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May 31 Tatooshing about.

5/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
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Posted by Robie on 5/31/08 1:44pm
Inspired by Ron Jarvis and John Morrow's report.
The cast -Jeff , two Daves ,Holly and Richard ,Jackko and myself. We spotted two vehicle retrival devices at Lake louise over the lower road cut and then drove our two cars  to The Bench lake trailhead. Very good coverage there and would make some good touring  Some were able to skin up the waterfall gulley leading to unicorn glacier.
At the top of the gulley it started raining but we were determined to make Unicorn saddle.
We booted up without crampons and without sinking in . Considered going
up to the upper Unicorn summitt snowfield but decided it wasn't worth it. We enjoyed a really good steep ski down from the saddle and then traversed to the west side of the Foss Unicorn ridge. Steep  and laborius traverse it was but all hung in there and we found ourselves eating a late lunch on the top of Foss peak under full sun . Reminder to myself keep eating no matter how exciting it is! We skied from the Foss summit which was a pretty exciting ski cause it's narrow where that cornice is.
Finally we skied down the Sunbeam drainage Bowl . Lots of Snow there and 4 or 5 chutes are possible if you like tight and steep.
Ended up skiing down the creek bed and coming out at Lake Louise to the hidden vehicle retrival devices.
Holly and I had fun ride down to our cars ,I don' t remember pedaling even once  and drove back to the others. Gottasay this tour opened my eyes to the Sunbeam Bowl which is also very accesible from Castle saddle. Gary Vogt thanks for the help in routing. Ron and John thanks for your trip reports  which triggered this tour.
Now is it really true that rain makes the snow faster?
Despite the rain, what a whole lotta fun!!
Here are pics of the group.  (Sorry guys, no good with thumbnails.)

Thanks for the good time Holly and pics , I added a few picss .

Robie, nice to meet you and your crew up there.  The upper portion of the Sunbeam drainage sure looked inviting, I bet that was fun!  Love the pictures of cycling in ski boots.
We stopped to take some pictures of your group descending Foss, too bad the clouds didn't cooperate!
Cheers,
Nate

Robie sounds like a great trip. we went into Van Trump Park on Sunday and it did "rain"  :-[ all in all a challenging ski out the bottom section wet, steep, fury, Aviy debris. yum!

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may-31-tatooshing-about
Robie
2008-05-31 20:44:07