Jun 1, 2008, Silver Basin, Silver King, Crystal Mtn

I've found that often if one stares at the various weather pages long enough, wishing it was better than it really is, eventually one comes up with cunning plan to avoid the clouds and rain.  A plan available only to those with the most well developed skills of analysis and perception.  Or, more likely, it is just the computer screen-dumbed mind playing tricks.

Having decided that there was a nice clear area in the shadow of Rainier (MM5 model) Jim Jarosz and I headed for good old Silver Basin.  It did not rain, but was socked in with thick clouds all day.  We skinned all the way up from the Lodge, although it is getting pretty thin near the bottom.  Still given the deep snow up in the basin, I have to think there will be good skiing for some time.  Took one run into Silver on soft, but easy to ski snow, then back up and to top of the King.  The chutes skiers left looking N off the top were not connected, and you might be able to ski Brain Damage, but that too may be disconnected, so I did not want to chance it, plus the snow finger is pretty narrow now.  So, we had a very pleasant run down Hour Glass off the N side and back into the ski area.

By the bottom of Forest Queen we started to notice significant slowing, which was due to nasty POLLEN which we removed at the car with citrus wax remover.  Not the best conditions, but we had fun and were glad we went.

Below is a photo of my anti-pollen kit.  Broken hacksaw blade to scrap off most of it (use smooth edge!).  tiny jar of wax remover, or your solvent of choice to clean the base with rag.