Home > Trip Reports > May 7, 2005, Frying Pan Glacier MRNP

May 7, 2005, Frying Pan Glacier MRNP

5/7/05
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
15062
24
Posted by gusk on 5/7/05 8:11am
Rodger, Doug, Justin and I headed out to ski the Frying Pan Glacier.  This was a first time for all of us.  We knew we had picked the right spot when Kam, Paul, Michael, Monica, Allison, and Heather showed up at the trailhead just after us.

I hiked in running shoes almost to the entrance to the basin.  We probably skinned up around 5500ft.  The snow was pretty soft on the lower sections, and we were passed by Kam, Michael, and Paul just as the skinning started to climb up towards the glacier.
The boot pack up to the snout of the glacier area, was nicely kicked in by Paul.  No need for crampons or axes, although his ski crampons were jealously eyed down below.
Over the hump, it was a nice long steady skin up the glacier which showed almost no signs of crevasses.(None where we skinned).  We followed Paul up to Whitman knob and took a nice long break.  All day, our area was in a bright blue sky pocket with sweating buckets on the way up.  
Towards the end of the afternoon, clouds started to fill in from the east.  But we skiied out by the time they were getting towards blocking our views.  Some wind breakable up on the top 400 ft or so of the descent, but super nice turns down the rest of the glacier.  Kinda felt like skiing the Muir Snowfield on a good corn day, same size and great views.
It didn't glop out for us until we were on the last 700 ft or so of snow.
Overall, a great introduction to the Frying Pan Glacier, I'll definitely be back.  

Great to run into other TAY'ers. I'll have a link to photos tomorrow.





Gus and Justin:

it was a nice suprise to see the two of you at the parking area. the Frying Pan was new to me too.  it was Paul Russell's idea to go there you know.  after looking at the weather forecast, we were prepared to get turned around by rain or a whiteout, but we took the risk of going there anyway.  surprisingly, however, the sun was out most of the day.  from Whitman knob (9323 ft.) it looked like the sucker hole just lingered over the Frying Pan and Little Tahoma.  and wow, what a fantastic ski, turn-after-turn of creamy corn, and at least 4k of it!  it was some of the best corn i've skied.  anyway, here's a picture of Gus on the Frying Pan:



Gus, here's another one of you.

A few more photos:
Justin booting up
Justin on top of the world, or should i say, Whitman knob
Monika making some nice turns
Allyson on the Frying Pan.  Whitman knob is on the right.
Paul with Little Tahoma and Rainier in the background.
Michael T below the Frying Pan Glacier
Paul making fast turns

i'll post more soon...

That picture of Justin on TOTW is COOL.

Awesome photos Kam! Some real finalists for photos of the year! I love that shot with the lens that bends the landscape on top of Whitman!
That is a great hike. Next time you wander up this way give me a shout and see if I can tag along. I live 30 mins from Frying pan Trail head. Unfortunatly I am nursing a sore knee at the moment and puts me on light duty. >:(
I thought Allyson was a snowboarder-is she pulling a switch?
Joe

Kam er
Thanks for the nice photos and report from the sunny side.

Thanks for the TR Gusk! It was great to see you all up there.
Great pix Kam. What a day! 4000 feet of great corn, definitely my best ski on Rainier.

I now know why this is called the frying pan after looking at my (fried) face today ;)

That looks absurdly good! Well done.

To gain the Fryingpan, what slopes above Summerland did you ascend? The bowl south of Meany Crest, or the slopes west of the shelter? Any estimate if this tour will still go in early June?

BTW, Kam, how did you get that shot of Justin with the bent landscape? A Photoshop effect, or some sort of bubble lens?

Great trip, folks, and nice photos, Kam. I'm kicking myself now for not heading up there yesterday too, but I just didn't think that the weather would hold (and the Paradise webcams showed clouds and whiteout all day until 7 PM).

I've skied the Fryingpan a few times in fine corn conditions, always in July, it's probably my favorite run below 10K on Rainier. It may be the most scenic too, I love the feeling of being on a high isolated plateau on the upper Fryingpan. I've even experienced the same sucker hole / cloud shadow phenomenon a few years ago when everything else was cloudy all day except Little Tahoma and the Fryingpan area.

