Frying Pan Glacier- June 12, 2010
6/15/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4796
12
Had a great adventure with my 11yro son skiing the Frying Pan Glacier off of the high point of the Whitman Crest at~9300ft, total of 5500 of climbing and 4800 skiing. Long day out as the early start and longclimb took it's toll on the little guy, and he needed an hour nap on a rock at 8700ft prior to the push to the top. Once we were skiing he was all smiles.
The Summerland trail is skinnable at aprrox 2 miles/4600ft but sections will open up quickly in the heat. Skiing was fantastic off the top down to ~7300, 2"penetration best smooth corn snow I've skied this spring! Below 7300 at the Meany Crest it softens quite a bit where it steepens and there was evidence of surface slough release off the rocks releasing slow growlers limited to the top 4-6", but other than a small one I ski cut there were no naturals during the day with all of the visible slides occurring either in the previous 24 hrs or many that were 2-3 days old.
Another fabulous day in the mountains with one tough little dude.
edit: link with more pictures here
The Summerland trail is skinnable at aprrox 2 miles/4600ft but sections will open up quickly in the heat. Skiing was fantastic off the top down to ~7300, 2"penetration best smooth corn snow I've skied this spring! Below 7300 at the Meany Crest it softens quite a bit where it steepens and there was evidence of surface slough release off the rocks releasing slow growlers limited to the top 4-6", but other than a small one I ski cut there were no naturals during the day with all of the visible slides occurring either in the previous 24 hrs or many that were 2-3 days old.
Another fabulous day in the mountains with one tough little dude.
edit: link with more pictures here
Great photos! An 11 yr old who does almost 5000 up??!! Wow, kudos to the little gaffer, that's absolutely amazing (hope you didn't make him carry all the water) :)
WOW ! Your 11 yo is a climbing and skiing machine. Both sets of tracks were beautiful. A wonderful day to share with your "ski buddy". ;)
Great Fathers' Day present eight days early! You are building a skinning machine, just as Zap hopes to do with his grandkids.
Wonderful Mofro. I wish I hadn't chickened out.
Thats one tough little d00d!
Thats one tough little d00d!
Brenda and I spotted those tracks from our tour around Naches and Dewey Pks area. Looked a lot better than the sticky, hissing stuff we were skiing.
mmmmmm.....bacon!!!!!!
The last photo shows the little guy has great angulation...
impressive .. really appreciated your discussion on tgr re the avy conditions and how you mitigated the conditions ... great pix and tr btw
author=kath link=topic=16911.msg71273#msg71273 date=1276616850]
impressive .. really appreciated your discussion on tgr re the avy conditions and how you mitigated the conditions ... great pix and tr btw
Thanks Kath.
While it's true one can never assess conditions from the sofa, safe travel is a must and the current forecast does somewhat dictate both if where to ski. The question of "what if something happened to me while out with my son" has some validity, but as I stated on the other site I really take actions so that doesn't come into play because if something did happen to me then my wife would KILL me. I've been taking my kids into the mountains hiking on overnights since they were very young and touring with my son since he was 7. While 11 is still a bit young to have a good comprehension of snow science, I try to impress upon them a sense of their surroundings and explain why we are skiing one at time, proper spacing, and where to have increased caution on both the up and down. Case in point, after skiing the low angle slopes on the fryingpan, I explained I was going to safety ski cut the steep slope and as we watched the slough slide develop and run ~200ft, and he instinctively put the avalung in his mouth and I told him to ski the bed surface of the slide. He's been skiing since age 2 and I have confidence in his ability to ski almost any slope.
another one Christopher skiing off the top:
Really an outstanding report, not to mention accomplishment. Five of us followed your exact route on Sunday, June 14, which brought grown men to their knees! It was uncanny to read your avalanche assessment on TGR, which matched ours virtually exactly, right down to following your bootpack on an "already slid" section on Meany Crest. The snow was fairly wet and heavy on Sunday, and we ski cut several hissers on steeper rolls, but it was very manageable . A great day out on a favorite tour.
I must say, those are some damn fine tracks.
Nice go of it Greg.
Looked like a delicious run.
We only skied the one time together, but I would not concern to much about MoFro's mountain savvy with his son. I enjoyed his pragmatic approach to the hill both in snow condition assessment and route selection. Plus he's in excellent condition and could have walked circles around me, but paced the group to always keep communication lines open.
Yours sons form is perfect, good to see a young one out there laying down the law at 10,000ft.
Looked like a delicious run.
We only skied the one time together, but I would not concern to much about MoFro's mountain savvy with his son. I enjoyed his pragmatic approach to the hill both in snow condition assessment and route selection. Plus he's in excellent condition and could have walked circles around me, but paced the group to always keep communication lines open.
Yours sons form is perfect, good to see a young one out there laying down the law at 10,000ft.
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