July 3, the Frying Pan is in great shape
7/15/09
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2314
1
I'll keep this brief as I'm sweltering in a coffee shop:
Car to car time of 8 hrs, 25 minutes including almost an hour for dinner atop Whitman Crest. 63 degrees F at 5pm, minimal breeze.
I went slightly uphill of Summerland (rather than Burgdorfer's SW heading) to begin skinning/booting to avoid stomping bare meadow.
I got some great advice from Wolfsomething or other just below Whitman Crest to descend to the left (west) of Meany Crest rather than retracing my steps over it to Summerland. He even proceeded to lay tracks for me as I ascended to my dinner. A gentleman and a scholar. This allowed me to ski (with one short hop across a rock rib) damned near to 6K allowing for a run of 3K. There will be one more of these hops just below the first within a day or two, perhaps even as I write.
When you run out of snow it's probably best to traverse the couple hundred yards back to the trail rather than trying to pick it up downstream. This means a little bit of meadow stomping but you hit dome snow fingers that help minimize this.
The Glacier is in great shape, though I lack the perspective to predict how long this will be the case.
Pics are here for a look at snow conditions:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDoyle98103/FryingPanGlacier#
Bill Doyle
Car to car time of 8 hrs, 25 minutes including almost an hour for dinner atop Whitman Crest. 63 degrees F at 5pm, minimal breeze.
I went slightly uphill of Summerland (rather than Burgdorfer's SW heading) to begin skinning/booting to avoid stomping bare meadow.
I got some great advice from Wolfsomething or other just below Whitman Crest to descend to the left (west) of Meany Crest rather than retracing my steps over it to Summerland. He even proceeded to lay tracks for me as I ascended to my dinner. A gentleman and a scholar. This allowed me to ski (with one short hop across a rock rib) damned near to 6K allowing for a run of 3K. There will be one more of these hops just below the first within a day or two, perhaps even as I write.
When you run out of snow it's probably best to traverse the couple hundred yards back to the trail rather than trying to pick it up downstream. This means a little bit of meadow stomping but you hit dome snow fingers that help minimize this.
The Glacier is in great shape, though I lack the perspective to predict how long this will be the case.
Pics are here for a look at snow conditions:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDoyle98103/FryingPanGlacier#
Bill Doyle
Kind of late (sorry!), but here are my pics and Greg's TR from June 28:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/20090628Fryingpan
http://www.randosaigai.com/fryingpan062809.html
http://picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/20090628Fryingpan
http://www.randosaigai.com/fryingpan062809.html
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