Speaking of Little Tahoma . . .
Kam (or others), do you have any photos of the upper Whitman Glacier and south face of Little Tahoma taken from atop Whitman Crest? I'm eager to ski Little Tahoma soon if snow coverage still looks good on that face. Is anyone else interested in skiing that within the next couple of weeks?


To gain the Fryingpan, what slopes above Summerland did you ascend? The bowl south of Meany Crest, or the slopes west of the shelter? Any estimate if this tour will still go in early June?


There are two main routes for skiers to access the Fryingpan. It sounds like they went straight up the face to climber's right of Meany Crest (i.e. slopes west of the shelter), which is the fastest route but often too steep to skin especially if frozen early in the morning. A nice way to skin the whole way from Summerland is to head south along the (buried) Wonderland Trail and then into the large bowl SE of Meany Crest, skin SE onto the ridge SW of Point 7228, and follow this west to gain the toe of the Fryingpan north of Point 7709. I prefer to skin this way instead of climb the face, but it does take longer via this more circuitous route. The most fun ski descent is definitely the steep face, but in late season parts of it below 7000 ft can become dangerously undercut by streams and waterfalls.

The Fryingpan is usually in good shape crevasse-wise into early August of a typical year, so I would assume that most of June should be fine this year. I've spoken to a ranger stationed at Summerland, she claimed to be comfortable walking unroped on the Fryingpan into August (I'd prefer skis). Inter Glacier should also be fine into at least early June this year, but crevasses become an issue earlier there than on the Fryingpan.


Thanks Michael, I got hit in the face with the frying pan as well.

A handful of shots:
http://www.gowest.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=30

Kam, here's a great photo of you:

hey all, what a great trip!  we were quite lucky with our little  hole of sun all day.  thanks for tips too on this my second time on teles in the bc (to answer your question, joedabaker :) )...don't tell the snowboarders, but it sure is a heck of a lot easier (and lighter!) to skin up rather than shoe...and despite my less-than-graceful decent, i might be able to be convinced to do it again!  ;D

What a great day with old and new friends.  Enjoyed finally meeting you and skiing together Kam.  Thanks for all the special pics from that new fisheye lens.  Sometimes luck is better than skill in predicting the weather and conditions, and we sure hit it right.  Just when you think the clouds are moving in, you push on and get that clearing and sun.  

Yes, we went straight up the face which is the most direct.  Conditions were perfect for booting and kicking good steps.

As mentioned above, the conditions were excellent corn for most of the 4000' descent from Whitman Crest.  One short run from the top on the more N aspect was a bit crusty, but further to the skier's right was quite good.  No sign of the bergschrunds on the steeper roll off Meany Crest which was an outstanding steeper pitch (see pictures).  Note, our descent was pretty late in the PM, around 3:30.

Here are a few pics including one of Little Tahoma and the Whitman Gl, Amar, which looked to be in excellent shape for a descent.  Yes, would be interested in skiing if schedule allows.

http://community.webshots.com/album/341611148ZQYUKP?1

Gus, thanks for the TR and additional pics.  Very nice.  BTW, I found an integral designs stuff sack and water bag on the trail out if anyone is missing it.






Wow, what a trip with fantastic views, terrain and snow and all the fun company  :D   Thanks so much Paul, Gus and Kam for sharing those awesome pics.  

I'm going to thank the Park service for opening that road unusually early.

Damn Kam, the Kam cam. in your hand was in nice form on these shots.

Thanks for the trip reports and photos.  That place looks pretty sweet.

Here are a few pics including one of Little Tahoma and the Whitman Gl, Amar, which looked to be in excellent shape for a descent. Yes, would be interested in skiing if schedule allows.


Thanks for the nice photo Paul, I agree that Little T looks perfect right now. High pressure should be building Wed-Fri this week with 9000-10000 ft freezing levels, which should be just right for skiing that face. I'd like to take a shot at it.


http://www.gowest.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=30&pos=1

Oh MY! *wiping slobber off keyboard* Did I just see a pair of Trab skis with Dynafits? I didn't know Trab skis were even allowed to be used in North America, let alone by someone not wearing a neon one-piece Schoeller suit.

