Jeremy Boyer sent this report.
I skied up to Toboggan Pass with my dogs on Sunday 4/15. The snow was excellent. Not quite corn but not winter-type snow either. Transitional snow. A boulder was in the road a few miles north of the 2298′ junction but we could drive around it barely. Snowline was about 10 minute walk north of the Racehorse Creek bridge. Sounds like not all that much has changed if you put your skis on at 2825′.
By Dominic Battistella
Toboggan Pass Ski Report
Play-By-Play & Commentary
Google Map URL: Map URL:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=217883524138808791504.0004bec766ed7ea615a12
Route to Toboggan Pass. Lower square part is by bike on the North Fork Road, then up the Racehorse Creek Road. Click to enlarge.
Surely the greenest photo to ever appear on this blog! Here's the view from the Nooksack valley looking up to Tobbogan Ridge. D. Battistella photo
6:00 Mt Baker ski report: 29 deg. 1″ new; Bellingham: Dry and grey
7:00 Leave Home
-Martha drops me at Simon’s on her way to work-
7:05 Bean break at Simon’s House
-Brain’s fried on a cup of coffee too much-
7:25 Drive Simon’s daily commute to Canyon Creek
8:30 540′ Depart Simon’s work on his mt. bike he keeps there.
-Excited-
-Nibbled a lot and drank a lot of water-
10:45 2300′ Stash Bike at Upper Racehorse Ck. Br.
-Exhausted-
11:25 2825′ Put my skis on for good after hiking through some snow patches and bare road.
The 4370' lakelet S of Toboggan Ridge (above Canyon Creek). D. Battistella photo
-Scattered mists and drizzles. Lots of piss and nibbles-
-Grouse whoomping-
-Several avalanches have buried Hi Rd and Lo Rd in places-
Bellingham Bay from Toboggan Pass. D. Battistella photo
1pm 4525′ Toboggan Pass via Hi Rd.
-Wiped Out-
-Snowing, cold and windy-
-Rest, Chicken Sandwich, Cookie-
-Half-hour xc loop down to Lakelet 4370′ and old growth around it-
1:55 Descend
-Kick and glide, step turns the whole way down-
-Snow wet and kinda grabby-
-Slow snow but not too slow-
2:30 End of Ski, start hike down.
3:05 Depart down on bike
-The bike ride down was the most exhilarating part of the trip (and the views!)-
The view south to Toboggan Ridge from the High Road below the pass. D. Battistella photo
4:15 Arrive to catch Simon clocking out
-Caught each other up on our last 8 hours-
-Explored up Kinney Creek awhile before heading home-
Self Portrait. D. Battistella photo
7:00-11:30 Fire erupts spontaneously and burns all night at my house.
-BBQ, wine and ciders at my place with a whole pack of Chuckanut skiers (8!)
On the summit of Lookout Mountain, looking west toward Slide Mt. Photo courtesy of Walter Schlim. Click to enlarge.
On April 21, 2012 Walter Schlim and Paul Cookson skied a loop at Coal Pass and a flyer over to Lookout Mountain. (See map and directions from December 22 report.) We parked the car at 2100, walked another 5 minutes, and started skiing. This is several hundred feet lower than in December. The loop route, on roads the entire way, went up Coal Creek Road [Forest Road 3010] which reaches Coal Pass, then around to the south side just below the crest of the 4900′ east-west ridge at the head of Deep Creek. The road system makes a big loop and returns to the Coal Creek Road at 2860′ [48°51.718', 121°55.827]. We used the Garmin topo map to navigate the road junctions back to the completion of the loop. The map was easy to follow and we never took a wrong turn. Just stay up high on the ridge until the final pass and drop a few hundred feet to the main road north. We took a side trip over to Lookout Mountain- south along the ridge from Coal Pass and once around to the north side of Lookout Mountain there are some great open clear cuts for some turn practice. The loop plus Lookout Mountain summit side trip took just under 6 hours. So the loop alone is a reasonable ski outing. We used backcountry touring skis so we could handle the side-sloping over to Lookout Mountain but regular cross-country would work if you stay on the road loop the whole way. Overall I consider the trip a good repeatable classic since its not the typical in and out on the same route and has some options for off-road skiing up high too.
Trail conditions: We had firm spring snow for fast travel.
A Panoramio photo by Dave Tucker showing Dominic Battistella doin’ a tele turn is on Google Earth, pinned to the summit of ‘Coal Creek Ridge’. The URL for the photo is:
By Dominic Battistella; March 2, 2012
Just in case you can't visualize where Jodee was Wednesday...
