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Mt. Baker Opens With Over 95% of Terrain for First Day of Season

Originally posted on Powder | By Ian Greenwood | Last updated Nov 21, 2024 1:49 PM ET

Mt. Baker Ski Area, Washington, is living up to its reputation as the Lower 48’s snowiest lift-accessed skiing destination. Today marks the first general public opening at the ski area, and over 95% of Mt. Baker’s available terrain is skiable.

Mt. Baker kicked off the season yesterday, November 20, 2024, with a passholders-only opening that could be one for the books thanks to numerous feet of November snowfall.

“It felt like mid-winter—snow was great,” said local skier and editor of About The Ride Cy Whitling, who visited Mt. Baker yesterday. There was “really good coverage and reasonably light stuff on top,” Whitling said.

I asked Whitling if, even though most of the mountain was open, the usual early-season rock and shrub dodging game was still part of the program. “Little bit, but kind of a shockingly low amount,” he said, citing Mt. Baker’s dense maritime snow, which can set up like concrete and cover obstacles quickly. The ski area is reporting a 66 inch base in Heather Meadows.

Watch below as Mt. Baker Ski Area staff clears Chair 5 of deep snowfall on November 19, 2024 to prepare for Passholder Appreciation Day.

Video: Clearing Chair 5, Mt. Baker Ski Area, November 19, 2024

Chair Clearing, Mt. Baker Ski Area, November 19, 2024. (0:42)

^Video courtesy Mt. Baker Ski Area.

In a video recap of the passholders-only opening, CEO and president Gwyn Howat cautiously speculated that Wednesday might’ve been one of the top three openings she’s ever seen at Mt. Baker.

She also recalled telling a younger passholder on Wednesday that after they got off the hill, they should write down their opening day experiences, noting the snow conditions and where they skied.

“This opening passholder day will be one that you measure all others by in your lifetime,” she said. This month, Mt. Baker has received at least 108 inches of snowfall, signaling a significant departure from the previous season. In 2023, November only produced 33 inches of snow at Mt. Baker.

The rest of the 2023 and 2024 ski season proved difficult with warm temperatures and lower-than-usual snowfall. “To say this winter has been a disaster of a ski season so far is an understatement,” Grant Gunderson, a ski photographer, wrote in a social media post about Mt. Baker in February 2024.

If Wednesday was any indication, though, a snowy return to form for Mt. Baker could be here. The prospective arrival of a La Niña, which tends to produce wetter and snowier conditions for the Pacific Northwest, may help facilitate the dreams of Washington powder hounds. In its latest diagnostic discussion, NOAA noted that there’s a 57% chance a weak La Niña emerges between October and December.

But that’s the territory of prognosticators. For now, the Mt. Baker community is riding the high of an opening day that won’t be soon forgotten.

“People were really stoked and just glad to kind of get redemption and get back on track for a more normal or excellent winter,” said Whitling.

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This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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