Photo: Colby Messick.

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“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!”

Boots tight, ready to rock.

“Six! Five! Four!”

Goggles: check. Kinko gloves: check. Stoke: check.

“Three! Two! One!”

As the first of dozens of eager riders and skiers briskly loaded themselves onto Chair 7, Mt. Baker’s 2015/16 Season had officially begun.

Following a few fortunate storms that left a 60-inch base at the top of Pan Dome and over 30 inches at the base of Heather Meadows, Mt. Baker was able to start spinning its lifts on Nov. 19, making it the first resort in Washington State to open this year. Bluebird skies revealed classic views of Mt. Shuksan and hot-laps were on tap.

The newcomers, old-timers and everyone in between could feel it, the looks on their faces telling the story of stoke. From cruising through soft, sun-baked snow at the top of Chair 8 to bombing hard-packed groomers nearing the bottoms of each run, there was a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy. Yeah, it wasn’t a deep powder opener, but a good base is in place for the next storm – which, if you trust the NOAA, could come as soon as Monday.

Regardless, it felt good to be back on snow. Maybe things were a bit rusty in regards to riding, but I still managed to squeeze out a few side hits. My long-awaited thirst for turns had been quenched. On my last lift up, gazing around at the epic mountains surrounding me I could already tell: it’s going to be an one hell of a season.