The outlook wasn't great earlier this week for the scheduled Mountaineers trip to Artist and Huntoon points.  Weather reports predicted snow and cold temperatures with a high avalanche danger.  What we got, instead, was a beautiful day of deep snow with sunny skies!  Even the avalanche risk dropped a bit for us.  Who could ask for anything better?

We were able to ascend near the ski area boundary and then beyond.  The snow was not heavy, but deep, and a lot of effort going up, but well worth that effort.  As we reached Austin Pass Mt Shuksan was towering in all her glory.  Further up on Artist Ridge Mt Baker joined the party.  The undulating snow drifts and cornices played with the light and shadows and the trees up high were crusted in rime.  All in all, majestic views in every direction. 

The drive to the Heather Meadows parking area was fine...not much snow until the end and even that melted off during the day.  Early in the morning there were trees and bushes along the river that were glistening with the new snow that fell overnight.  We arrived a bit after 9:00 and found the pit toilets clean and somewhat stocked and they even had heaters!  The trails were sparsely occupied, mostly by backcountry skiers.  Everyone was friendly and delighting in the great conditions.  Just a great experience.

Lost my Insta 360 camera while hiking at Artist Point.

The camera is black and attached to a selfie stick. There are a lot of photos on this camera that are dear to my heart.

If you found it, please text 253-359-8394.

Tatiana.

Trail conditions were great!

Arrived to the parking lot a little after 3:00pm and there was still many cars from skiers who were packing up for the day. It was easy to find a parking spot.

Bathrooms are open but I didn’t use them so not sure the condition. I feel it is hit or miss on if there is toilet paper stocked in these bathrooms so I keep a roll in the car just in case.

I was the only one heading up and there was only about a dozen of people that I passed on my way up. I was by myself majority of the time.

There were snow paths to follow if you are unfamiliar with the area. If you step off the paths the snow is softer and snowshoes are helpful. You could do it in just spikes if you stay on the paths.

There were clouds in the sky when I started and I wasn’t sure what visibility I would have once I reached the top but it cleared up and was a beautiful sunset.

It did get chilly once the sun was gone and the snow started to harden up.

Beautiful snow hike I’ve been wanting to check out for years. Incredible views of Mt. Baker and Shuksan. We did not actually use snowshoes - just microspikes/crampons. This worked fine and kept us mobile enough but it limited us to the packed down trail and inhibited us from venturing off into the powder or less traveled routes. Next time, I would try this with snowshoes. Best not to wander too far off trail though - there were avalanches all around. The trail hugs the boundary of the ski area for the first half mile or so.

We decided to take my jeep on his first car camping trip on Friday night. We hauled our way through all of the after work traffic and finally arrived to Heather Meadows parking area around 7:30 pm, taking us about 4 hours of driving.

Highway 542 was bare and dry. 4WD was not needed yesterday, which was a pleasant surprise. The only slick area is in the parking lot next to the vault toilets. The toilets were stocked with TP as of this morning.

Wow, wow, wow, the stars were popping out last night! All 7 planets were visible and we could even faintly see the northern lights! It was pretty windy and cold last night, but we stay out until almost midnight staring up.

As for the hike, we checked NWAC last night and noticed that the avy risk today was "considerable" so we told ourselves we would go as far as we felt was safe. We woke up around 4:45 to change and pack our bags and were on the trail by 5:20 with our headlamps. By that point, you could faintly see the first light. We brought and attached snowshoes to our packs, but just wore our spikes instead. Most of the trail was iced over that early in the morning, but we still occasionally post holed. We called it quit right before ascending the ridge line to Artist Point because of the avy risk today. We saw quite a few roller balls along the hillside there and played it safe. Still a beautiful sunrise, but really wished we could've watched Shukshan and Komo Kulshan turn pink! Next time. We were the only ones on the trail this morning, which has never happened to us on such a beautiful sunny Saturday morning. To each their own regarding avy safety. I'm sure most groups we saw going up after us made it safely to the summit.

On the hike down, the snow was significantly softer, and post holing was a bit more common. We saw quite a few other groups coming up as we came down in our spikes. 

We will definitely be back later this winter/spring to car camp again and catch the sunrise from the true summit on a day where the avy risk is expected to be a bit safer.

If car camping, don't forget to purchase a reservation before you go. Park staff was monitoring the lot past 10 PM last night and handing out passes for those who did purchase a reservation.