Baker Splitfest: A Journey To Cascade Country

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Destination Baker

We weren’t the only ones who made the journey to this years’ Mt. Baker Splitfest. Between the variety of Splitboards on hand from a number of board builders, and the trailer of Spark gear we towed along for demo, there were no shortage of pow grins out on the mountain. Following local’s advice, we made it out early morning to get the snow at its coldest. Headed in the direction of a zone we had been up in the past, we found ourselves standing at treeline where everything above us was lost in an endless gray void. We retreated back to protected trees at lower elevations and had no trouble finding deep pow glades to session for the rest of the trip.

Demo Day / Pow Day

Sparks to the People!

Looking at our trip’s worth of routes on the topo map within the context of what’s out there beyond the range of visibility we had, only proves we had just begun to get our feet wet — at least in the figurative sense. In the literal sense, it was not only our feet getting wet, it was our hands, arms, legs, and everything in between. That’s not to say we had anything short of awesome riding, it’s just to say, be prepared, there is no amount of waterproofing that can possibly be done to keep dry under a Spring storm in the North Cascades. With the Baker Area being one of the snowiest spots on earth, it’s a place where deep is what you can expect. And that’s what we got.

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Baker Splitfest HQ @Chair9

After tons of fun, on and off our boards, and truckloads of gear raffled off to benefit the Northwest Avalanche Center, it was time we get back to the shop. Our first sighting of Mt. Baker towering under blue skies at dusk didn’t make it any easier to head for home, but we rode the storm, and shared great times, and we will be back for more.