encountered some minor crevasses around the shoulder of Pelion, but overall it’s mellow terrain to the camps at the first tarns above the Pelion/Zenith col.

Our camp was comfortable with water and great views toward the first part of the traverse over Mount Tantalus, which we would tackle early the next morning. It looked a bit steep…

16

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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EXPECT SHENANIGANS

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Pelion/Zenith col to Jim Haberl Hut ~ 14 hours From camp we stayed mostly on the west side of the ridge to gain the glacier below Tantalus’s north ridge. Snow conditions were good, so we took the early season route, climbing above the bergschrund on broken, 45-degree snow to a notch that accessed easy snow slopes on the west side of the north ridge.

Once off the glacier, we climbed to the summit of Tantalus unroped on quality fourth class terrain with a few low fifth class moves. This is why you come on the Tantalus Enchainment – outrageous exposure, solid climbing and stunning scenery! However, the descent off Tantalus is unsavory.

We took the high traverse, per McLane’s description, until we could rappel down the Darling Couloir to gain the loose ramp that accesses the glacier high on the shoulder of Mount Dione. Expect shenanigans getting to the glacier below Dione.

Once at the base of Dione, easy third and fourth class scrambling took us to the summit and an impressive view across the void back to Tantalus. We did one rappel off the summit tower of Dione and followed some recent tracks down the high snow shoulder.

In our tired state, we did a couple of single rappels off the shoulder to gain the glacier and finished with easy glacier travel all the way to the Jim Haberl Hut. This hut is incredible — location, amenities, comfort and a hut book packed with beta. It’s a huge improvement from the Red Tit Hut (seriously) that it replaced.

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17

DAY 3. Haberl Hut to Lake Lovely Water. ~ 12 hours It’s always a good idea to read the hut book. It turns out there is a new bolted descent route off Serratus Mountain.

With this new bit of beta, we left our packs at the bottom of Serratus and climbed unencumbered to the top. Surprisingly good climbing follows just south of the rappel line all the way up to the top. Straightforward rappels bought us back to our packs and we then traversed around the mountain to the Alpha/Serratus col, where we scrambled the west ridge to the top of Alpha Mountain. Fun and scenic, the west ridge route finishes at a great summit for lounging.

The east ridge of Alpha did not look easy to descend, but we wanted to stay true to the traverse as much as possible, so down we went. The ridge became more exposed as we descended, until we had to start rappelling fifth class terrain near the route’s base. A bit more rambling on the glacier got

us to the col that leads to the lake and hut. We expected a climber's path but found none, despite fanning out and looking, and ended up bashing our way down through horrific mosquitos and somewhat thick brush all the way to Lake Lovely Water. Again, expect shenanigans.

Although the sun had set, we all jumped in the lake to wash off three days of salt and dirt. This left us chilled and wet, but at least we had a hut to cook in. The mouse-infested hut got us away from the mosquitos around the lake, but it’s a far cry from the Jim Haberl Hut. Over dinner, a few young Canadians treated us to the story of how their team imploded the day before. Their epic involved multi-hour route-finding arguments, a middle-of-the-night rowboat rescue, and lost (abandoned?) gear. Half of the team helicoptered out as we arrived, presumably to never talk to the other half again.

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DAY 4.

Lake Lovelywater to the Squamish River. ~ 5 hours.

This is a steep trail! In a couple of sections you could die if you slipped, which surprised us. Still, it was well marked, easy to follow and direct, so we made quick progress. There are some beautiful waterfalls along the way, old growth and interesting rambling along the Squamish River.

Before we knew it, we were at the dreaded cable crossing. We had been thinking about it for months and obsessing over whether we had large enough locking carabiners to fit the fat cable. We all walked it, using a large belay locker to hang our packs on the lower cable, hooked to us by a long tether.

We each had a couple of slings clipped to the top cable, allowing us to clip past the giant buoys (careful of hornet nests!) that add spice to an already adventurous crossing.

When the upper and lower cables start to sway out of sync, it gets your attention. Expect shenanigans.

Once our whole team was safely across, Gord offered to ride the bike (pre-placed at the start of the trip) back up to the truck.

Tim thought he could beat him by hitching and so the race was on. Steve and I stayed back to guard the beer (also pre-placed) and made bets as to who would win. We were both surprised to learn that they had tied.

I’ve done a lot of alpine traverses in Cascadia, but I think the Tantalus Enchainment packs more adventure into a shorter time commitment than any other. I wholeheartedly agree with Kevin McLane: “highly recommended.”

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19

B

RECON RACKS

A bike rack for the ends of the earth, made at the edge of the U.S.

BY OLIVER LAZENBY 20

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

ike rack anxiety goes like this: you’re bouncing up a dirt road to the trailhead. A rack full of bikes is bouncing along with you, and they could be worth more than the car they’re hitched to. After every bump and rut you sneak a glance in the rearview mirror to check for signs of movement and to affirm the bikes are still there.

Brandon Weekley found a bike rack to ease that anxiety, and it came out of a garage in Blaine, Washington. The rack was the second version of a homemade rack with a unique design – it holds bikes vertically from the front tire, using a triangular basket that touches only the tire. Even on a rough road, the rack doesn’t rub against bike frames, wheels or other metal parts.

“My friends and I all have $10,000 downhill bikes and putting five or six of them on one of those racks and driving to Canada to go to Whistler, it’s a long way on the freeway,” Weekley said. “But through the years I’ve learned to trust the rack.”

The rack’s creator, Cody Fuks, started making bike racks for himself in his garage. A few years ago Weekley and others in the local mountain bike community noticed them on the back of Fuks’ truck at the trailhead or outside the bike shop. Now, four years after Fuks moved to the Northwest from South Dakota and came up with his signature design, he has reluctantly turned his side project into a business called Recon Racks. He credits his friends and the local bike community for forcing him to start his company.

“I never considered going into business with it,” he said. “They pushed me into the business because they refused to not have a rack. They were stashing money into my glove box as deposits.”

Fuks has operated Recon Racks since 2014.

On January 1, 2016, he quit his day job and the business “almost instantly exploded.” In the first three months of this year, he sold as many racks as he did in all of 2015. Evidently, he can barely keep up with demand; once in April, he resorted to putting his bike in the back of his truck to go ride after selling his personal rack.

Fuks, 43, builds the racks in his garage on a suburban cul de sac in Blaine, where red camp chairs serve as seating and the waffle print of his shoe soles is stamped into steel shavings on the cement floor. Compact with thick, tattooed forearms and a salt-and-pepper beard that sticks out under his welding hood, Fuks is a harsh critic of his work. He sees the things that could still be improved, rather than the successes that caused his friends to beg for racks of their own.

“I started really pushing for him to make something out of it because I love the design,” Weekley said of Fuks. “He just wanted to sell a few of them here and there and I pushed him to go big time. It was hard. He definitely fought me for a while.”

Fuks started learning fabrication as a high school senior in the flat farmlands of southeastern South Dakota. He spent 13 years welding parts for four-wheel-drive forklifts. The work was “high-speed, factory-style welding.”

When he started mountain biking at age 30 – a struggle that involved lots of travel to ride decent trails – he started building his own bike racks. In fact, he’s never actually bought

a bike rack.

“I’ve been driving home with broken racks in the back of my truck trying to figure out a good rack system for the last two decades,” Fuks said.

His concept of a good bike rack changed after he moved to Blaine at age 39 in search of a better quality of life. In the Northwest, he found people rode in bigger groups; in South Dakota, he only knew a few other mountain bikers. That challenged him to build a rack that could hold five bikes while still surviving the journey to the trails deep in the woods that he likes to ride.

Now that his racks are out in the world, he delights in the photos and videos people send him of his racks hard at work, including a recent video of a Recon Rack firmly attached to the back of a truck stuck axle-deep in mud. “The worst conditions possible is what I want these racks to stand up to,” he said.

He also gained more welding and fabrication skill after moving to the Northwest. At first, he worked at TriVan Truck Body in Ferndale, doing higher precision fabrication. Most recently, he worked for Architectural Elements, a firm that does artistic and architectural metal work: $10,000 picture frames, one-of-a-kind copper fire bowls and planter boxes, for example.

