Bandera Mountain West 5/18/11

In the time between getting the girls on the bus in the morning and picking them up from the bus in the afternoon i wanted to shoot up to the mountains on this glorious day and see what the conditions where like.  I figured i would go to the closest place i could find and one that i had been looking at everytime i drive to Snoqualmie pass.  You know the slope, the one you see right in front of you as you're driving up I-90 just before the first climb into the S fork canyon.  Anyway, the Ira Spring TH is bare and the hiking very nice.  I reached the first patches of snow at about 3000' and continuous snow at about 3800'.  Skinned up to the ridge top to look down onto Mason Lake from about the 4800' level.  On the ski down the top hundred feet was nice corn, the remaining 900' was pretty punchy.  The best skiing was on old slide paths from the still visible wet slides before the last snow fall.  This was a southern aspect and it needs more settling.  Had it been a lot warmer today i would have stayed off this slope.  But, of course, it was still fun and put a huge smile on my face. 

No pictures of my tracks because the light wasn't right for it, but here is a nice view of Rainier.  It looks like i have some more nearby exploring to do up the drainages south of the freeway.