The third Mt. Baker Splitboard festival was great time. The last two we worked up until the last minute to finish off prototypes and demo bindings. This year we were a little bit more prepared, but we still rolled in a little late for the Demo set up on Friday evening. We’ll be on time next year… I always look forward to the Mt. Baker Splitboard fest because it is the time of year that I actually get to ride my snowboard a bit more.

This year Karakoram was the presenting sponsor, Bob and Terry did a great job putting the event together and we raised about $5000 for the Northwest Avalanche Center. As usual we spent Saturday morning setting up the late stragglers with bindings and boards. We didn’t get to the Baker upper lot until 11:30 am. [br]

[br] Chris Parks on the first little ride down to Swift Creek.

[br]Heading from Swift Creek to Mt. Anne. [br]

[br]Mt. Anne on the approach.

[br]Parks rolling showing off his downhill skiing abilities and his diaper. The south facing slopes were getting sloppy, so Parks isn’t that bad of a skier.

[fresh-br]Tretwold putting on a kick turn clinic with on the creek crossing.

[br]Cool moonscape on the way up to Mt. Anne.

[br]Going up with Shuksan in the background.

[br]Almost to the top.

[br]Where to drop?

[br]Tretwold dropping in.

[br]Throwing snow

[br]Parks chasing Unicorns.

[br]Tyler hover-slashing the snow wave.

[br]Tretwold with a slash.

[br]Looking back at Mt. Anne and Baker on the way up to the Arm.

[br]Heading up again.

[br]Ready to drop into Hidden Bowl.

[br]Only four tracks in Hidden Bowl :) After ridding more untouched snow we rode back down to the White Salmon base and drove back to Glacier for the festivities at Chair 9. There was so much gear to give away the raffle took just about all night.

[br]The winner of the Split30s.

[br]The winner of the grand prize Karakoram SL Bindings and crampons on a Jones Solution. Judging by this guys face, I think he was pretty happy to win.

[br] Sunday was a pretty lazy day, spent waiting for demo gear to come back. We did get a short run in up towards Blueberry Chutes. The snow had warmed up a bit, but we still had a good run down.

Mattia making the most of Blueberry Chutes.

[br]The Mt. Baker Split fest was a great success. Thanks to everyone who came out to demo bindings. We look forward to seeing you next year!