“That’s kind of where I learned details and precision,” Fuks said.

Though Fuks is talented with a welding torch, Recon Racks’ greatest asset is simple design.

They’re intuitive, with few moving parts. The core of each rack is the basket that holds the front wheel – something Fuks thought of while sitting at a stoplight and staring at the bike rack on a metro bus. Those racks also held bikes by only the tires, but in a different way.

“It’s definitely the easiest rack to load and unload. You just pick the bike up, put it in, do the strap around the wheel and you’re good to go,” Weekley said. The bikes also don’t rub against each other or the rack. There’s no “bike sex,” as Weekley calls it.

It’s a design so simple Fuks hesitates to claim responsibility. He says he stumbled on it. That metaphor elicits a parallel to humans discovering fire – a resource harnessed, not invented.

“I don’t even know if I can take credit for it,” Fuks said. “It just kind of fell together for me.”

Going into business came with new challenges. His racks had to be shippable, and individual parts had to be replaceable. He’s still uncomfortable with the idea of marketing and advertising, preferring when people discover the racks on their own or through a friend.

“You know you walk into a shoe store and someone talks you into a pair of shoes you might or might not have wanted and you go, ‘oh, crap?’” he said. “I don’t ever want someone to spend $1,000 on a rack and have it not be what they wanted.”

Yes, that is about what they cost, depending on size and options.

Recon Racks’ popularity in the industry has helped it grow. After Fuks sold a rack to a Cannondale rep, word spread throughout the company. Early this year he got a call from Cannondale’s demo team, people who drive around the country with 40 brand new demo bikes. They wanted a rack system for their trailer. Fuks built them a wall-mounted rack in 10 days, and now the demo trailer is cruising around the country.

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A fully loaded Recon Rack.

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Fuks is constantly changing his rack. He says he still hadn’t built a dozen of the same version, and he’s always coming up with new ways his racks can hold tools (they can even hold wheelbarrows) and trying to perfect the mechanism that allows the rack to fold for rear door access.

He recently finished a new prototype with

a streamlined basket design and it’s time to test them. For that, he’s turning to the same community that pushed him to start the business.

“I’m going to give it to some of the worst drivers I know and tell them to go beat the crap out of it,” he said.

For more info, go to recon-racks.com.

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21

J

ake Beattie wanted to come up with a more rugged boat race that captured the spirit of marine adventure – a response or maybe a revolt against such commercial events as the America’s Cup, with its carbon fiber, corporate logos, safety gear and billionaire boat owners.

He succeeded. Oddballs and Olympians alike competed last year in the inaugural Race to Alaska, an unsupported, motor-free boat race from Port Townsend to Ketchikan – nearly 750 miles.

They raced in canoes, kayaks and sailboats ranging from high-tech foiling boats to vessels made from dumpstered materials with tarps for sails. One racer, an Alaskan woodsman, paid his $650 entrance fee in beaver pelts. (Beattie still isn’t sure what he’s going to do with the pelts.)

The race isn’t just weird; it’s also difficult. The Inside Passage between Port Townsend and Ketchikan is a puzzle of straits and channels, with tidal traps, masses of logs, shallow shoals and changing weather lurking in the maze. Eight racers dropped out in the first day and just 15 finished out of the 36 that tried to go all the way. The fastest boat arrived in Ketchikan in five days, the slowest in about 21.

Racers will set sail on the second Race to Alaska on June 23, 2016. The race is basically unchanged, but more teams are signed up and race organizers specifically challenged billionaire Larry Ellison’s Team Oracle USA, previous America’s Cup winners, to enter. Despite setting up a hotline just for Ellison, they haven’t heard back, Local racers include teams from Orcas Island, San Juan Island, Anacortes and Port Townsend.

Follow along at www.r2ak.com. First place wins $10,000, second place gets a set of steak knives.

IT’S BACK second annual unsupported, wind- and human-powered RACE TO ALASKA

BY OLIVER LAZENBY

A team at the beginning of the first Race to Alaska.

Nick Reid photo.

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WELCOME GROCERY STORE: a new stop on the Mount Baker Highway

BY OLIVER LAZENBY

W

hen Chuck Patterson decided to open a grocery store, he first needed to do some research. He drove south and stopped at more than 50 roadside gas stations and convenience stores on the way to Lake Tahoe, to find out what he wanted for his store.

The store he opened this January with his wife Barbara represents the best of what he saw.

Chuck and Barbara aimed to make the Welcome Grocery Store, at 5655 Mount Baker Highway, a mini grocery for locals and a take-away food destination for those going to and from the mountain. It has a deli, hot and cold prepared food, rotisserie chicken, soups, fresh pastries and groceries including a small selection of fresh produce.

More than 250 craft beers fill the beer cooler and customers can build their own

six-packs. The store’s liquor license also allows people to drink beer while they eat at indoor tables.

While the Pattersons have succeeded in offering both a local grocery option and a take-out destination, they have plans to do much more. Chuck has endless ideas; immediate goals include outdoor deck seating, espresso, soft-serve ice cream, more hot sandwiches, fuel pumps and a space for passing cyclists to change flat tires. Longer term, he wants to turn the building next door into a miniature hardware store that carries chainsaws, lumber and hardware.

“It’s like I started up the machine and it doesn’t stop,” Chuck said. “I’ll be constantly remodeling. I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

Chuck has made a number of changes since opening to accommodate his customers. The store recently started selling Discover Passes, fishing and hunting li-

censes and lottery tickets. After a hiatus for repairs, the coin-operated kiddie helicopter ride is back in front of the store. The beer selection, which is one of the biggest in the county, has grown and is constantly changing.

Though the Welcome Grocery Store is still new, it’s been in the works for a while.

Chuck bought the property, a long-vacant building at the junction with Mosquito Lake Road that was formerly a different Welcome Grocery, as an investment in 2009. He soon realized it needed a lot of work and in the post-recession years he couldn’t get the loan he needed to finish the store. He tried to sell it and no one would buy.

While in limbo, Chuck grew to like the location and the community. When he finally found the financing to complete the store last year, he went “gangbusters” and started working long hours on it.

Chuck has a background in construction and had a vision for the store’s exterior, which features white metal siding, red and black trim, an awning and a sidewalk that circles the building with flat rocks cemented in place. He’s going for a one-of-a-kind look both inside and out.

Some unique items Chuck collected over the last 15 years give the interior a decorative flair. He hung a neon sign that says “the produce place” over the store’s veggies. The sign had been hanging in his Skagit Valley barn for 15 years. A Coors Light Silver Bullet model train sits on tracks above the beer coolers – another trinket he’s had for years.

There are a few iconic convenience stores on the road between the Mount Baker Highway and Lake Tahoe, and Chuck wants to join their ranks.

“I want to make this a landmark,” he said. “I want it to outlive me.”

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SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

23

Copper Ridge, North Cascades Andy Porter photo.

Salish Sea sunset.

Rylan Schoen photo.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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GALLERY

Tanks lake.

Jason Hummel photo.

North Cascades.

Grant Gunderson photo.

Adam Roberts on a hot rock below Bacon Peak.

Jason Hummel photo.

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

25

The Ragged Edge, a

route on Vesper Peak.

Bob Jones riding on Mount Cheam near Jason Griffith photo.

Chilliwack B.C., above smoke from the Elaho Fire. Reuben Krabbe photo.

26

MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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GALLERY Horseback skiing in the Pasayten Wilderness, Washington.

Jason Hummel photo.

A pond below Chickamin Peak.

Jason Hummel photo.

Northwest woods.

Eric Mickelson photo.

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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Salish Sea. Brandon Sawaya photo.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

Callaghan Creek, near Whistler.

Eric Mickelson photo.

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

GALLERY

The summit ridge of Chickamin Peak, Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Jason Hummel photo.

Jason Hummel photo.

Sahale Arm, North Cascades National Park.

Andy Porter photo.

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

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A NORTHWEST TOUCH local trail builders on a digging holiday at Retallack Lodge STORY AND PHOTOS BY BRAD ANDREW

T

he mountain bike trail builder is a unique breed.

