THE CARDS YOU’RE DEALT: SUPER VACATION! PT. 1
If snowboarding were a game of cards, Mother Nature would certainly be the dealer. No strangers to the poker face, Drew Fuller and Justin L’Heureux anted up and drove to Glacier, WA from SLC at the tail end of a Northwest storm cycle. With an ominous forecast looming on the horizon I was happy that they arrived in time for a pow day before the weather turned ugly.
In order to place bets on first chair at Mt. Baker, not only do you have to get up early, but you also have to pick the right chair which can feel a bit like rolling the dice. I put all our chips on # 5 and it ended up paying off.
Within an hour a rowdy crew had filled in the corral and Albert, (Mt. Baker security and a familiar face to those who frequent Mt. Baker) started making his ticket checking rounds. A fellow powder-hound, he gave the double-digit snow report with a smile, as Blair Habenicht, Matt Edgars, and the DeBari duo of Lucas and Maria strapped their boards on in anticipation of ski patrol giving the nod.
The first chairlift ride of the day usually feels like the longest. Well at least it does to me, because I have to think and re-think where I should take my first run. Judging by the trees, which had been turned into sno-cones by the fresh snow, the report of 10 inches seemed to be right on. It looked like if you smiled wide enough you might be able to brush you teeth with powder. I doubt I even knew where I was headed to as I slid off the lift, but strapping in usually helps me decide. Somewhere between pointing my nose downhill, and pretending to surf I lost everyone and everything and found myself in the moment that I am constantly searching for. Blair wound up taking Drew and Justin on a tour of the hill, while I chased ski bunnies in the trees.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and in this case, our powder streak was up. Alarmingly high freezing levels and intense precipitation were on track for the Cascades. A doomsday forecast was issued for our snow-pack: 10-15 inches of rain in 48 hours (yeah, it RAINS in the NWest!) for certain locations, which would cause severe flooding, mudslides and extreme avalanche danger. The odds were surely stacked against us, but none of us realized the true severity of the storm or imagined that Glacier would temporarily become and island. As we so often do in this weather dependent lifestyle, we got out our hard weather gear waited for what would happen next.
Bjorn Hartweger was scheduled to fly straight into the storm but wound up delayed in Philly for a night. We would have needed a boat to reach him anyway! When he arrived in Bellingham the following day we had to drive through a river and detour a mudslide that closed Hwy 542. Still, we managed to float into the city to pick him up. Safe and sound, back home in Glacier, we hunkered down, played scrabble and sang songs. Lucky for us, the power never went out (but we had candles and headlamps ready). When the rain persisted for a third day, Drew and Justin wandered off in search of higher stakes than scrabble could offer. A few vitamin R’s (Rainier tallboys) later, they nearly became the new dishwasher / buffet staff combo at the Nooksack Casino. Blackjack and booze always sound like a good idea - until the next morning when you realize you straight flushed your bank account away!
When the skies finally cleared we were all anxious to get up to the mountain and see how much of our base had been rinsed away. Surprisingly enough there was still plenty of snow left, with about 8 inches of creamy, thick pow on top of the soggy bottom. Bjorn finally got a chance to stretch his jet-lagged legs as we cruised around looking for pillows to bounce off.
During the next couple days we got the cameras rolling (which always feels good after the off-season) and were quickly re-introduced to how tough it is to keep lenses dry when filming in between bouts of heavy snowfall and fog. When Sani Alibabic arrived the conditions changed once again and we decided it was time to enter phase two of what we would come to know and love as “Super Vacation”. Stay tuned to find out where the road would take us next.
Many thanks to Allison, Amy and the Mt. Baker staff for taking good care of our crew.
Text: J-Holiday
Photos: Justin L’Heureux, Justin Hare
