Rainy Pass, Lake Ann Cirque 11/28

Following in the very tracks of another TAY-er, Siri and I skied from Rainy Pass to what I think was Maple Pass and then down to lake Ann. We followed the PCT from the parking lot to the pass and, skinning the entire way (though walking across rocks and the occasional stream sometimes) we made it to the pass in just under 2 hours.

There was an obvious shrubby slide path down to the lake that we skied (perhaps 700 vf). Dodging branches, but hitting zero rocks, the snow was splendidly creamy. There seemed to be a hard, frozen layer beneath 4-8" of heavy-ish snow, which kept us from bottoming out among the saplings. For what it was, the turns were great. Unfortunately, our skins had been piling up with snow during the climb and we decided not to ski another run.

The ski down the PCT back to the car was tremendously exciting. Most people, I suspect, would have walked, or at least put their skins on so as to slow down a bit. But Siri and I, having skis we don't care tremendously about, made it back without removing our skis once. We did do some walking over rocks and across a stream or two, but what's a little lost p-tex among friends? The result, no core shots, lots of scratches, and we probably shaved an hour off our time - and, of course, how long the trip took was what it's all about, right?.

I think we were just about three hours, car to car.