The trail builder leads a life of labor that garners little acknowledgement. It is a life lived in forest shadows, a life no one ever starts down intentionally. The builder’s path doesn’t start with a shovel in hand, it starts with both hands firmly grasped on the handlebars.

Most mountain bikers are content to follow the winding single track laid out before them, never seeking the unknown outside. A few ride to the trail’s end and don’t stop.

They imagine what could be beyond. They know the only way to get there is to build their own path – take a dead end and make it a fresh start. And so it is out of necessity that a trail builder is born.

Trail builders are abundant in Bellingham, home to the mountain bike mecca known as Galbraith Mountain. Galbraith is an intricate network of trails built by some of the

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

finest trail building hands on the West Coast. Local builders have helped put Bellingham on the map in the mountain bike world. The industry has also noticed, and companies have moved in to call Bellingham home.

Now, destination resorts are seeking out local trail builders for their knowledge and ability to read a mountain’s topography and envision how a trail should flow down it.

THE DESTINATION In the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, a timber-framed building sits beneath massive mountains. The structure stands alone, looking low-key and unassuming from the outside. But inside are giant cedar beams, elegant slate and an entryway that opens to a great room with a massive wood-burning fireplace adorned with ornate rock work reaching toward the ceiling some 25 feet above. This is Retallack Lodge.

Retallack Lodge was founded in 1998 as a winter destination for skiers and boarders with snowcat-served terrain.

In 2011, the lodge introduced mountain biking to create a year-round business. But in order to attract riders, it needed an extensive trail network. Lacking the corporate financing of most lift-accessed mountain bike destinations, Retallack turned to a grassroots approach to trail building. Interns and locals came in and built trails, many just for a chance to roll on their creations. This organic and somewhat familial approach remains a constant at Retallack. Each trail in the network is a direct representation of its builders; each has a unique style, flow and character.

During the summer of 2014, Freehub Magazine, a Bellingham-based mountain bike publication, along with a crew of Bellingham trail builders supported by trail building/ clothing company Treelines Northwest, partook in a Retallack project that reached for the top of 8,235-foot Reco Peak.

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Mike Kinrade, the current visionary behind mountain bike operations at the lodge, had the grandiose idea to build a trail that would run from the jagged summit all the way to the lodge, nearly 6,000 feet below.

It was a massive undertaking. Just getting to the work site was a daunting task – every day the crew slogged uphill to continue digging and working their way back down. In the end, what was once a manifestation of the mind became a reality and the Peak to Creek trail was born. This trail, along with a video series produced by Freehub chronicling the project, helped cement Retallack’s spot on the map as a premier mountain bike destination. The work didn’t stop there and the trail network on Retallack’s 1.5-million-acre tenure continues to grow.

THE BUILD Last summer, Kinrade invited members of the original Treelines crew back to Retallack to build a new trail. In late July, I joined their crew of eight seasoned trail builders and we hit the road from Bellingham. Nine hours and one truck breakdown later we arrived at Retallack ready to dig.

For the next four days we spent 10 hours a day on the hill building a new section of trail through rocky subalpine terrain. With Kinrade in charge, our crew plus a few lodge staffers and interns made 15. Fifteen people with one common goal can make quick work of a new trail.

Kinrade flagged the path before we arrived and led the way, with lodge guide Brian Malley and his crew clearing brush and small trees. We followed behind in waves, roughing in, benching, cribbing, screening, hauling and tamping out the trail. The dirt in the Selkirks is a little different from the soft golden soil of northwestern Washington. We spent a significant time searching the woods for dirt stashes to haul to the trail. We even resorted to screening rocky dirt to extrude every last drop of pure brown gold out of the ground.

In the end, the trail blended with the surrounding terrain and looked like it was meant to be there. Kinrade focuses on building trails with as little impact as possible. While roughing out the trail’s path, we would set aside sod clumps, which we later replanted on the downside of berms to help stabilize the soil and prevent erosion. This approach leads to natural-looking trails.

By the end of four days we had put in over 600 man-hours to build the new section of trail dubbed “Heavy Meadow.”

THE REWARD Our valiant efforts were rewarded on the fifth day, when we awoke to blue skies and a shiny helicopter waiting to fly us to the top of Reco Peak to experience the best of Retallack Lodge.

After five minutes of whirring rotors we were sitting on the summit of the majestic peak. A few minutes later, the heli dropped off a custom rack full of mountain bikes. At the top we all took a moment to reflect upon our week and soak in the sheer beauty of the location.

Then we hit the trail for a long ride down. The trail is fast and flowing with breathtaking exposure. The singletrack trail guided us down, flowing like a roller coaster cut into the side of a mountain. It is mountain biking at its finest.

For more info on Retallack Lodge, visit www.retallack.com

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

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MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

Neck, arm and shoulders for

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Are your shoulders up to your ears? Are you clenching your handlebars?

STORY AND PHOTOS BY LUCA WILLIAMS

T

he first time I went mountain biking, I went with buddies from high school on a bike that wasn’t designed for mountain biking. The guys told me that the first rule of mountain biking was I had to bleed by the end of the ride. It was a requirement. I laughed and soon after crashed into a tree, bruising and cutting my thigh.

The wrong equipment and the pain didn’t deter me. I loved this new sport. I loved the feeling of speed and the total concentration that mountain biking requires. No question, the pain from a crash is difficult to overlook.

But to our detriment, we often overlook the day-to-day soreness, discomfort or tension of the arms, necks and shoulders until it becomes pain. The problem with ignoring the slight discomforts is that to do so, we also shut down the sense of awareness that tells us when we are using too much muscular effort.

As in all sports, true grace comes from using the least muscular effort possible. Excessive force drains our energy and taxes our bodies, causing injury and tension.

When we reduce that force, we become more sensitive and attuned to what we’re doing. Over-effort is not a conscious choice, but it is a choice nevertheless. Thankfully, you can make a different choice.

The next time you mountain bike, choose an easy-to-medium climb or downhill ride. Pay attention to subtle differences in areas of tension and over-effort, such as the jaw, neck, shoulders and arms. How much effort are you using in your jaw to steer your bike when things get a little tough? To climb or descend that hill, how high do you draw your shoulders toward your ears?

Does doing that really make your legs more effective?

Take a moment to completely contract and tense your neck, jaw, arms and shoulders. Now take a deep breath and feel your shoulders and jaw relax and release downwards. By increasing our awareness and resetting our shoulders we can minimize the pain that begins at the hands and moves to the arms, shoulders and neck.

Ideally, we want our lower arms to act like shock absorbers while riding. The softer you grip your brakes and handlebars, the more control you have and the more effective your shock absorbers work so your shoulders, neck and head don’t have to absorb as much.

In order for your lower arms to act as shock absorbers effectively, you will need to reset your shoulder blades.

Gently retract your shoulder blades towards your spine and down your back. Notice how your elbows draw inward a little bit. Make sure to keep your elbows softly bent rather than stiff. When you gently bring your shoulder blades together and down your back, your upper body aligns more with your lower body, gaining its support and strength. Now the whole body can help with braking and gripping rather than just the forearm muscles doing all the work.

Just by practicing awareness, we can reduce overall muscular tension which allows us to redirect our energy so that we can ride with more power, grace and efficiency. When I first started mountain biking and snowboarding, “No pain, no gain” was my punk motto. My motto has changed to “Pay attention, build awareness, use less force.”

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Notice how the rider has relaxed his shoulders and arms. By gently bringing your shoulder blades together and downward you engage the muscles of your back to help your arms steer and brake.

Look at the muscles of the forearms. Notice how much they pop up when gripping with so much effort.

Now look at the forearms. You can barely see the muscles engaging.

How much force are you using to steer and brake that you don’t have to use?

Summer fun won’t wait!

If you are feeling under the weather this season, don’t wait for an appointment.

Walk in to PeaceHealth’s Same Day Care clinic and get back outdoors.

