If you are one of those who simply can't stay in one place, the one not capable of leading a tranquil life, ski resorts are just for you. In summer you may go in for surfing, coarse fishing, scuba-diving or some other extremes. But what to do in winter? Of course, your can proceed with you summer activities somewhere in Egypt, Turkey or somewhere on the Carribean.
Well, are you not afraid to become a salted herring then? Set new priorities for the winter. Enjoy you time at ski resorts!
Experienced skiers always seek for a new skiing adventure, traveling from one ski resort to another and estimating slopes of the greatest mountains in the world. One of the most famous of such resorts is the Mount Baker Ski Area. It may seem really strange that this resort is located not on Mount Baker itself but on Mount Shuksan, while Mount Baker is another area that is popular for backpacking, climbing, snowmobiling, skiing, camping and other types of outdoor recreation.
This mountain occupies the third place accordingly to its height in the state of Washington. It has volcanic nature and it is 3,285 m high. Its summit crater is ice-filled and ice-capped. The inner part of the Mount Baker is also unique. The interesting phenomenon of cavern tunnels inside the ice was found only in four mountains in the world, two of them are also North American Peaks, Mount Rainier and Mount Wrangell. As far as it is a volcano mounting it was bound to have some eruptions during its active life, eight of them recorded. In between eruptions Baker was continuously steaming. The last eruption took place sometime in 1880, but the Baker might not be dead yet - in 1980 Mount Saint Helens, located in the same area, erupted. All the nearby volcanoes have been closely monitored since then, including Mount Baker.
The main part of Mount Baker is located within Mount Baker Wilderness area, which is included in the Mount Baker national Recreation Area.
The most popular climbing rout is the two-days Easton Glacier rout. The most popular trail - the Artist Point, which is, however, not accessible until August because of heavy snowfalls.
Another ski resort that can give an unforgettable experience of sliding from the mountain is the Bolton Ski Area. The resort is not very large and offers a relatively short elevation drop when compared to other ski resorts situated in Vermont. This resort is probably more suitable for beginners and intermediate skiers, but not for those who are already experts. Bolton Valley won't offer a serious challenge as, for example, the steep mountains like Mount Shuksan will do. To be more precise, 27% of trails are for novices, 47% - for intermediate skiers, and only 26% are for experts. Besides, Bolton Valley provides a wide variety of runs (sixty one) and quite a number of lifts (one quad, four doubles, one surface). According to statistics, the vertical drop of the mountain is only 500 meters, the skiing area is 668,000 square meters.
This resort was founded by Ralph DesLauriers and his father in 1966 and for many years existed as a family resort where trained two famous skiers, Rob and Eric DesLauriers, who starred in dozens of movies as ski stuntmen. Today the resort is owned by a handful of new owners who in the 2004 - 2005 season managed to maintain a very successful advertising and PR campaign.