XNF - Xwlemi Nation Family

03/20/2026

Hi everyone. We are going to postpone this weekend’s trip because of the rain on the mountain and I am not feeling well to bring a vehicle up this weekend. Just fyi. Hey’sxwq’e!

03/16/2026

Ey sqweyel,
3/4 weeks of snowboarding complete! It’s been a beautiful season. We got hit with a few late season storms. It’s supposed to rain this week so the mountain is closed for the week. Depending on the weather we might post-pone next week’s trip so nobody gets hurt on the ice.

XNF is sooo thankful for everyone attending, and that we have been able to bring up a group of youth. Our partnerships with Mt. Baker, Lhaqtemish and and Lummi transportation dept are all running smoothly. Hey’sxwq’e Hey’sxwq’e Hey’sxwq’e.

We did a smaller list this year capping at 14, with a 14 person wait list, so we got to bring a bunch of the wait list last weekend. A good deal of our youth are first-timers getting the “best for beginner” package. A few went to the basketball tourneys this weekend.

We have a few self-driving families that made their way up and got their youth in lessons. Glad to see them enjoying the pow 💥

I am thankful youth are taking this opportunity every weekend. I know you could be doing anything else but they choose to wake up at 5am, show up at 6am with snow pants, snow jackets, non-cotton base layers, and gloves. They stay ready to be geared up to go by 9am and lessons start at 10. 🤙🤙🤙Then after they can practice in the self-taught section or catch a chair 2 lap.

The ones who got lessons the past few weeks are finally catching the chair. The ones who sent it the first week, I finally feel comfortable letting them go on their own since the first week I was really double checking everyone’s skill level lol. Definitely gotta be careful, even though it’s a lot of fun, it can hurt if you can’t stop. We only upgraded one youth to an all mountain pass who’s been riding with us for a couple years.

Our advanced riders list for the van on Saturday is pretty small, so if anyone wants to purchase a day pass and rentals and fill up the van, there will be one more opportunity to do that.

Yohomest!!

02/16/2026

Ey sqweyel. I’ve completed all the paperwork completed to continue XNF with Lhaqtemish and to volunteer as a driver through LIBC!! Yay!! We are hoping to go up by 21st or the 28th as discussed with Jake from Mt. Baker.

I have a list of 4 youth on the waitlist so far. Those are Riley, Heavens, Atlas and Dylan. If you want to join or add your kiddo to the list, please add them (and an adult chaperone if under 12) here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-K91AjJ2avX0JJ0trcOa_VirCP17i4yYyd9SwhE-CSM/edit?usp=drivesdk

It would be best for the coordinators this year to serve youth ages 12-20. Anyone under 12 needs to have a chaperone and we can support those fees for adults over 18. This is because it is intergenerational and we want to support healthy families and relationships.

People 21-24 are setting the example for the rest of the family. It would be greatly appreciated to be assisting with fundraising efforts (selling sweatshirts/shirts) and be aware of surroundings. We will serve 18-20 year olds this year.

We are fortunate to have the connection to the mountain, and that comes from people’s interconnected efforts to get us there. Let’s focus on connecting more and work on more team-building together. We can try to figure out what’s best for 21-24 year olds since I’m assuming most young adults have their own funding to pay. It’s important for us to make a buddy-community so nobody is riding alone. We want to have group ride days for more experienced riders!! (Eskitit)

Thank you to everyone who lends a hand in our continued programming to bring Indigenous youth to Mt. Baker to do prevention activities to get to the great snowpack! We appreciate your support. We lift our hands for your kindness and generosity. Here is a link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=H3YBQDQLXUMY8

If you’re interested in buying a 2XL sweatshirt, let me know and I’ll send the link for that and deliver!

The Lhaqtemish foundation supports our mission and vision, the Lummi transportation dept. helps us get a safe vehicle and allowed us to put the rack on the van. And we have to be approved by LIBC Human Resources to ensure every driver and chaperone is a safe person to be around kids. Mt. Baker also assists with our equitable program and helps serve our native youth-led program. It’s so cool! Not to mention they clear the highway, do avalanche control and have so many helpful people everywhere. Thank you for your patience this year, and I hope we can get everything running smoothly!

XWLEMI NATION FAMILY (XNF) SIGN UP FOR FEBRUARY-APRIL 2026 (7 trips total) Start date: 2/21/2026 or 2/26/2026 (depends on van fleet availability) End date: 4/4/2026 or 4/11/2026 (depends on start date) Description: This is a form to get information about who will be attending XNF program...

09/18/2025

Resharing! We showed this awesome video made by MadTrees at the Mt. Baker Film Festival last year. Check it out!! 🔥 🫰🏽🤙🏾

It’s time to start training and preparing your mind and body for snowboarding. Stay tuned for future announcements. Thank you to MadTrees productions for this opportunity to share more about who we are and where we come from as well as what we do!

This is "XNF Program x MBSA" by Mad Trees on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

03/04/2025

Here’s our WIHS riders!! Some of them were encouraged to go for their first times and some of them, this is their second season! We have an experienced team member who’s been with us since 2021, and his niece and nephew came along for the first time!

We also had 5 older boys; and two of them were self-driving. One got lessons, one has been up before and 3 were newcomers.

It’s been a while since we uploaded any videos or pictures, but we’ve still been going up! We slipped up with going every other weekend, and went every week for the first few times 😅.

Will upload a couple more videos before the season ends. We’ve almost completed our 7 weeks for 2025! Hey’sxwq’e to everyone who made it happen again this year! It’s been such a good season with lots of fun in the sun. We had a couple good snow storms.