PeaceHealth Medical Group Same Day Care 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Monday – Saturday 3015 Squalicum Parkway, Suite 140 peacehealth.org/SameDayCare

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

33

IF YOU EVER FIND YOURSELF IN A THUNDERSTORM: YOUR TOP PRIORITY should be to immediately get down from elevated and exposed areas such as peaks, ridges or open fields and back to the safety of a building or a hard-topped vehicle. Tents offer no protection. Hard-topped cars with the windows rolled up offer great protection as long as you do not touch any metal parts. Cars can still get struck by lightning, but the current usually passes around the metal frame and to the ground. It’s a myth that a car’s rubber tires prevent the vehicle from getting struck.

AVOID ALL BODIES OF WATER. NEVER LIE FLAT on the ground during a thun-

but

what to do when lightning strikes the Cascades

BY AUBREY LAURENCE

J

ust as my wife and I gained the summit of Mount Elbert, Colorado’s highest peak, I pulled back my hood and heard a bewildering noise. It was a constant, high-pitched buzzing and static-like sound, just like you would hear if you were standing directly below high-voltage power lines. I thought my oxygen-deprived brain was causing me to hallucinate.

When my wife pulled back her hood, her hair stood on end and she said her head felt like it was crackling. She also thought her ice axe, which was strapped to her backpack, was poking her in the back, but it was actually sparking against a metal zipper.

We’d heard stories of buzzing sounds on summits, which is a sign of imminent lightning, but we didn’t expect to experience it on a snowy day in early spring. It didn’t take long to figure out we were in the midst of a rare phenomenon known as thundersnow: a winter thunderstorm that produces snow instead of rain. We immediately descended as fast as we could down snow-covered talus, dropping 3,000 vertical feet back to the slightly safer forest in less than half an hour.

Thunderstorms are created when unstable, warm and humid air rises into cooler air masses, creating convection. When the air condenses, cumulonimbus clouds form, which can lead to thunderstorms with gusty wind, heavy rain (or no rain), hail, and sometimes, like that day on Elbert, snow.

Lightning zaps the ground more than 20 million times a year in the United States. Fortunately for those of us in the Pacific Northwest, most of those strikes occur in the Southeast. The most dangerous state is Florida, which averages 10 lightning-related deaths every year.

Washington is among the states with the fewest electrical storms, but eastern Washington still receives its share. Western Washington, meanwhile, only receives an average of 10 thunderstorms per year, according to King 5. After hiking all over Washington for the last six years, I have only encountered thunderstorms a handful of times.

That rarity, however, can lead to a lack of awareness and understanding about how to behave during an electrical storm.

Just like our thundersnow experience in Colorado, the thunderstorms in Washington always surprise me because they’re so infrequent. But what surprises me even more are all the hikers I see continuing up trails during these storms.

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

My wife and I learned to fear and respect lightning while living in Colorado, where it’s common in the summer. Even though we live in Washington now, lightning is still on our minds every time we hit a trail and we have aborted a few summit bids due to impending storms, including a climb last year on Mount St. Helens.

The weather forecast wasn’t ideal, but we didn’t have the luxury of waiting for a better weather window because we had single-day permits. After delaying our start time a couple of hours the weather seemed to improve, so we decided to give it a go.

Under a light rain, we started up the trail with our eyes glued to the sky. Things were going pretty well, but then, just as we neared the timberline, we heard a few rumbles of thunder.

Experts say if you can hear thunder, you’re close enough to be struck, even if the heart of the storm is 5 to 10 miles away. So after hearing another round of rumbles, we decided the climb just wasn’t worth the risk. After all, nowhere outside is truly safe during a thunderstorm and a treeless alpine zone is one of the worst places you can be.

Just as we were about to turn back down the mountain, we met a couple descending from the summit. Their eyes were wide and dilated and they told us they had just been struck by lightning near the crater rim. Based on the fact that they were alive and seemed OK, I figured an indirect ground current, such as a “side splash” or a shock wave, hit them. She was knocked off her feet in one direction and he was knocked unconscious in the other direction, they said. After convulsing for a moment, he came back into consciousness.

Hundreds of people are hit by lightning every year, and based on Weather.com data from 1985 to 2014, 49 people are killed on average. Most victims are engaged in outdoor leisure activities, especially fishing, soccer and golfing. Surprisingly, only 10 percent of those who are struck by lightning are killed, but more than two-thirds of survivors suffer from lifelong debilitating injuries.

The best way to survive a thunderstorm, of course, is to avoid it altogether by checking weather forecasts and paying close attention to the sky while you’re outside. But if you spend enough time outdoors, you will probably find yourself in a thunderstorm at some point. How you respond to it might save your life.

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derstorm. Previously, the crouch method was recommended, where you crouch into a ball and balance on your feet with your head bent forward and your hands over your ears. This puts you low to the ground but not flat, where you’re more susceptible to ground currents or strikes passing through your vital organs. The National Weather Service stopped promoting this method, however, saying it does not provide a significant level of protection. It is better to seek shelter.

DO NOT SHELTER UNDER TALL OR ISOLATED TREES. When lightning strikes a tree, voltage can fan

out from its base. It’s better to be in a dense stand of shorter trees, but you should still put as much distance between you and the trees as possible.

IF YOU’RE IN A GROUP, SPREAD OUT to avoid ev-

eryone being struck by the same bolt. If someone is struck, others can resuscitate. Try to be at least 20 feet apart, but make sure everyone is within hearing distance.

NEVER USE A CLIFF, CAVE OR ROCKY OVERHANG FOR SHELTER, as lightning can follow contours and travel inside.

STAY AWAY FROM OBJECTS THAT CONDUCT ELECTRICITY, such as power lines, barbed wire fences, cell towers, concrete reinforced with rebar, etc.

SIGNS OF IMMINENT LIGHTNING: Hair standing up, skin tingling, static-like crackling and buzzing noises and metal objects vibrating, sparking or shocking.

Metal objects such as ice axes and trekking poles do not necessarily attract lightning strikes (unless you’re holding them up in the air), but they are excellent conductors of electricity. Rather than wasting time shedding gear, FOCUS ON GETTING YOURSELF TO

A SAFER LOCATION.

KEEP A CONSTANT WATCH ON THE SKY, as thunderstorms can develop rapidly.

FOLLOW THE 30/30 RULE: After a lightning flash, count the seconds until you hear thunder. If it’s less than 30, seek shelter indoors. Then, do not go back outside until 30 minutes has passed since the last lightning flash.

The National Weather Service stresses that there is no safe place outside during a thunderstorm. If you hear thunder, lightning is probably close enough to strike you. Remember the phrase, WHEN THUNDER

ROARS, GO INDOORS.

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

Events - find more events and submit your own at mountbakerexperience.com JUNE INTRODUCTION TO WILD EDIBLES: June 2, Langley, B.C. Learn the skills to get started on identifying common edible and medicinal plants with experts at MEC. More info: events.mec.ca

BLAST FROM THE PAST: June 3-5, Se-

dro-Woolley. Motorcycle and car show with live music and other activities. More info: sedro-woolley.com

BIG POND, SMALL FISH: June 9, Bell-

ingham REI. Join paddler Susan Conrad as she shares photos and stories from a 1,200-mile solo kayak expedition through the Inside Passage. More info: rei.com/ stores/bellingham

JULY

EDGE TO EDGE MARATHON: June 12,

50TH ANNUAL CHUCKANUT FOOT RACE: July 9, Bellingham. Seven-mile

Ucluelet, B.C. Run the Wild Pacific Trail, a natural wonder on the B.C. coast. More info: edgetoedgemarathon.com

trail race through the Chuckanuts, The run starts in south Bellingham and ends at Larrabee State Park. More info: gbrc. net

MAKE THE ULTIMATE CUP OF CAMP COFFEE: June 13, Bellingham REI. REI coffee gurus will demonstrate methods for making the perfect camp coffee. More info: rei.com/stores/bellingham

BARE BUNS FUN RUN, July 10, Issaquah.

