Backcountry Sledding at Mount Baker - March 9, 2013
After a complete lack of lowland snow this winter, we decided to head up to Mount Baker to do some backcountry sledding. The new Mountain Boy Slalom sleds worked great! I loved having the maneuverability of the of the classic steel runner Flexible Flyer sleds in the fresh snow. The Rush Snowtube is awesome too! Good sleds are the only way to go.I guess there are a few different "unofficial" sledding areas. Since I hadn't been sledding at Mt Baker before, it took us a bit to figure out where to go. You just have to follow the one-way around to the end, and hop over the snow birm. The Highwood Lake basin creates an awesome little bowl for sledding. The slopes range from mild to wild. We picked a pretty mellow spot and made a perfect day of it.

Overnight Snow Wheeling - January 25-26, 2012
Our overnight snow wheeling trip turned out awesome. We hit the mountain around 7:30pm and were in the snow by 8pm. The weather turned out to be just about perfect. The expected weather system didn't arrive until the early morning. The moon was 94% full and there were a lot of openings in the cloud cover so we had great natural lighting. The snow that stopped us New Years day had settled enough that we pretty easily broke trail up the mountain. The next day we pushed higher up the mountain and encountered some massive snow drifts and a few tree wells. We were ultimately stopped large snow drift about 25 feet from the top lookout area. Probably could have made it, but it just wasn't worth the work to go 25 feet.

GoPro HD Hero2 Camera
Why a GoPro Camera? It fills the gap between a standard digital camera or DSLR, and a camcorder. I can't even begin think of all the times the "other cameras" were left behind because it simply wasn't safe to bring them or use them.

Dakine Poacher Pack
The Dakine Snow Pack family of backpacks are purpose built for experiencing the backcountry in the snow. Features are well thought-out and implemented in a way that preserves precious space, yet maintain organization and ease of access. Whether you're hitting the ski slopes for the day, or doing some serious snowshoeing or mountaineering, Dakine offers several packs designed to meet our needs in the backcountry.

Siping Tires for Deep Snow
Why should I sipe my tires for deep snow wheeling?
Siping is one of my three criteria for a deep snow tire. As you drive through the deep snow, the snow gets packed under your tire. The siping gives your tires hundreds of new biting edges. Additionally, the siping helps loosen the tire carcass allowing your tire to flex better when aired down.

Deep Snow Tires
Wider is better. Not so fast! Given equal tire pressure, a 36x12.50 and a 36x14.50 will have the same size footprint. The shape will be different, but the total area will be the same. Don't stop reading. I'm not crazy. Here's the deal...to keep things simple, lets say we have 4,000lbs vehicle. We'll assume it's perfectly balanced and therefore 1,000lbs at each tire. If the tire is inflated to a known pressure, say 5 psi(pounds per square inch), we can now determine the area of the footprint in sq/in using the following formula...

Quick overview of Western Washington Mountain Pass webcams

Stevens Pass - Elevation: 4061 ft

Snoqualmie Pass - Elevation: 3022 ft

White Pass - Elevation: 4500 ft

Blewett Pass - Elevation: 4102 ft

National Ice Center Snow and Ice Map - Current

www.natice.noaa.gov/ims/

Check out the 31 day Snow Loop.