October 29, 2012, Mt. Rainier, Paradise

Today marked my 1st TAY!  Though I knew the forecast was for pretty poor conditions; the month was coming to a quick end.  I'd like to tell you of some outstanding skiing, but this is not the case.  Pretty much the same report as Jonn-E's report of a couple of days ago.  I arrived at 10am and was the only car in the lot.  This made me feel both like a bad-ass and dumb-ass at the same time.  Rain and sporadic wind gusts on the way to pan point.  The trail before the summer crossing up pan point proved to be more challenging than I expected.  I'd sink through the soft snow to different depths about every step, yet there were enough rocks and bare spots to make skinning not worth it. I  skinned above pan point but now the wind was rocking pretty good and the rain turned to sleet.  Felt like I was skiing in Bachelor.  I made it to pebble creek and turned back due to really poor visibility and the nagging thought of being the only human around.  Once back to the paved section of trail it seemed pretty nice out and the wind pretty much subsided.  I have no photos, but I really don't think any would have turned out.