March 6, 2010, The Zipper, the Back Side
3/6/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2033
1
Eric and I decided to head up the zipper with hopes of skiing down. Lots of folks had been this way recently. At the base, we decided we could climb unroped (Eric - "I thought this was a scramble") topping out at 11:30am or so.
The bottom third was pretty much ice over 6" of consolidated snow, the middle third had mixed snow and ice, the top third was wind-blown packed powder.
We head up to the summit of Lane (Me - "Sure it's just the one we see above us - oh...maybe not") only to discover/remember it was the next gully over, we summitted Lane Peak about 12:30pm or so. We looked at going down the Zipper but we couldn't decide if the snow had loosened up and we were pretty tired for the day so we skiied the regular, back side route off.
Rainer looked awesome!
The bottom third was pretty much ice over 6" of consolidated snow, the middle third had mixed snow and ice, the top third was wind-blown packed powder.
We head up to the summit of Lane (Me - "Sure it's just the one we see above us - oh...maybe not") only to discover/remember it was the next gully over, we summitted Lane Peak about 12:30pm or so. We looked at going down the Zipper but we couldn't decide if the snow had loosened up and we were pretty tired for the day so we skiied the regular, back side route off.
Rainer looked awesome!
Thanks for the TR. We saw you in the AM and wondered what you were after.
Nice day to be out. Did you notice all of the tracks on the Muir?
I was looking at the 2nd pic thinking that that looked like a good bootpack and how nice it must have been when I wondered: Who is carring your skis?
Nice day to be out. Did you notice all of the tracks on the Muir?
I was looking at the 2nd pic thinking that that looked like a good bootpack and how nice it must have been when I wondered: Who is carring your skis?
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