...as opposed to Thursday at Racehorse, but not with these particular folks.
Wednesday night, in Honolulu, Jodee calls and says to Teggart something like: “Yeah, I’ll go skiing tomorrow. I fly into Bellingham at 7:20am. Won’t have time to go home (Lyman) to get my gear. Can I borrow some?” So Teggart already had Jodee’s dog Pablo, picks up Jodee at the airport, then Dominic after work at noon. We borrow some gear for Jodee and drive up Racehorse Creek Road along the north side of the creek. Teggart’s Subaru makes it to 1400′ and we ski right from the car in about 5″ of snow. Jodee’s boots were too tight. Fortunately she had some high top suede moccasins and was up for running/hiking along in our ski tracks. Snow got to about 12″ deep pretty quick and we skied up for a couple of hours to 2300′ then called it good and enjoyed our broken trail back down. This road climbs gradually for a couple of miles then pretty much flattens out for a couple more.” (DT interjects: This road eventually reaches a bridge over Racehorse Creek and climbs up to Toboggan Mountain and Racehorse Ridge [click for past reports about those places: Racehorse here, and here; Toboggan here].
The Racehorse ski route on 3-2-2012 goes part way up the road shown in red. Click to enlarge any image or map.
Ski route to Canyon lake. Approach road (not shown) comes in from the northwest.
Meanwhile Simon, who works nearby, was planning on chasing us down after work. So Teggart, Jodee and Pablo left me and I wandered around for about half and hour until Simon arrived and rescued me about half an hour later. He rolled up in his cute little old Isuzu chained-up rear-wheel drive pick-up truck with it’s Diving Angel Trophy hood ornament. I got myself a second wind while we opted out of the already broken trail up Racehorse Rd in favor of looking for Canyon Lake. We turned off of North Fork Rd just a stones throw west of the Racehorse Ck bridge, as if you were going up to the huge landslide from a few years ago (read about it here on Northwest Geology Field Trips). We continued on up and found the gate to be open. (see map at Google Maps) Well it was sunset and it seemed the chances were good that the gate would not be shut anytime soon as Isuzu was getting fresh tracks. Chained up Isuzu impressed us by taking us up a very snowy road clear to 1540′. We made it all the way to the Canyon Lake Rd junction and parked right there in about 8″ of snow. Skiing right from the truck we made it to Canyon Lake (2330′) in about two hours and found a good 15″ to 19″ of snow. The night varied from snow storms to clear skies and back to snow storms. Canyon Lake was weakly frozen and snowed over so we braved the edges to the outlet. Well this was kind of stupid because the lake was more like slushed over, rather than iced, so we got the hell off of there, checked out the outlet and skied on down.
The descent was beautiful with plenty of half-moon light, Jupiter and Venus on their way down, Mars rising. The clear sky was short-lived as another snowstorm rolled in.
Dominic
Note from Dave: As blog administrator, I demand to see a photo of the Diving Angel.
There is good skiing to be had in the Chuckanut foothills if you are willing to walk some. The best seems to be east of Lake Whatcom. The long high ridge of Stewart Mountain might get extra precip due to the lake effect of Lake Whatcom.
By Dominic Battistella February 27, 2012
Dominic's view northwest across Lake Whatcom to Bellingham and the Bay. Click to enlarge.
Martha’s studying for a big test all day today and so she needed me out of her hair. At the same time I had to be home at a reasonable hour so she wouldn’t worry and get distracted from her studies. So…… I clocked-out of work at 2:30 and made a beeline for the Stewart Mt. north shore Lake Whatcom trailhead. On the trail at 3pm (390′). I was very excited so I hiked at a good clip for an hour and was on my skis at 4pm (2015′). I hiked some on trail, some on road. Interestingly, just 24 hours earlier I skied on the Bigfoot side of Stewart and found the skiable snow line at 1300′ after just a 30 minute hike. Just after The Kink (where the power lines dogleg right @ 2300′) I took a left onto a road that eventually circumnavigates a clearcut high point. It was a bit of a bushwhack over and under fallen trees and through sticker bushes. Not the greatest route but it soon got good as a group of little yellow and red birds made friends with me and led the way for awhile. They were busy chowing on the salmonberry buds.
Red bird buddy. DT says: I think this is a male Pine Grosbeak. Correction?