Be brave, be tough, beat the mountain in the buff. More info: tigermtnudists.com/ bbfrsignup.html

BELLINGHAM KIDS TRAVERSE: June 26, Bellingham. A salmon-inspired relay race for kids 6-12. Run, bike and compete on an obstacle course through Squalicum Creek Park. More info: recreationnorthwest.org/bellingham-kids-traverse

TOUR DE WHATCOM: July 23, Belling-

ham. Cycle the iconic roads of Whatcom County, beginning and ending in Bellingham with 22, 44, 62 and 100 mile routes.

More info: tourdewhatcom.com

RACE TO ALASKA: June 23.

More than 40 teams are signed up to race boats from Port Townsend to Ketchikan. The rules: no motor and no support.

Follow the teams at R2AK.com

DEMING LOGGING SHOW: June 11 and 12, Deming. See world championship

loggers compete in 31 events and perform incredible feats of woodsmanship.

Breakfast and BBQ. More info: demingloggingshow.com

ALL ABOARD…

Come to the Jefferson County Fair Port Townsend, WA

MOUNT BAKER RHYTHM AND BLUES FESTIVAL: July 28-31, Deming. Voted

“Best Blues Festival in America” in 2013, this festival at the Deming Log Show Grounds is a hit with blues fans. More info: bakerblues.com

WHIDBEY ISLAND TRIATHLON: July 30,

Langley. A great all-around triathlon for beginners and veterans alike. More info: sparks.org/triathlon

Experience Whatcom County’s Best Cycling!

Sunday, August 28, 2016 Ride the Chuckanut Classic!

• Scenic routes of 25, 50, 62, 100, or 124 miles, or • Guided 10-mile easy family/kids option!

• Fully supported!

August 12, 13 and 14 • Lots of Fun for Everyone!

Year-round Campgrounds www.jeffcofairgrounds.com jeffcofairgrounds@olypen.com 360-385-1013

Lummi Island Artists' Studio Tour 2016 May 28 & 29 • September 3 & 4 November 12 & 13 Self guided tour maps available at the Islander Grocery Dozens of Artists at various locations!

360-758-7121 • 360-758-2815 visit lummi-island.com or find us on Facebook

ChuckanutClassic.org 25TH ANNUAL CLOTHING BARE BUNS FUN RUN OPTIONAL 5K RUN WEST UP TIGER MOUNTAIN Sunday, July 10, 2016 • 11am Register by June 1st: $30,

choice of full color beach towel or t-shirt

After June 1st: $35,

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Be Brave, Be Tough, Beat The Mountain in the Bluff!

425-392-NUDE(6833) bbfr@TigerMtNudists No fee Registration at: www.TigerMtNudists.com/bbfrsignup.html SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

35

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FARM SUMMER HARVEST DAY: July 30, Everson. Experience farm tours, taste fresh fruit and veggies and learn about Cloud Mountain Farm. More info: cloudmountainfarmcenter.org

AUGUST ANACORTES ART DASH: August 6, Ana-

cortes. This annual run includes a 5k, 10k and half marathon. It’s in the middle of the Anacortes Arts Festival, which runs August 5-7. Come for the run, stay for the fun. More info: anacortesartsfestival.com

SUBDUED STRINGBOARD JAMBOREE:

August 11-13, Deming. Check out the annual pickin’ party at the Deming Log Show Fairgrounds. Dozens of Northwest bluegrass favorites will be there. More info: stringbandjamboree.com

JEFFERSON COUNTY FAIR: August 1214, Port Townsend. Join the festivities and enjoy food, entertainment and competition at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

More info: jeffcofairgrounds.com NORTHWEST WASHINGTON FAIR: Au-

gust 15-20, Lynden. The classic northwest fair, with a demolition derby, rodeo, live entertainment, motocross, rides, food and more. More info: nwwafair.com

ABBOTSFORD AIRSHOW: August 12-14, Abbotsford, B.C. Witness the awesome

power and acrobatics of a variety of aircrafts and pilots. More info: abbotsfordairshow.com

TOUR DE WHIDBEY: August 20, Whid-

bey Island. Tour the scenic country roads of Whidbey Island one either a 30, 40, 50 or 100 mile route. More info: tourdewhidbey.com

BELLINGHAM TRAVERSE: September 17, Bellingham. The multipart relay race through Bellingham puts a big emphasis on fun. Run, bike, kayak and trek your way to the finish line. More info: recreationnorthwest.org

FIVE POINT FILM FESTIVAL: August 25-

27, Bellingham. Five Point Film Festival is coming back to Bellingham for three days of short adventure films, local food trucks, and a celebration of “livable adventure vehicles.” More info: 5pointfilm. org/Bellingham

CHUCKANUT CLASSIC: August 28, Bell-

ingham. This ride features several loop rides where the mountains meet the sea.

Choose one of many distances, all with views of the San Juan Islands, Chuckanut and Blanchard Mountains. More info: mtbakerbikeclub.org/chuckanut

SEPTEMBER BELLINGHAM SEAFEAST:

WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL, September

9-11, Port Townsend. North America’s premier wooden boat gathering features 300 wooden vessels, 120 presentations and thousands of experts and enthusiasts.

The festival honors tradition but also allows for debate about the latest innovations. More info: nwmaritime.org

BELLINGHAM BAY MARATHON:

September 25, Bellingham. The views are beautiful, it’s a Boston marathon qualifier and 2016 is the event’s 10th birthday. More info: bellinghambaymarathon.org

September 30 and October 1, Bellingham. Come for the food, stay for the fun. Fisher poets, world class seafood, water recreation and more.

Eat, play, explore. More info: www.bellinghamseafeast.com

August 5-7

Art Dash August 6

Register at CityofAnacortes.org AnacortesArtsFestival.com

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

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September 25th, 2016 Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K & 5K

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37

BLANCHARD MOUNTAIN LOVE STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANDY BASABE

Brian Chapel photo.

“D’ya remember when…?”

That’s the silly question that delineates generational differences in communities. “D’ya remember when Mt. Baker Ski Area built jumps on Chair 8? D’ya remember when the Sehome Village REI used to be a giant toy store? D’ya remember when Blanchard Mountain had trees and trails instead of clear-cuts and slash piles?”

Wait, Blanchard still has trees and trails. We were just in April 17 for the I Love Blanchard Ride and Run. The event raised awareness about potential logging on Blanchard Mountain, which could begin June 2017, and offered an opportunity to explore the trails a little farther than most would in a normal day.

In 2008, a diverse group including the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Skagit County, Skagit Land Trust and Washington State Parks drafted the Blanchard Forest Strategy agreement. The plan recommended preserving a 1,600acre core, including Oyster Dome and the top of Blanchard, for

Andy Basabe photo.

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recreation and habitat. But the Blanchard State Forest is operated by the DNR as state trust land, which means it must provide revenue for Skagit County schools and other beneficiaries. Preserving land would mean less timber-generated revenue for schools.

To offset lost revenue, the Blanchard Forest Strategy required the state to come up with $14.2 million dollars to buy more land for DNR adjacent to Blanchard State Forest.

But In 2008, funding became scarce.

Since then, the state legislature has provided the DNR $6.5 million, leaving a $7.7 million gap. Now, with the deadline for funding having passed in February, the whole forest will reopen to timber contracts beginning next spring, unless legislators come up with more money before then.

I thought it would be a shame if I lost access to some of my favorite trails, and so I invited friends along to explore the forest from one end to the other for a day of advocacy.

Riders and runners including Patagonia trail running ambassador Krissy Moehl, local trail mystics Jodee Adams-Moore and Amelia Bethke, and a ragtag mix of novice to expert bike enthusiasts showed up. We met at the Lily and Lizard Lake trailhead to ride and run up and over Blanchard Mountain, into the Oyster Creek Valley below, and back up to the top of the Chuckanut Mountain for a little fiesta at the top of Cleator Road.

After introductions and a brief descrip-

tion of the route, we hustled off. Bikers dodged dogs chased by runners up the road until everyone moved into their own pace.

The bikers pedaled uphill over Max’s Connector Trail, through terrain that could be logged, and then regrouped at the North Butte overlook to snack and take in the afternoon. The afternoon sun warmed our bodies and dried our shirts. We rode down the British Army trail, hooting and whooping, entering the maze of logging roads that bisect the two mountains. Crossing roads and trails we wound towards the east side of Lost Lake, slowly spreading out. Settling into the final hills, the 3,000 feet of elevation gain and heat began to sap the energy from our bodies. A text saying the runners had been at the finish enjoying beer and salmon for a while wasn’t much help.

