June 30, 2013, MRNP, Sunrise and Chinook
6/30/13
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2346
0
Made excellent time to Sunrise in the morning and were headed-out towards our original objective of the Steamboat Prow when we realized we hadn't planned appropriately and were under-prepared for such a long day. About faced and headed east along the Wonderland trail to Dege Pk. and rode a skier-smoothed line into the north-facing basin. Skinned along the basin floor before booting out to Sunrise Point and easily hitched a ride back to the lot. Not wishing to do another lap, we headed across the valley to Chinook Pass to see if anything still went.
Mount Rainier National Ice Cream Scoop from atop Dege Peak, circa 10:30am
Tipsoo Lake is starting to reveal itself and while we pondering spending the afternoon doing pond skim laps, we were distracted by a northeast-facing chute 2/3 of the way up Naches Pk. 90 minutes of skinning bowl-sized suncups (sunbowls?) and booting the bare ridgeline later, we were on top of the line which we easily followed back down to the highway, possibly logging the last tracks from that high up for this season (coverage is very thin, probably won't last through this heat wave, so YMMV). Cooled off with a few tallboys of Rainier while taking in the view of the beverage's namesake and answered questions about splitboarding from the throng of tourists making their way through the pass.
Last call on Naches Peak:
By the time we got back to Enumclaw, temps were in the mid-90s and walking across the parking lot at Safeway felt like crossing the desert. Fortunately, the store's HVAC system was set to "Siberia". And so concludes yet another month of turns - only 3 more to go for my first TAY.
Mount Rainier National Ice Cream Scoop from atop Dege Peak, circa 10:30am
Tipsoo Lake is starting to reveal itself and while we pondering spending the afternoon doing pond skim laps, we were distracted by a northeast-facing chute 2/3 of the way up Naches Pk. 90 minutes of skinning bowl-sized suncups (sunbowls?) and booting the bare ridgeline later, we were on top of the line which we easily followed back down to the highway, possibly logging the last tracks from that high up for this season (coverage is very thin, probably won't last through this heat wave, so YMMV). Cooled off with a few tallboys of Rainier while taking in the view of the beverage's namesake and answered questions about splitboarding from the throng of tourists making their way through the pass.
Last call on Naches Peak:
By the time we got back to Enumclaw, temps were in the mid-90s and walking across the parking lot at Safeway felt like crossing the desert. Fortunately, the store's HVAC system was set to "Siberia". And so concludes yet another month of turns - only 3 more to go for my first TAY.
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