Mt Baker Easton Glacier "winter" route description including Park Butte trailhead, Rail Road Grade, Sandy Camp, Easton Glacier, Sherman Peak, Sherman Crater, the Roman Wall, and Mt Baker Summit. This was filmed 11-12 May, 2023. The Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) in inches on 12 May 2023 was as follows: 46.1 at Marten Ridge (elevation 3,520), 22.9 at Elbow Lake (elevation 3,040), and 49.5 at MF Nooksack (elevation 4,970). You can look at real-time SWE data for these SnoTel sites near Mt Baker. This can give you a good approximation of how much snow will be on the ground for your tour dates which will help you know how well bridged the creeks will be and about how far you may have to travel on the road below trailhead.
For example, the SWEs I listed above translated into ~2.5 of road walk below the trailhead but easy creek crossings on 11-12 May 2023. In my view, the creeks crossings in the afternoon will start to be iffy with any SWE less than 30 inches at Marten Ridge (similar elevation to the creek crossings). Our tour date in mid June 2022 was at SWE 27.5 and we make it across the creeks, but it was sketchy and took lots of careful navigation. You can find the SnoTel real time measurements (and historical data) by googling "SnoTel interactive map" and zoom in to the Mt Baker area.
30 сен 2024