As the last rider rolled in, loud cheering rang across the Cleator Road lookout. Aslan Brewing and Home Port Seafoods had donated enough salmon and beer for us to have our fill to refresh and refuel for the ride home. We spent the evening together eating and drinking the Northwest’s finest, having surveyed the land from mountain to sound.

The I Love Blanchard Ride and Run was a toast to our home and a reaffirmation of the importance of local trees and trails for mammals and fish alike.

Read more about the day of advocacy and see a video at mountbakerexperience.com

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Connect with the galaxy

STARGAZING A CASE FOR TURNING OUT THE LIGHTS

Radka Chapin photo.

BY OLIVER LAZENBY

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MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE | SUMMER 2016

MOUNTBAKEREXPERIENCE.COM

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Andy Porter photo.

can do something to provide these sanctuaries where people can go and experience a dark sky,” Meadows said.

Though the glowing orange domes that hang above Vancouver, Bellingham and Seattle impact the skies above North Cascades National Park, the park’s very proximity to cities presents millions of people an opportunity to experience a truly dark night sky.

And experiencing a dark sky, Meadows learned, is a precursor to protecting it. Though the park service can try to preserve darkness through outreach, there’s little else they can do to stop cities like Bellingham and Vancouver from getting brighter, Meadows said.

Richard Just, a longtime astronomer, doesn’t see much hope for preserving a dark sky as nearby cities keep growing.

“I remember going to places on the fringe of Ferndale and seeing a lot of stars. It’s not like that anymore,” said Just, treasurer of the Whatcom Association of Celestial Observers, a club that holds stargazing parties twice a month – weather permitting – at Artist Point.

Now, Just doesn’t bother stargazing in many places other than Artist Point, at the end of Highway 542. “Artist Point is far and away the best accessible location in the county,” he said.

The illuminated planet doesn’t just steal our view of the cosmos. A lack of real darkness has serious impacts on birds that migrate at night and squeezes a whole host of nocturnal creatures into a shrinking habitat.

For humans, night-time exposure to artificial light may have serious health effects. In 2007 the World Health Organization classified night shift work as a probable carcinogen, a status also accorded to lead, creosote and DDT. Perhaps the brightest side of the light pollution problem is that it can be reversed with the flip of a switch. A few places are making strides in restoring their view of the cosmos. Flagstaff, Arizona, became the world’s first International Dark Sky City in 2001, and several dozen communities around the planet have followed suit by adopting lighting ordinances. Individuals can make a difference by replacing outdoor lights with low-glare, shielded fixtures, or simply turning them off.

“Unlike wildlife issues or water or geology or a lot of other things, the night sky is 100 percent restorable. It’s still up there exactly as it was 100,000 years ago,” Meadows said. “It’s just a matter of how much we care about making it accessible.”

In Meadows’ experience, more and more people care every year. Such night-sky-related programs as star parties and guided moonlight walks are currently the park service’s most popular programs.

“We know that the interest from the public is there,” Meadows said. “They’re attending programs in numbers that the park service has never seen.”

ACCESSIBLE SPOTS FOR STARGAZING:

ARTIST POINT: Artist Point, at the end of Highway 542, is a favorite for the Whatcom Association of Celestial Observers and the location of their star parties. Considering how easy it is to get to – the road is paved all the way – Artist Point has an exceptionally dark sky. Show up early to watch Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker glow pink at sunset DIABLO DAM OVERLOOK: This easyto-reach roadside spot in North Cascades National Park was the darkest out of three spots that the National Park Service’s Night Sky Team measured on a 2012 trip. Hidden Lake Peak and a spot near Cutthroat Pass were both slightly brighter. The overlook owes its darkness to the deep valley of the upper Skagit River and the canyon walls that cut off light on the horizon. This results in a sky that isn’t as big as at higher elevations, but more stars are visible directly overhead than at other spots.

TELESCOPES IN BOULEVARD PARK:

Radka Chapin photo.

I

n 1994 when the Northridge earthquake knocked out power across Los Angeles, astronomers at Griffith Observatory, just north of Hollywood, fielded calls from people wondering why the sky looked so strange. Ed Krupp, director of the observatory, realized callers were so unfamiliar with the sight of stars they didn’t know what they were looking at, he told the Los Angeles Times.

Los Angelenos are not alone in their stellar ignorance. The millions of swirling stars that make up the Milky Way are hard for most people to see. Twothirds of Americans can’t see the rest of our galaxy from their homes because of all the artificial light that floods the sky and blots out the stars, according to a 2015 study in the journal Park Science.

Many have never seen the Milky Way at all.

The globe is getting brighter by the day. Photos from space show lights metastasizing over time in already-bright places and reaching farther into islands of darkness, like a pinball machine coming to life in a dark parlor.

In the Pacific Northwest, we’ve got it pretty good. Bob Berman, author and astronomer, figures an observer has to be able to see about 450 stars to appreciate the night sky. In North Cascades National Park, one can see more than six times that many on a clear night, according to park service research.

Still, North Cascades National Park isn’t immune to light pollution and it’s not as dark as many other places in the West. Parts of Southeastern Utah, Arizona, Death Valley and even parts of North-Central Oregon are darker.

“North Cascades has great night skies, but if you’re looking west you’re seeing these massive city light domes that affect your night vision,” said Bob Meadows, a scientist with the National Park Service’s Natural Sounds and Night Skies division. “There’s no easy solution to that right now.”

Meadows is one of four people on the National Park Service’s night sky team.

The team measures darkness in national parks throughout the country. They camp out in remote parks and measure light with scientific instruments with a goal of providing data that can be used for public outreach and to understand how the sky is changing.

Their measurements produce a theoretical number of stars visible. In North Cascades National Park, that number was more than 3,000 at three separate locations in a 2012 study. That’s more stars than are visible in Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks.

Meadows, a Los Angeles native, joined the night sky team after decades of exploring and working in the backcountry of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.

“When you experience a truly dark night sky you want to preserve it. For the park service, it’s a natural fit. We

The Whatcom Association of Celestial Observers holds regular star viewing parties in Boulevard Park. The sky is polluted by light, but telescopes make the stars visible to city residents. Learn more at www.whatcomastronomy.org.

MCDONALD PARK: McDonald Park, designated a Dark Sky Park by the city of Abbotsford, B.C., is another location that shines more for its convenience than for exceptional darkness. The park is between Abbotsford and Chiliwack and about an hour from downtown Vancouver. But it’s surprisingly dark thanks to Sumas Mountain, which blocks light from the north and west. The park closes at dusk, but is open when members of the Fraser Valley Astronomers Society are present. Otherwise, stargazers can use the park at night but must leave their cars outside the gate. Contact the Fraser Valley Astronomers Society at www.fvas.net.

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

41

WHERE TO EAT ACME/VAN ZANDT ACME DINER

2045 Valley Highway (Hwy 9) 360/595-0150 acme-diner.com This ’50s-style diner’s friendly staff is ready to serve you great home-cooked food; fresh ground hamburgers, daily dinner specials, gluten free meals, pizza, espresso, homemade desserts and Acme ice cream.

BLUE MOUNTAIN GRILL

974 Valley Highway (Hwy 9) 360/595-2200 bluemountaingrill.com Fresh, homemade fare, including baked bread and desserts made daily, steaks and burgers. Open for lunch and dinner every day, and breakfast on weekends. Enjoy a beautiful view of the Twin Sisters.

EVERYBODY’S STORE

5465 Potter Road, off Highway 9 360/592-2297 everybodys.com This delightful, eclectic store features a wide array of gourmet meats, specialty cheeses and fine wines, many of which are made locally. Also check out their great selection of clothing, books and artwork.

BELLINGHAM BELLEWOOD ACRES

6140 Guide Meridian, Lynden 360/318-7720 bellewoodfarms.com Visit the distillery, farm, country store and bistro for artisan food products and Northwest gifts.

