We followed a skin track up the White Salmon. Dug a pit that showed well over 300 cm of snow on the upper half of the glacier. I had skied this route a couple of times before, but had always followed the moderate line of ascent on the descent as well. With the day's great snowpack, we were able to drop the proper ski line from the very top along the skier's right edge of the glacier. We paused partway down to climb a few hundred feet up a sliver of a couloir that always begs for attention from the Baker Ski Area. These were the best turns yet, very steep boot top powder, with the Border Peak glowing an ephemeral pink in the waning December light. We skied the rest of the Salmon, and upon exit met up with the other group whose skin track we were following. It was Zach Giffin, Molly Baker, and Ben (name here), the snowboarder who was in on the first descent of the NW couloir. They ascended the Salmon a few hours before us, and felt so good about conditions that the crossed the Hanging Glacier and dropped the NW couloir from the top. The reported very hard, scary conditions in the entrance dog leg section, but once below that it was hero snow all the way to the bottom.
We teamed up with them for an exit skin in the dark and an awesome dinner at Milano's in Glacier, telling stories and dreaming of more good days.
This ghetto image (of the mountain in May) illustrates what I just explained in HD technicolor Bluray 3-D brilliance.
