If you can see Mt. Baker, you are part of The Experience
MBE Winter 2024/25 Publisher's Note:
Speaking atmospherically (which is not a word for some reason), November was pretty interesting. We had a Super Beaver Moon, the last Supermoon of 2024 which was accompanied by a 22-degree halo; a bomb cyclone and a couple of atmospheric (which is a word) rivers. The first two phenomena were impressive but they paled in comparison to the precipitation. The weather gods were smiling down on Mt. Baker and saying, “Let there be snow” and lo, there was snow. So much snow that the ski area opened up before Thanksgiving. Praise be!
Definitely good timing for the winter issue of the Mount Baker Experience! And do we have some goodies for you. Julie Trimingham offers us a treatise on Indigenous place names and history while Jason Martin is back with some more mountain trivia. Maybe I was tired when I took the quiz but I found it a bit more challenging than usual.
My first thought reading the first paragraph of Mike Nolan’s description of winter clam digging was, what the hell? By the time I finished, I was packing up my shovel and pail and wishing dear old dad was still around! See what you think. A former full-time colleague, Tara Nelson, gives us Aurora Photography for Dummies which describes me to a T. This year, we haven’t even had to travel to the nether regions to view the Northern Lights, we’ve had multiple occurrences in these latitudes. Must be global warming or something.
Luca Williams provides a little Baker history while Eric Lucas lets us know how we can go mushing up in Alaska. Speaking of which, do you know how the term mushing originated? It is derived from the French ‘marcher,” meaning to walk or to go. Stick with the MBE – you can learn a lot!
There’s lots more inside this issue for readers or for those who just like to look at pictures. (I’m talking to you, Adam!)
As always, get out there and enjoy the great PNW outdoors but be safe – especially those who go out into the backcountry – remember those heuristic traps!
Cheers!
- Pat Grubb, Publisher