Visit the website for a full list of entertainment and family activities.

CHUCKANUT BREWERY & KITCHEN

601 W. Holly Street 360/752-3377 chuckanutbreweryandkitchen.com Enjoy world-class European-style award-winning lagers and ales, and a local-centric menu of fresh American cuisine including woodstone pizzas, burgers, seafood, salads and more.

KEENAN’S AT THE PIER INSIDE THE CHRYSALIS INN & SPA

804 10th Street 360/392-5510 thechrysalisinn.com Featuring a seasonal menu, full bar and terrace bar open for happy hour every day, 3–6 p.m. Enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner daily with a view of Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands from every table.

THE HISTORIC ROME DELI & GROCERY

2908 Mt. Baker Highway 360/592-5841 romegrocery.com Celebrating 100 years! Serving grilled paninis, soup, local produce and natural groceries. Craft beer and wine, espresso and fresh baked goods. Open 6 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday– Friday, 8 a.m.–9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

42

WESTSIDE PIZZA

7260 Cordata Parkway, Suite 107 360/756-5055 Pizza made with only the best ingredients available, and dough made fresh every day. The perfect place to stop after a long, hungry day of adventuring.

BURLINGTON SKAGIT’S OWN FISH MARKET

18042 Hwy 20 360/707-2722 skagitfish.com Offering the highest quality in local seafood. Daily lunch specials freshly prepared. Local jams, jellies, salsas, honey and sauces. Visit them on Facebook.

CONCRETE 5B’S BAKERY

45597 Main Street 360/853-8700 5bsbakery.com Skagit County’s premier bakeshop serving home-style breads as well as a full array of fresh baked goods and classic American desserts. Dedicated gluten free. Great food for everyone.

Open 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

ANNIE’S PIZZA STATION

44568 State Route 20 360/853-7227 anniespizzastation.com Family-owned pizza restaurant focusing on fresh, homemade quality Italian fare. Friendly service, helpful information and great food combine for an unforgettable experience.

DEMING RIFUGIO’S COUNTRY ITALIAN CUISINE

5415 Mt. Baker Highway 360/592-2888 ilcafferifugio.com Gourmet full-service menu, serving wine, beer and espresso at reasonable prices. 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Thursday– Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 15 minutes from Bellingham.

New drive-up bar. Live music and events. Last stop for WiFi.

THE NORTH FORK BREWERY AND BEER SHRINE

6186 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2337 northforkbrewery.com Looking for marriage or a pint of fresh ale and hand-tossed pizza? Our pizzeria, brewery, wedding chapel and beer museum is your place!

Open to all. Monday–Friday: dinner; Saturday–Sunday: lunch and dinner.

WELCOME GROCERY

5565 Mount Baker Highway 360/922-7294 New! Eat in or take out. Freshmade, homestyle breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pastries, deli sandwiches, rotisserie chicken and more. Largest bottle shop in region.

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203 W. Main Street 360/966-2855 eversonsteakhouse.com Nestled in the middle of Everson, serving a mouth-watering array of steaks, Bavarian specialties, seafood and desserts to customers since 1993.

Offers atmospheres for adults and families alike, including parties up to 50.

GLACIER BAR VENETO

9990 A Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2863 barveneto.com An elegant, cozy space in the foothills to enjoy a classic craft cocktail, a unique and delicious wine, a local or exclusive beer. The new not-to-be-missed restaurant/bar in the area.

CHAIR 9 WOODSTONE PIZZA AND BAR

10459 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2511 chair9.com The perfect place to enjoy a great family meal or a brew after a day on the mountain. Bands play weekends.

Try the “Canuck’s Deluxe” pizza, a staff favorite. Open for lunch and dinner. Dine in or take out. Check music events on Facebook.

4040 Northwest Avenue 360/714-9600 springhillbellingham.com Discover a hotel infused with smart and stylish design, offering a seamless blend of comfort and functionality. Enjoy our newly redesigned spaces to work, relax and connect and be completely in sync with the hotel experience you want.

THE CHRYSALIS INN & SPA

804 10th Street 360/756-1005 thechrysalisinn.com Each guest room overlooks a spectacular Northwest seascape. Spacious rooms feature fireplace, down comforters, luxury amenities and a two-person bath elegantly set in natural slate.

Three distinctive room types offer increasing levels of luxury.

CONCRETE MAIN STREET GUEST HOUSE

9989 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-9883 Grab a stool at the legendary bar and enjoy rotating selections of fine craft beers, ciders and wine.

New menu specials – appetizers, sandwiches and dinner. Breakfast weekends.

45501 Main Street 360/927-3671 airbnb.com Cozy and quiet short-term rental just one block from 5b’s Bakery. Near the Baker and Skagit rivers, Baker Lake and North Cascades National Park, it’s a perfect base for rest, recreation or business. Two-night minimum.

MILANO’S RESTAURANT

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GRAHAM’S RESTAURANT

9990 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2863 milanosrestaurantbar.com For 25 years Milano’s has been a landmark of the Mt. Baker Foothills.

Now you can get our improved traditional Italian recipes plus daily specials to make you remember us. A feast for all senses.

WAKE ‘N BAKERY

6903 Bourne Street 360/599-9378 getsconed.com Open daily 7:30 a.m. to 5ish p.m.

Serving breakfast burritos, quiche, soup, lunch wraps and freshly baked goods. Savory and sweet gluten-free options. Organic espresso and coffee.

Indoor and outdoor seating. Dine in or take out.

SEDRO-WOOLLEY THE WOOLLEY MARKET CAFE

829 Metcalfe Street 360/982-2649 woolleymarket.com Cafe in a restored historic building downtown, with our grocery and the NW Mountain Shop. Featuring craft beer and cider, fresh baked goods, coffee, tea, sandwiches and other deli items made with local and organic ingredients.

A CHALET AT MT. BAKER

7087 Bluet Pass 360/367-0963 chaletatmtbaker.com Enjoy all things outdoors.

Chalet is warm and inviting with lots of beautiful wood and a cozy wood-burning stove. Sleeps 4–6. Hot tub on outdoor deck, fire pit area.

Great rates!

BLUE T LODGE

10459 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-9944 bluetlodge.com Conveniently located behind Chair 9 Woodstone Pizza and Bar, this six-room inn is ideal for families or groups. Clean rooms have queen-sized beds, a full bathroom and private small patios as well as access to a meeting space.

LUXURY GETAWAYS

9989 Mt. Baker Highway 360/398-9590 or 877/90-BAKER stayatmtbaker.com From mountain chalets to waterfront lodges, Luxury

Getaways offers overnight accommodations in newly built vacation homes located in the heart of the Mt. Baker Recreational Area. Perfect for hitting the slopes and relaxing.

MT. BAKER VACATION RENTALS

360/671-5383 mtbakervacationrentals. com Come stay with us! All our properties are located in and around the Glacier area, a short drive to Mt. Baker. Winter, Summer or in between. Get up here… “Top of the Mountain to you!”

THE LOGS AT CANYON CREEK

7577 Canyon View Dr., Glacier Springs 360/599-2711 thelogs.com Cozy log cabins with kitchens and fireplaces.

SNOWATER RESORT AND CONDOMINIUMS

10500 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2724 snowater.org One and two-bedroom rentals available. Recreation centers with indoor pools and sauna. Indoor/outdoor racquetball courts.

MAPLE FALLS BAKER ACCOMMODATIONS

7425 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2999 or 888/6957533 bakeraccommodations. com Baker Accommodations offers cabins and condos in the resort developments of Snowater, Snowline and Mt. Baker Rim, conveniently located just east of Glacier.

MT. BAKER LODGING

7463 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2453 or 800/7097669 mtbakerlodging.com Mt. Baker Lodging offers cabins, condos, chalets and executive rental home accommodations.

A number of selected units are pet friendly. Walk-in reservations and one-night stays available.

WINTHROP CHEWUCH INN

223 White Avenue 800/747-3107 chewuchinn.com Guest rooms for romantic getaways, seasonal travelers and outdoor enthusiasts.