The view west across Galbraith-Lookout to the Lummi and Orcas.
Before I knew it I was in very deep powder and there was so much snow I could leave the road and do some true cross-country skiing. I found my way to The Ridge Trail and turned south to the summit (3100′) at 5:45 or so, just in time for dinner and a sunset. It was very cold up there but the views spectacular. Glacier Peak, Mt Rainier and the islands in the distance but just across the south fork Nooksack valley I was casing out all our other ski-haunts from earlier in the season: Slide Mt., Toboggan Ridge, Porter Creek, Coal Mt., Mt. Baker and Bowman Mt. The powder was dry and deep therefore breaking trail was tiring and the descent too slow for many telemarks. I figured I was making good time so I made a detour out The Catch-All road (catches you if you fall off the summit to the east) for nice flat ski. Time to hurry home. I joined up with the Wickersham Truck trail and ended my ski a little after 7pm. I was back to the car by 7:30 and home by 7:59pm. Crammed that ski in just right!
Dominic's view north up the length of Stewart Mountain. Good roads and lot of ski potential up here.
There is a map of the south end of Stewart Mountain on the ‘Maps and routes‘ page. At time of writing, present, it is the fourtth map from the top. “Whacme” is labeled ‘Stewart Summit’.
By Dominic Battistella, with additional information by Dave Tucker
The Indomitable Dominic, wouldn’t you know it, got in a nice quick trip this gorgeous evening in the crisp cold. He skied up ”Bigfoot Mountain”, which is the north end of the long ridge of Stewart Mountain above the east shore of Lake Whatcom. At the end of his report he explains the name. Sorry, no photos.
Dominic's route up the "Bigfoot Mountain" Road. Click to enlarge. The URL is in the text below. From Google Map.
Dominic’s report:
“I made a quick trip alone to the mountains after work today for a ski. I figured the Y Rd. Stewart Mt. trailhead (570′) would be a good spot and I had hoped that I’d be skiing right from the parking lot. Well there wasn’t much snow to speak of at all at the trailhead but I was committed to this spot as I only had a couple of hours to spare. I hiked for about 30 minutes up to 1360′ and began skiing in about 3″ of snow at sunset. The snow got deeper fast with every little bit I climbed and 45 minutes later I was at the top of the road (2115′) in 12″ of snow, flat light and dusk. A bright crescent moon sat about an inch from Jupiter and two inches from Venus, lighting my entire descent. The snow was fresh, fast and dry so turns were easy. I must have gotten 30 or 40 telemarks in during the twenty-minute descent including some big carves around two of the hairpins. Another 20 minute hike under the stars and I was back to the car.
If anyone reads this tonight check out the moon and planets. (I did, says, DT, very bright points of light, setting crescent.)
Note that down low north-facing roads had significantly more snow than their south-facing counterparts (as usual). I hiked up a south-facing road but could see I would have been skiing earlier had I gone up the other side of Olson Creek (where the roads are on north slopes), however those roads don’t climb up as high.
I’ve recently learned that some hikers and equestrians call this area “Bigfoot Mt”. I like it! Stewart Mountain (the formal name) has many high points and access points so I’m going with Bigfoot Mt. for this area from now on. So now we’ve got Bigfoot for the North Summit, WhAcme ([Lake] Whatcom + Acme) for the highest points on the southern end of Stewart (north of the power lines) and Haney Mt for the southern most high point south of the power lines (got that one from the phonebook map).”
DT adds: there is a trail cut through the woods from the end of the road, where Dominic turned around. This trail climbs beyond the clearcut and steeply up through some old growth (yes, old growth) and out to the lowest spur of the upper set of logging roads, at 2700′ and due east of where Dominic turned around. It shows on the map (URL below) if you scroll east. From their, skiing would be fabulous in current conditions to the ridge crest, which gives fantastic views east to Baker and the Sisters, north over the county to the Coast Mountains, west to the islands, and south for the length of Lake Whatcom. I’m drooling just thinking about it!
The URL for the inserted map is here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=217883524138808791504.0004b9eb52213c4b5f934. Go to the Google site, and you have your choice for several views. Under the map icon in the upper right, point to ‘Traffic’ and you’ll get a menu. Choose ‘terrain’; to get the topographic view.