We cancelled the week after these pictures were taken because of the packed snow. It was so dense it was like ice 🧊. The reason why is also because one of our new riders had an injury, but they’re okay, thankfully. They are still wanting to go up, but we will ensure lessons are taken! Injury comes with the sport, but we are trying to do our best to prevent it and go during our best weather conditions if possible. So any new riders have to take 3 lessons before going up.

Just keeping ne schaleche up to date. Hey’sxwq’e Kwelshan for the beautiful memories and lessons.

02/25/2025

The Bellingham Bulldogs have officially rebranded as the Whatcom County Vikings, continuing the legacy of semi-pro football in the area.

12/13/2024

Come to LIBC and support XNF - Xwlemi Nation Family! We will be here until 2:30pm. XNF provides lessons, rentals, lift tickets and meals in partnership with Mt Baker. We also provide transportation in partnership with Lummi Transportation department. We are a non-profit out of the Lhaqtemish Foundation.

We have sweatshirts for $60 in sizes S-3XL.
Our sweaters are prices at $50 in sizes S-3XL.

Artist Vincent Feliciano Jr. and some XNF crew ❤️‍🔥

09/13/2024

Cheers to and at the Mt. Baker kick off! We had a fundraising booth to raise some cash and Venmo donations from 5:30-8:30.

We don’t have any shirts for sale yet this season, but we will let you know when we do! We are also going to look into beanies and stickers with our logo and other designs. (Call to XNF artists!)

Our crew had chai tea and a couple random stickers to help bring people in, and that was enough to get the ball rolling. I’m so glad we were able to visit with new friends and relatives, and relatives and neighbors who continue showing up!! It was so beautiful to see you.

We were next to Black to Outdoors, and were hoping to collaborate for a meet up on the mountain with them this year. XNF also hopes to partner with Vamos, and if you’re not familiar with either of those organizations, check them out too.

Thank you for supporting us at our booth, for sharing our QR code, and for all the people standing together to helping hands in making this happen for another year! Hey’sxwq’e.
Yohomest! Take care!

03/21/2024

Ey skweyel!
Here is some of the youth who came on the van March 9th, 2024. This was our third to last van. It was a fun but challenging week for Xwlemi Nation Family (XNF). This picture shows only some of the youth who attended as one of our chaperones fractured her wrist!! We left early to drop her off at the ER after lunch. The snow was dumping down by the time we left. It was Lisa’s first time going skiing without a lesson and she had a pretty tough fall on her wrist so her family was helping to take care of her and return her gear as we loaded into the van. Another group of boys left to get back on the slopes, so they didn’t get in the picture either.

Thank you to Mt. Baker medical team for helping protect her wrist for the ride down the mountain and for giving her some quick medical advice. Though it is a bummer that Lisa got hurt because she’s really enjoyed the program this year. She said she’ll have to wait to put on her skis until she heals up but is looking forward to seeing her niece and daughter and partner in the snow again.

This was also Malachi’s first time snowboarding. He said it was a lot of fun, he just didn’t realize how hard it would be. He tried out his rental boots, board and bindings. He also joined his first lesson! He was so done by lunch time, and took off all his rental gear to rest his sore feet and legs so it worked out that we had to leave early.

Thank you to Jake and the people who work in Mt. Baker Rental office for helping our youth get fitted for gear, and to the Lesson instructors for helping the youth learn to ride! We appreciate the generous discounted rates from Mt. Baker to make this program possible for our Native youth.

If you want to support the continuation of this program, feel free to donate to our PayPal. Our PayPal QR code was created by Lhaq’temish Foundation and it will direct your one-time or automatic donation to Xwlemi Nation Family. Lhaq’temish foundation is our fiscal sponsor and help us organize our finances and stay on top of all of the formal financial things.

If you donate in person via cash or check at LIBC, please make sure you note that your funds are going to XNF in the note section or verbally when you donate because Lhaq’temish Foundation oversees other projects as well, and we need to ensure your funds are being directed to our program if that is what you intended. Hey’sxwq’e Lhaq’temish Foundation for your continued support, and the Lummi Nation Transportation Department for helping us get a van to get up to the mountain every other week.

We want to do more fundraisers in the future, so if you have any ideas, let us know!

We couldn’t do this program without all the youth and parents involved, all the community donations, and all of the work and collaboration of our team. Hey’sxwq’e!

02/21/2024

We’ve got a van going up this Saturday so please get in contact ASAP or by Thursday if you’d like to reserve a spot on the van! Hey’sxwq’e!

01/17/2024

Hey! Just some pics to update the fam on the trip this Sunday. We cancelled Saturday van as whole ski area closed down due to weather. It was just so cold at -3 I believe. XNF coordinators are definitely going to try to make space for two vans this year. Super happy to see the interest growing and our fundraising efforts flourish for the youth and people willing to help continue supporting. We’re already preparing the list for two weeks on 1/27/24 so if you want to make it up there, let us know.

It was a good day. No frostbite...it was actually sunny when everyone was expecting a pretty cold storm. We got lucky!! We got some new snowboarders and skiers up. Some experienced snowboarders who we caught up to along the way thankfully so we covered their costs as well. We had 11 XNF members eat great lunch of burgers and fries from Heather Meadows. Sxano hey’sxwq’e to all who helped to get extra gear and the fundraising and to Mt. Baker Ski Area for keeping this partnership going. Heysxwqe to those that helped get this program going, and to keep it alive. Looking forward to our next van load!!