Here's a shot of Mt. Baker taken from my patio at 8:20 this evening, and a little story about my first drive up the mountain back about 1964.
Myself, my new bride, and another young newlywed couple made our first trip up Baker in my '49 Ford, at about this time of year. The drive to the resort was interesting, with great scenery, and lots of snow alongside the road at the higher elevations. After a lunch and making snow angels, we started back down the very twisty road, following a green VW beetle. At the 3rd or 4th hairpin turn, the VW hit an icy patch, spun 360 degrees, and punched through the snowbank on the downhill side of the road, disappearing over the edge. The ladies screamed, and I managed to pull over and stop without meeting the same fate. George and I got out and went to the edge of the snowbank to see if we could do anything, while the girls flagged traffic around my car on the narrow road. When we looked down the hill, the VW was sitting in snow up to the windows, having literally flown 20' out and 30' down, without touching the snow in between! As the 2 of us started down the very steep dropoff, we saw 2 people, a young man and woman, emerge from the passenger side window, as the doors were blocked by the snow. We got down to them, determined that there were no real injuries, and we all struggled back up to the roadway in waist deep snow, soaking wet by the time we got there. After all piling into my car, and cranking the heater up, we discussed the plan of action, finally deciding to drive to the base of the mountain to call for a tow truck, and allow the young man to call his Dad to tell him where his VW was. I left them at the service station to wait for the tow, and a ride home to Seattle, while our 2 couples drove back to Surrey, BC, with the heater blasting to dry us out.
I've been back there a few times since, including on a Honda Silver Wing, which was great fun on that road in the summer, and always recall that incident on the hairpin turn.