One of the bucket list items for the best skiers and snowboarders on the planet is sending the Mount Baker Road Gap. Located on the Mount Baker highway that leads up to the famous ski area, it is a high risk for your body, but a high reward for your ego to jump over the road. According to the Seattle Times, it was first landed by Shawn Farmer in 1989, and many thrill seekers have taken it on since (with mixed results).

In June, Everest Hughes shared a POV video of him hitting the Mount Baker Road Gap last season. His friend Leif Coopman took it on first and landed it, so Everest knew what to do. Everest’s send was massive, and he crossed the road without issue. In terms of whether Everest landed it, it’s subject to debate. He sticks the landing originally, then loses his balance and crashes during the runout.

There are so many things that can go wrong when sending a gap like this, so you have to give this guy kudos for choosing the perfect jump, speed, and landing without a major injury. Everest did miss a good opportunity to play Free Bird as the music choice in the video below though.

Image/Video Credits: Everest Hughes

Mt. Baker Ski Area in Deming, Washington is synonymous for two things: extreme terrain and deep snowfall. During the 1998-99 season, they set the all-time snowfall record on the planet with 1140″. While a few notable snowy ski resorts set their own records last winter, none came close to this mind-blowing number.

With Mt. Baker getting its first significant snowfall of the 2023-24 season last week, some were wondering when the ski area would open. The Washington ski area doesn’t have snowmaking and relies on a natural snowpack to spin the lifts.

Last week, Mt. Baker gave an answer to this question. Here’s Mt. Baker’s snow report from last Wednesday:

“It’s happened … the first accumulation of snow at Heather Meadows for the season!  We are seeing 6″ of snow at HM and a skosh more on top of Pan Dome.  For those of you who are checking the NWAC telemetry site and wondering about the big discrepancy in snowfall total reporting, they have not yet replaced the 24-hour board at the telemetry site for the season so the snowfall totals on NWAC will be off until they do so.  You can check the ‘Status Alert’ at the upper right hand corner of Mt. Baker’s station window on the NWAC site (look for the bell icon) and it will give you the status.  At this time it says ‘The 24-hour snow board (24sno) has been removed for the summer season. Disregard all values.‘

And for those of you who haven’t been to the Baker rodeo before, or who have forgotten how it works, our opening day is not scheduled and is totally dependent on snowfall and weather forecasts. How much snow base do we need to open?  Depending on the quality and density of the snowpack, this amount can vary from 20 inches to 40 inches of base. Opening also depends on the forecast (i.e. the snowpack not getting washed away by rain or a warmup right after opening). 

We will continue to update this report as we get significant snowfall or weather pattern changes, so stay tuned!”

TLDR: It won’t open in the foreseeable future, with them needing a 20-40 inch base to spin the lifts. With a few more storms though, Mt. Baker will likely be ready to go.

Image Credits: Mt. Baker Ski Area

Mt. Baker Ski Area in northwest Washington hasn’t opened for the season yet, but there was plenty of early-season snow blanketing its slopes just last week.

YouTube channel Factotum Project drove up to Baker for a few days of parking lot camping and powder surfing with his dog. He estimates that it snowed around 60 inches in just three days!

Check out his fun edit below:

Factotum Project: “The snow started falling early last year so I packed up the van to spend a few nights in the Mt. Baker parking lot and ride some pow! By the end of my trip I had a snow-walkway dugout from my van door to the parking lot. There’s deep snow and then there’s Baker deep snow. I think we had around 60 inches of snow over 3 days! This was shot on the first day I arrived and got out for some evening pow turns next to the parking lot. Enjoy!”

There wasn’t all that much of him powder surfing, but I still enjoyed watching the cinematography of his video.

What can I say? I live on the east coast and watching somebody just walk in 60 inches of fresh snow is absolutely delightful.

It unfortunately end up raining quite a bit up at Baker around Halloween and brought their snowpack to the bare ground in some spots. Baker has not set an opening day yet. Here’s the latest update from their snow report on 10/31:

Monday October 31st updates:

We’ve been getting some tricks and some treats with the weather over the past few weeks . . . close to 20″ of snowfall but mixed with some significant rain, which brought our snowpack back down to bare ground in places.

Forecasts are calling for a classic PNW roller-coaster of some snow and some warmups over the next 10 days. Stay tuned, and we will continue updating with any significant changes.

At Mt. Baker our opening day is dependent on natural snowfall, and we open as soon as we have our crew trained, the necessary snowfall accumulation ( which varies depending on the snow density and how it packs down as it falls) and a favorable forecast. Our employee training is happening this coming weekend, so all we will need is more accumulation and a favorable forecast to get back to shredding! Stay tuned here for updates, and hopefully we will have some good news for you in the first half of November!

Let it snow.

Freeride meets Freestyle on hallowed alpine ground in Washington State. Follow along with Jonnie Merrill, Jake Hopfinger, and LJ Strenio as they tear it up on Mt. Baker getting after big mountain lines, backcountry booters, and endless free refills. Enjoy.