The cover of Snow and Spire by John Scurlock
ENLARGED PRINTS of John Scurlock’s North Cascade aerial photos will be displayed on the walls of Book Fare Café at Village Books in Fairhaven. This is a unique presentation, to be held in Bellingham ONLY. For readers unfamiliar with John from my other blogs, he is author of Snow and Spire- Flights to Winter in the North Cascades. The book is coffee table format, filled with over a hundred color photos taken from his home made airplane over the mountains in the winter. They are truly amazing. To boot, John is a good friend of mine. The book also includes an essay on North Cascade geology by yours truly, a history of North Cascades ski mountaineering by Lowell Skoog, and a compilation of Cascade first winter ascents, also by Lowell.
Enlargements of Scurlock’s photographs will be hanging at Book Fare Café, on the mezzanine level of Village Books, during the month of February. The Café will be hosting an open artist reception from 5-6:30pm before John’s talk and slide presentation downstairs at Village Books.
Thursday February 2nd. Artist reception at Book Fare Cafe, 5-6:30 PM
Slide presentation in Village Books Readings Gallery 7 to 8:30. Seating is VERY LIMITED.
Apologies of if you received prior notification via my other website, Northwest Geology Field Trips or via the Mount Baker Volcano Research Center subscription website.
Mount Shuksan in winter, by John Scurlock.
By Dominic Battistella. Posted Saturday January 28 with additional access information by Dave Tucker
North Twin Sister rises 1.5 miles east of Dailey Prairie. D. Battistella photo
Legend goes that “Old Man Dailey” resided in a little cabin on the edge of a prairie. The prairie that now bears his name nestles atop a broad pass between Bowman Mountain and the Twin Sisters Range. The cabin has since been burned down by the Feds and the prairie is now protected by DNR. The north side of the pass drains into Galbraith Creek and the south side drains to Orsino Creek (Skookum drainage). Dailey Prairie is the place to be! Very unique area. 4-needle pine trees grow here which must be pretty rare. Here’s the route map in Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=217883524138808791504.0004b7b4b363f0150a54b
The Dailey Prairie cabin in 1990. Really buggy in the summer! D. Tucker photo.
Tim O’Donnell and I skied there today then explored the prairie for a couple of hours. It’s a gentle five-mile climb (from where we parked) generally south through clearcuts to get to the pass but then lots of flat to explore once up there.
Dailey Prairie is the bug-infested home to rare plants. Much more pleasant in the winter. D. Battistella photo.
Conditions were kinda cruddy at the lower elevations but then quickly got better and better as we climbed. Fresh dusting on hardpack. On the descent we cut a few switchbacks though recent clearcuts. If there was easier or more snow we could have cut huge sections of the switchbacks and had nice long telemark runs. Hopefully next time!
Interestingly we ran into some loggers that are taking up xc skiing after their shift. They were on their third ski ever, all of them this week. They were going for Dailey Prairie when we were on our way down. They were talking about plowing out the icy section in the near future so that they could drive up to where the skiing is better. This would be great for them since they have a key to the gate, but would make a longer walk in and out for us. They are who told us about Old Man Dailey and the cabin.
Note on parking: The loggers were using the turnout by the bridge as a chain-up spot. This spot changes for them depending on the weather but you don’t want to be in their way. Therefore we parked at the prior jct. where the road continues to Elbow Lake. This, however, is a risky parking spot because it is directly beneath an active rockfall. I parked, crossed my fingers, and got lucky. Loggers take the weekends off, so parking at the bridge is more feasible then.”
Dailey Prairie. D. Battistella photo.
To get there take Hwy 542 to Mosquito Lake Rd. Take a left up Porter Creek Rd. (FS Rd 37). At 4.8 miles, just beyond the bridge over Clearwater Creek, take the right fork down towards the bridge that crosses the Middle Fork Nooksack. Don’t drive across the bridge as the gate will be locked shut when the loggers or miners clock out for the day. Loggers are currently working about a mile up from the gate and they are keeping the road plowed to this point. Also be sure to park well out of the way: the loggers use the area at the bridge as a chain up spot. We hiked that first mile and then we were home free on skis!!
The route to Dailey Prairie, from URL given above. Click 'terrain' on Google Maps to get this view. Use Forest Service and 7.5 topos for roads. Click to enlarge.
Detailed directions (updated 2/28/2012): Dailey Prairie is reached via a network of several logging and mining roads. Best to use a topo map. Canyon Creek 7.5′ covers the northern portion, as far as Galbraith Creek; Cavanaugh Creek 7.5′ shows the rest. Note that the section between the fork at 1.9 miles and the mainline junction at 3.25 is shown only as a dotted line track on the Cavanaugh quad. The Mt. Baker Ranger District map published by the USFS shows all these roads, and more, and is topographic to boot.
