June 12, 2011, Frying Pan Glacier Corn Perfection
6/12/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
1112
1
Where's the best corn to be had right now? My money is on the Frying Pan.
Plans to ski the traverse from Paradise to White River de-materialized late Saturday night and left me somewhat unmotivated for the day as I slept through the alarm. Luckily I snapped out of it and with a late start and headed for the Frying Pan anyway. The lot was full at the TH as I departed at 8:30am but ran into only a handful of skiers all day. The trail into Summerland still has 3+ ft continuous snow from the lot making for quick skinning, considerably more than
I was a little concerned that with my late departure the snow would be overly soft through the steep section so I was in kind of in hurry up mode. There was a lot of old wet slide debris on the slopes below 7K leading up to the Meany crest with a smooth 1 ski pen on clean slopes. As it steepened the surface firmed up and I switched over to booting, with 0" ski pen from 7300-7600ft upon switching back to skis @11am.
L:R: high point on the Whitman crest, Little Tahoma, da Big Guy
With a strong push up the low angle slopes of the Frying Pan, I topped out at the high point above 9300ft on the Whitman Crest right at noon. Looking over to Little Tahoma, it appeared to be crawling with ants on the march.
How many ants are in this pic?
Answer: 25 total, with skis, 0. That explained the full lot at the TH and the powwow of tents I saw perched atop the Meany Crest.
There were 2 skiers ascending the FP and 3 Tayers (didnt get your names) making their way up from the Whitman as I dropped in ~12:30 PM for truly fantastic corn conditions. Theres a small but visible crevasse on the Frying Pan @ 9000ft thats easily avoidable skiers right. A full mile of corn and nearly 2000ft later I stopped just above the roll over to the Meany Crest to ponder the gorgeous corn conditions, and then decided to go back for a second helping.
2000 ft of this:
As I got to the top the second time the 3 skiers making the traverse dropped in from the col at ~9100ft making sweet turns down the frying pan. I chatted with the other 2 skiers (Praresh and Monty) a top the Whitman Crest as clouds filtered in, waited for a quick weather window and dropped in the second time just after 2pm. The ski was just as incredible the second time with the corn holding up through the steeps and all the way down to 6400ft, where it softened and slowed on the flats, no sluffs or rollers observed at all.
Preparing for round 2:
Crevasse just to the right of the tracks:
The ski out the trail was mostly pain free and with a bit of poling I made it back to the lot by 2:45pm. Stats- 7.5K, 14.3 miles, fun-o-meter still pegged on smile. There are maybe 1-2 small sections where the trail may melt out soon but overall the trail should remain in very good ski shape for another week or two.
Highly recommended.
Plans to ski the traverse from Paradise to White River de-materialized late Saturday night and left me somewhat unmotivated for the day as I slept through the alarm. Luckily I snapped out of it and with a late start and headed for the Frying Pan anyway. The lot was full at the TH as I departed at 8:30am but ran into only a handful of skiers all day. The trail into Summerland still has 3+ ft continuous snow from the lot making for quick skinning, considerably more than
I was a little concerned that with my late departure the snow would be overly soft through the steep section so I was in kind of in hurry up mode. There was a lot of old wet slide debris on the slopes below 7K leading up to the Meany crest with a smooth 1 ski pen on clean slopes. As it steepened the surface firmed up and I switched over to booting, with 0" ski pen from 7300-7600ft upon switching back to skis @11am.
L:R: high point on the Whitman crest, Little Tahoma, da Big Guy
With a strong push up the low angle slopes of the Frying Pan, I topped out at the high point above 9300ft on the Whitman Crest right at noon. Looking over to Little Tahoma, it appeared to be crawling with ants on the march.
How many ants are in this pic?
Answer: 25 total, with skis, 0. That explained the full lot at the TH and the powwow of tents I saw perched atop the Meany Crest.
There were 2 skiers ascending the FP and 3 Tayers (didnt get your names) making their way up from the Whitman as I dropped in ~12:30 PM for truly fantastic corn conditions. Theres a small but visible crevasse on the Frying Pan @ 9000ft thats easily avoidable skiers right. A full mile of corn and nearly 2000ft later I stopped just above the roll over to the Meany Crest to ponder the gorgeous corn conditions, and then decided to go back for a second helping.
2000 ft of this:
As I got to the top the second time the 3 skiers making the traverse dropped in from the col at ~9100ft making sweet turns down the frying pan. I chatted with the other 2 skiers (Praresh and Monty) a top the Whitman Crest as clouds filtered in, waited for a quick weather window and dropped in the second time just after 2pm. The ski was just as incredible the second time with the corn holding up through the steeps and all the way down to 6400ft, where it softened and slowed on the flats, no sluffs or rollers observed at all.
Preparing for round 2:
Crevasse just to the right of the tracks:
The ski out the trail was mostly pain free and with a bit of poling I made it back to the lot by 2:45pm. Stats- 7.5K, 14.3 miles, fun-o-meter still pegged on smile. There are maybe 1-2 small sections where the trail may melt out soon but overall the trail should remain in very good ski shape for another week or two.
Highly recommended.
Thanks for the detailed report. We were considering skiing Little Tahoma via this route the same day, but ended up on the south side of the Mountain and skied Cowlitz Glacier instead. Excellent smooth corn on the Cowlitz as well. May head up to the Fryingpan and Little Tahoma sometime this week while the trail is still fully skinnable.
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