diff --git a/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go b/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go
index 0717585acb..155d8717ea 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go
@@ -18,4 +18,4 @@ limitations under the License.
 package defaults
 
 // Image is the default for the Config.Image field, aka the default node image.
-const Image = "kindest/node:v1.29.1@sha256:a0cc28af37cf39b019e2b448c54d1a3f789de32536cb5a5db61a49623e527144"
+const Image = "kindest/node:v1.29.1@sha256:0c06baa545c3bb3fbd4828eb49b8b805f6788e18ce67bff34706ffa91866558b"
diff --git a/pkg/build/nodeimage/buildcontext.go b/pkg/build/nodeimage/buildcontext.go
index caa5ea2d0c..3a6f3a91d0 100644
--- a/pkg/build/nodeimage/buildcontext.go
+++ b/pkg/build/nodeimage/buildcontext.go
@@ -96,13 +96,6 @@ func (c *buildContext) buildImage(bits kube.Bits) error {
 
 	c.logger.V(0).Info("Building in container: " + containerID)
 
-	// make artifacts directory
-	// TODO: remove this after the next release, we pre-create this in the base image now
-	if err = cmder.Command("mkdir", "-p", "/kind/").Run(); err != nil {
-		c.logger.Errorf("Image build Failed! Failed to make directory %v", err)
-		return err
-	}
-
 	// copy artifacts in
 	for _, binary := range bits.BinaryPaths() {
 		// TODO: probably should be /usr/local/bin, but the existing kubelet
diff --git a/pkg/build/nodeimage/defaults.go b/pkg/build/nodeimage/defaults.go
index b4692f2bf2..5e8d089607 100644
--- a/pkg/build/nodeimage/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/build/nodeimage/defaults.go
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ const DefaultImage = "kindest/node:latest"
 // DefaultBaseImage is the default base image used
 // TODO: come up with a reasonable solution to digest pinning
 // https://github.com/moby/moby/issues/43188
-const DefaultBaseImage = "docker.io/kindest/base:v20240202-8f1494ea"
+const DefaultBaseImage = "docker.io/kindest/base:v20240212-c4cadcab"