March 23, 2011, Pineapple Basin / The Tooth

Richard Conner and I got an early start of about 11:30 up the Alpental valley.  Ran into Jonathan and fellow patroller on our way up and got a quick briefing of the avy conditions.  Further up we got an update from Crispin of not stellar ski conditions, which proved to be true.  Wind crust, melt freeze crust and isolated pockets of powder.  We went up further and climbed the Tooth in challenging conditions - ice and snow covered holds.  Guess ski boots didn't help.  Good to get out on a little bit of rock and we struggled our way to the top ;-)  Ski out before dark, the luge track out makes me feel like a kid again.  Great times for sure!