PS: More nice photos Gus and Paul!

like i said, the Frying Pan is hot, so go get it now!!

To gain the Fryingpan, what slopes above Summerland did you ascend? The bowl south of Meany Crest, or the slopes west of the shelter? Any estimate if this tour will still go in early June?

here's a topo of the Fryingpan area and our route (approximately).  here's a visual of the route from Summer Land, with the location where we booted.  Paul, Monika and others, please correct me if i'm wrong.  the vertical gain from the road to Whitman Crest is roughly 5400 ft.

BTW, Kam, how did you get that shot of Justin with the bent landscape? A Photoshop effect, or some sort of bubble lens?

Jeff, i used a 10.5mm Nikkor DX fisheye lens to achieve the "bent" effect.  the lens is specially designed for Nikon digital SLRs that have image planes smaller than standard 35mm SLR cameras.  and because of the 1.5x multiplication factor, the lens is equivalent to a standard SLR 16mm fisheye.  also, the lens has a viewing angle of 180-degress from corner-to-corner (diagonally).  as a result, i find it a challenge to keep my shadow, and sometimes my feet, out of the picture, for example.  it is very, very fun though! ;D  oh, Photoshop has a "spherize" distortion feature, but it's not quite the same as real glass.  a couple more photos made using the fisheye: Paul dropping in from Whitman Crest Justin, Gus and Monika">

Amar: a couple photos (1200px width) showing Little Tahoma photo 1">[photo 2">

edited to add:

Paul and Gus, very, very nice photos!!  thanks for sharing!

Paul,
 That water bag might be Doug's.  He had a camelbak bladder inside a stuff sack, and I know he pulled it out around this time:
http://www.gowest.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=30&pos=9

I've sent him an email.

Very cool ski photos!

Great day with great company!
Thanks for all the great pics guys. Don't know about you all, but have gotten even funnier looking than in the pictures with a classic bandana forehead burn, and lobster claws with the gloveless sunburn. Kam/Paul posse, real glad we bumped into you, next time we ought to plan it.  :->
Cheers- Justin

Kam - nice photos...say, do you own a fish-eye lens??  that 1st pic looks like it's taken with one.

hey folks, check out this viddy (1.3 MB) of the kamster tearin' it up on the doinks.  not too shabby for a little point and shoot! ;)

High-Five, Ally, You're getting hot with that new flick machine.  ;)

Speaking of Little Tahoma . . .I'm eager to ski Little Tahoma soon if snow coverage still looks good on that face. Is anyone else interested in skiing that within the next couple of weeks?


Very interested. Propose a date and I'll see if I can make it work. I planned for Little T last June, but the weather crapped out so we aborted the idea. Still high on my list of things to do. I cannot do it this weekend (14th/15th).

Did Goat Island Mountain still look like it might be viable for the upcoming weekend? (I think) I could see just a sliver of it in the BG in this shot:
http://www.gowest.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=30&pos=3
... and that looked OK albeit thinning.

Did Goat Island Mountain still look like it might be viable for the upcoming weekend? (I think) I could see just a sliver of it in the BG in this shot:
http://www.gowest.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=30&pos=3
... and that looked OK albeit thinning.


wolfs, this photo I think shows the southern end of your mountain a little better?
http://www.gowest.com/photos/albums/userpics/10003/roger.JPG
It looked like it had coverage higher up, but anything south facing and lower than 7k is probably slushy early in the morning.  Hope that helps.

Did Goat Island Mountain still look like it might be viable for the upcoming weekend? ... and that looked OK albeit thinning.

I don't have the first hand like the crew that climbed, but just looking at the Goat showed great potential on the North pitches. Viewed from Big Bertha 2 viewpoint on 410 up the White River drainage.
Sidenote**I saw fresh snow on the Crystal base cam earlier today at about 5000ft. It rained nearly 2" of precip, so there may be some slide activity above 5 or 6000ft. So keep an eye out. This is where I respectfully defer opinion to Amar the weathermaster. :D
Joe

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2005-05-07 15:11:06