The relaxed atmosphere of a B&B with the privacy of a hotel. Centrally located for an abundance of outdoor adventures in the surrounding wilderness areas.

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BY PAT GRUBB

GOOD STUFF GUIDE

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INTO THE GAPING MAW self-rescue on Forbidden Peak

BY BLAKE HERRINGTON

I

tackled my climbing partner and pinned him to a wet rock slab above an ominous moat separating snow from ice. Dan’s boot had disappeared into the gaping maw with the falling rock that had precipitated our emergency.

But before retrieving it, we needed to get his bleeding under control – his leg was likely fractured. We saw no sign of the third member of our team who was with us moments before. Miles of snow, woods, trail and road separated us from our car.

Two minutes earlier, we thought we had happily completed our climb of Forbidden Peak, one of the icons of the North Cascades.

Our team of three, all local guys in their early 20s, had climbed the northwest face to the summit and downclimbed the west

The northwest face of Forbidden Peak is left of the ridge in the center.

Jason Griffith photo.

ridge, ropeless, toward the glacial remnant high in the cirque of Boston Basin. With just 100 feet of rock between the gentle snow slope and us, we got separated. Dan and I got cliffed out above a precipice and set up a rappel by threading our rope through an existing anchor. Aaron, the erstwhile third member of our crew, had descended elsewhere and we could see him already waltzing down the snow toward the prior night’s camp.

Other than the minor separation, everything was going according to plan. Then we pulled our rappel rope, sending a boulder tumbling toward us from the upper reaches of a debris-filled gully.

The boulder hit Dan squarely on the shin, causing his blood to spurt out and mix with

the mud, melting snow, gravel and geologic detritus of an actively exfoliating mountain and a receding glacier. As I attempted to stabilize him and improve our anchor, a kegsized block that had supported our gear gave way and smashed to the slab, crushing our cam and shooting sparks as it skated toward us. My timely tackle took us out of harm’s way, but added another unbelievable close call to a mounting ordeal. After making certain that Dan was coherent and no longer bleeding profusely, I built another anchor and rappelled into the glacial moat, found Dan’s boot and returned to the muddy rock slab to stabilize my partner’s ankle and prepare to descend.

The initial few hundred feet of snow and ice were the easiest part of our miles-long

A mangled cam and (below) blood on a rock.

Blake Herrington photos

retreat to medical help. I simply wedged myself like a human cork into the gap between ice and rock, made Dan sit on a slippery foam pad from my pack and lowered him down the snow, paying out slack as though fighting a fish I couldn’t hope to control. Below this point, I got Aaron’s attention and together we helped Dan limp and crawl to our high camp, still above tree line and thousands of vertical feet from the car. I had an idea for shortening that distance.

On the approach hike the previous morning, we had to park in a temporary gravel lot 3.5 miles down-valley from the standard parking area for access to Boston Basin.

These additional hours of road walking had been on a newly repaved road, which appeared complete and drivable, but was still closed to the public. I told my teammates that I’d race ahead of them once darkness overtook us, and Aaron and I would share Dan’s gear so Dan could limp or crawl without a pack. Dan and Aaron would then struggle down the final miles of rough trail in the dark. At the trailhead, I could stash my half of our gear and run the 3.5 miles down to the car, then return back to pick up the other two in a vehicle. This would save Dan agonizing miles and several hours.

It was 2 or 3 a.m., and we’d been on the go for the past 21 hours when my headlamp finally alit on blacktop instead of muddy woods. I unshouldered my overloaded pack and began running down-valley on Cascade River Road. But as I rounded the final bend leading to the temporary parking area, something shone in my dim LED beam that none of us had counted on: The road was now gated.

The gate was clearly a temporary installation. Maybe it had been there the day before but was left wide open to allow park service vehicles to access the upper valley. We must have walked through it without noticing, but now it was a barrier between my teammates, our gear, and our motorized route to a hospital.

Upon cursory investigation, I noticed that it was temporarily secured with a thin metal chain similar in heft and structural integrity to the kind of faux-metal trinkets sold in a Safeway candy-claw arcade machine. I also noticed a convenient, well-shaped and solidly formed chunk of stone – perhaps an erratic from the flanks of Forbidded – laying on the ground at my feet. I lifted the stone overhead as I focused on the chain link. It was a day of consequential rockfall.

Soon I was bombing up the fresh pavement in my station wagon, arriving at the trailhead just in time to load my half of the gear before Dan and Aaron’s voices and headlamps heralded their arrival. Dan had done the entire descent basically on one foot, and we were off to the clinic in Mount Vernon. Just 3.5 miles down the road, the mostly-open gate shone brightly in my high beams. Both partners looked at me curiously. “Don’t ask,” I replied to their un-uttered question. And neither did. But Dan’s grin was the first he’d managed since complimenting my tackle, 12 hours before.

x

SUMMER 2016 | MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE

45

30 YEARS LATER Preserving the North Cascades with NCI

BY OLIVER LAZENBY

T

hirty years ago, two climbing buddies who were worried about the future of a place they loved dreamed up a way to share the wonders of the North Cascades. By introducing people to the mountains, they thought, they could foster a desire to protect them.

The duo started North Cascades Institute(NCI), a nonprofit organization with modest goals: conserving the North Cascades and saving the world.

In 1986, they mailed out the first ever NCI catalog, which offered 23 field seminars on topics ranging from birds and butterflies to geology and art.

The seminars were popular, but a few years later they realized they were preaching to the choir, Weisberg said in a video produced for NCI’s 25th anniversary.

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“If we really were going to affect change, we needed to reach out more broadly. And what clearly was the answer to us at that point was reaching young people,” Weisberg said.

Weisberg and company started Mountain School, a three-day program that introduces local fifth graders to the geology, ecosystems, natural and cultural history of the North Cascades by using the mountains as a classroom. That proved to be a turning point for NCI, said communications director Christian Martin. Since then, NCI’s reach has continued to expand, with more programs for families and people of all ages.

With its 30th birthday approaching, NCI has grown from a camping-based organization with just two employees, to having a staff of 60 with nearly 10,000 people a year enrolling in its programs.

The North Cascades Institute’s teachings have spread downstream. Mylo Allen, principal of Parkview Elementary School in Bellingham, first attended the North Cascades Institute’s Mountain School about 25 years ago as a student at Larrabee Elementary School.

The days he spent getting rained on and sleeping in a canvas tent helped shape him.

“I just really feel that it is a powerful experience for kids to be outside in wilderness doing things that they haven’t done before,” Allen said. “My hope would be that more and more students would be able to have access to that program.”

Now, Parkview Elementary students attend Mountain School, and Allen has returned to the program as an educator.

“A passion of mine is keeping students excited about learning. For a lot of these kids it’s their first time in the mountains and the first time they’ve been away from their parents,” Allen said.

He’s seen the evolution of Mountain School and North Cascades Institute firsthand. Students no longer sleep in army surplus tents, but inside the institute’s Environmental Learning Center, a cluster of 16 buildings nestled between Diable Lake and forested slopes that rise to meet Sourdough Ridge and snowcapped peaks.

The Environmental Learning Center opened in 2005 and was another big step for NCI, as it allowed them to reach a group of people who would not have been comfortable camping.

It’s a base not just for mountain school, but also retreats and family and adult programs.

For the future, NCI wants to make the North Cascades accessible to a more diverse audience. In 2006, the institute started a youth leadership program that takes kids ages 14-18 into the backcountry. Eighty percent of those kids are people of color and 90 percent of those kids get scholarships, Martin said. Many of them are first generation Americans or Hispanic youth from the Skagit Valley.

“These are really amazing experiences because some of these kids have never been camping, never been in a canoe. Some of them have never even been swimming,” Martin said.

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North Cascades Institute is having a picnic and barbecue on Sunday, July 17 to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The event includes naturalist-led activities, learning center tours and boat tours of Diablo Lake. The party starts at 10 a.m.

NCI’s communications coordinator Christian Martin said it’s a perfect opportunity for people to check out the institute and learning center for the first time. “It’s going to be the best of NCI on display for the day,” he said. More info: ncascades.org

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