July 4, 2012, Sunrise

We got out early to go skiing at Sunrise at Mt. Rainier.  Zap€™s left ankle was sore from twisting it a little the night before.  The Sunrise road finally opened, and it was the first sunny day we€™ve had in a while.  At Sunrise, we stopped at the Ranger Station parking area, skinned up, and headed east up to the ridge with an elevation gain of only about 450€™.  The area we climbed was in great shape.  At the ridge, we stopped and had lunch and enjoyed the views.  Mt. Rainier and the area around it were beautiful.  On the other side of the ridge, the terrain is very steep with a great chute that we skied several years ago.  For years we skied the steep slopes and climbed all around that area.  But this is not the year for me to ski the steep stuff; after my stroke this is a re-learning year.  We only did a short tour with some nice turns because we decided to save our energy for skiing at Mt. Baker near the ski area on Thursday.