These distances are approximate: Cross the bridge (1200′). Left fork at 0.3 miles. Right at 0.7. Cross Galbraith Creek, then go left at 1.9 mi. ; right at 2.1 mi.; right at 2.6 mi. (the left fork goes to the mine in 0.6 mi.); right at 4.4 mi.; angle left at 4.6 (right goes to Bowman Mountain with good skiing and views and Blue Mountain logging road off Mosquito Lake Rd); left at 4.9: this road circles into Dailey Prairie from the east and south; reach south end of Dailey Prairie at 5.7, 3170′, 48° 43.404′N 122° 2.217′W).
Note: the road to the right at 1.9 miles is overgrown, but used to be the main Dailey Prairie access. Might be a good skiing loop with more snow. Use a map, and your head.
Left to right: Dave, Dominic, Matthew, Dave, Erika, Bud. Not shown, Simon. Sorry, man. Photo courtesy of the nice woman who was sitting next to us trying to watch the basketball game but was distracted by our fascinating though odd discussions.
There was a fine turnout at the crowded Archer Ale House Thursday night. No, not everyone in the place was a ski enthusiast, and we mostly had to stand because there weren’t enough seats (something about a UW basketball game on the TV, I think). Anyway, there were seven of us there. We got acquainted (most had not met the others before), drank a pint or two, and solved many of the worlds problems. No one embarrassed me, either. Despite the assembled brain power we couldn’t come up with a way to have year-round snow in the Chucks, though. We shared some favorite XC routes in the foothills, and learned about some good places to try next time we have snow. We learned that there is still snow on Lookout, Galbraith, Stewart and Blanchard, and we can all look forward to a ski report or two in the next couple of days.
Thanks to everyone for showing up! Dave Tucker
Posted in XC ski rendezvous
Galbraith Lane up to the Galbraith towers. Google Earth.
Two reports; first by Erika Thorsen, followed by Dominic Battistella’s. Extra details by Dave Tucker. See also Peter’s report from 1-17-2012.
Begin at the large parking area at the crest of Samish Way, 740′. Walk north on Galbraith Lane to the first right. Take this past a few houses, then up the logging road branching left. There are a number of branches: follow your nose or consult the Google Earth image at left and on your computer first. Route is shown on Ken Wilcox’s Trails of the Chuckanut Mountains (Bellingham stores). It is 2.75 miles one way to the radio towers and viewpoint on the summit. Elevation gain to microwave/radio towers (at 1800′) is 1060′. Plenty of options on this trip if you like to ski on mountain bike trails.
Erika reports:
I went up Galbraith today. I parked in the large lot on the crest of Samish Way, crossed the road, went left and stayed on
Martha skis Galbraith. D. Battistella photo. click to enlarge.
the main road with the power lines (road 2000), then turned on road 3000 until I hit a clearcut with about 10-15 year-old trees and, looking back, nice views of the bay, Bellingham, a few islands and into Canada.
There’s about a foot of snow with good tracks on the main road but the skiing became difficult on the steeper parts of the spur. I finally took off my skis and walked some but that was difficult, too — too much post-holing! Someone else had skied on up before me but I had no idea how. They are burlier than me or have better skis. Coming down was swift and fun: a perfect grade.
I only saw three other people in my several hours out: one woman coming down as I came up, and then I ran into Dom and Martha as I was headed back (see report below with photos). I know them through my husband, but I forgot to mention to Dominic that I had been reading his ski reports on this website. The dogs had a blast, especially my younger one, running into the trees following every scent.
With the snow level still staying low for a few days (I think around 300 feet), Galbraith might still be good skiing into the weekend.
Dominic reports:
Martha Thompson and I skied Galbraith Lane today. ”It was awesome!!” exclaimed Martha. Thanks for breaking trail ya’ll who skied before us!! We at least found a little fresh snow to break to the picnic bench at the end of Road 3400. We saw three other solo skiers and three doggz, and an old friend, Erika (who reported earlier). Saw Keith and Dave’s tracks from their Lookout Mt. ski a couple of days ago down below and in the distance on a switchback.
Dominic actually takes a break! You saw it first here! M. Thompson photo.
The view east to Silver-Ruby Divide (low ridge in foreground) and Lookout Mt. D. Battistella.