Search and rescue crews near the Mount Baker Ski Area as searching for a 36 year old Mukilteo man who went missing while hiking this week. KIRO7 reports the hiker left the Lake Ann trailhead Monday. Monday evening he contacted his family and told them he got turned around but could still see the ski lodge. He told his family that he was prepared to spend the night and would follow the chairlift line down the following morning. Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office began the search for the man Tuesday morning but did not locate him. If you are in the area please keep a look out. We will update this story as news comes in.

images from therealmtbakerskiarea IG &

Micah Evangelista & Sophia Rouches perfectly capture the ‘Waiting For Winter’ vibes in this Mt Baker-based edit that celebrates letting ’em run for the first time of the season.

*Video courtesy of Colby Mesick

Even with a snow depth of 91″ at the base and 130″ up high, one Washington ski area is not letting its lift ticket price surpass its base depth– not by a long shot.

Related: Vail’s Single Day Pass Price Exceeds $200! | The 10 Most Expensive Lift Tickets

With the most snow in America, Mt Baker Ski Area is sticking to its guns and selling single day lift tickets for just $65.75/day (*tax included). Compared to Vail’s $209 lift ticket price– Mt Baker is a great example of standing up for the little guy whose wallet isn’t nearly as fat as the majority of his or her counterparts in the ski world.

In fact, Washington is one of the cheapest states in the Union for skiing. The most expensive ski area in the state, Crystal Mountain (*now owned by Alterra) is just $93/day. Stevens Pass (*now owned by Vail) comes in at 2nd with $83/day lift tickets.

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For its 8 chairlifts, ridiculously abundant snowfall, not to mention world-class backcountry access, Mt Baker’s lift ticket price should be an example for the entire ski world as to what the market value of skiing should actually look like.

Book your trip here: Mt Baker Ski Area

One of North America’s longest running heli-skiing services, North Cascade Heli, will open its 30th season on January 18 with one tasty bang. The North Cascade institution is collaborating with fellow local legends at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery (OSB) for the release of a new IPA commemorating three decades of making powder dreams come true.

Related: Colorado Alpine Rescue Team Sponsored By New Beer “Gone Astray IPA”

Rotor Wash IPA from OSB is a “winter-style IPA…brewed to be the perfect sipper as snow piles up in the Cascades,” according to OSB co-owner Jacob Young in a joint release, with “a true malt backbone, a clean mouthfeel, and amber color.“

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGXE2qliL8/

The result is what OSB calls a “go-to post shredding brew.” It’s a fitting kick-off to the season for this “low-key” operator that’s been taking skiers to hard-to-reach stashes since 1988. Based in Mazama, WA, NCH operates on some of America’s most spiny peaks over 300,000 acres of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

“We are looking forward to another stellar season of shredding untracked snow in the beautiful Alps of America,” Paul Butler, NCH co-owner, also said in the release. “And since it is our 30th anniversary, we plan on making this winter as fun and memorable as possible.”

We’d say brewing a beer specifically for the occasion is a good start.

For readers in the area, a release party at the OSB Taproom in Twisp, Washington will mark the occasion from 6-9 p.m on January 11th. Optional donations will benefit the Methlow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF), a 501(c)(3) dedicated to the preservation of riparian ecosystems and their salmon populations.

Learn more about North Cascade Heli here.

Unless something disastrous happens, Mt Baker Ski Area will open on Wednesday for the 2018/2019 season.

Opening day is scheduled for Wednesday but as always– it’s weather dependent. If all goes according to plan, Chairs 1,2, and 3 will all be in operation (*just Heather Meadows). If more snow allows– resort officials will continue to open terrain throughout the week/weekend. They hope to have both base areas open by Sunday.

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Terrain/Lift Status:

• WEDNESDAY: OPENING DAY! We will be opening the Heather Meadows Base Area with Chairs 1, 2 and 3 operating. Check back Tuesday afternoon for the status of runs expected to be open.
• THURSDAY: If we get additional snowfall Wednesday night, we will work towards opening more facilities and lifts as snowfall and daylight allows.
• FRIDAY: Goal is to have both Heather Meadows and White Salmon base areas open.

Conditions Report:

Quote of the day from the forecaster at the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center yesterday: “ It’s about to get real.”

Great news! The first in a series of significant storms brought us 10 inches of new snow last night and 12 inches in the past 24 hours, bringing our base to around 16 inches at Heather Meadows and 36 inches on top of Pan Dome. This new snow, combined with the snow forecasted for Tuesday, means we can officially announce our Opening Day for Wednesday December 12th!

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More storms and snowfall are expected to continue rolling in all week, with forecasters calling for HEAVY SNOWFALL for Tuesday with up to 15 inches of new snow possible. A bit of a break is expected Wednesday then it cranks in again with 10 inches of new snow expected Wednesday night, another possible 15 inches of new snow expected Thursday, and yet another 12 inches of new snow possible for Friday morning!

Find out more here: Mt Baker Snow Report

A heavy dose of Mount Baker powder porn from none other than Bellingham’s own Micah Evangelista. In between intense nuking snow storms Micah snagged a few sunny days out at Baker and put this edit together including a few clips from shred trip to far east Japan. Enjoy:

p.s. this hat and hat tether combo for day out skiing is about as cool as you anyone will ever be. So much respect: 

p.p.s if your interested in the ski Micah is rocking its the K2 Catamaran. MORE INFO HERE.