July 6, 2009, Tatoosh in the rain

     After many PMs and IDing of mutual friends, Keith Henson and I decided to meet in person.  I left my car behind the Tall Timbers in Eatonville.  Some road work above Narada Falls slowed us down a bit.  Ski boots went on at the car, and it was almost all snow from the start.  All booting, no skins.  Perfect snow for booting and turning:  the seasoning factor was off-and-on drizzle that was sometimes falling and at others blowing and swirling around us as we toured around the inside of the clouds.  There was one glimpse of Paradise, but much of the day was like skiing inside a big cotton ball.
     Ran a couple runs below Castle, which we never saw until afternoon.  Excellent turns, and we found a nice Hobbit Boulder about 500' below the saddle to huddle under with dry rocks for seats and and an overhang in the lee.  There were even some sleet-like pellets at a couple of times---it was invigorating to be in brisk conditions again, even with 4 hours' sleep.   
     Later we switched to the Pinnacle Glacier.  The tarn is still well buried under snow, tho the party benches are clear.  The only sign we saw of others in the BC was an odd unmatched pair of poles left in place right below the Castle-Pinnacle saddle, with no signs of humans; slightly mysterious. 
     On the way down we trended too far left and got to enjoy a sketchy downclimb of loose rocks and steep snow throught the clffs at about 5200'.  Should've gone that way 2 weeks ago?   ::)
    One of my most enjoyable days of skiing in the rain!