june 5 slush cup recon

 After a few months not bieng able to play with the kids I finaly got a break. So with the usual hour of sleep for a sunday jaunt, I met up with MADDOG, Ron, JW and JibberD at the tall timbers for breakfast and caffiene. I won't pretend I know what time we left for the trailhead but I can tell you we were not in any hurry. The plan was to do a loop from  the castle to foss and a small car shuttle, but touring with a pack of trouble makers tends to slow the pace and change plans frequently. we made our way up along the trail and all was going to smoothly so we thought we would head off trail and add a little bushwhacking to spice things up. a little bootin up steep but firm corn made for good time so we screwed around as much as possble so as not to get out of character. As Castle peak came into site we decided to check on the slushcup. the slope above it was bieng attacked by tacoma mounties doing rope and self arrest drills and the snow was falling as if it were november. The cup itself is still really consolidated but the the top is just starting to show signs of promise. At this point we were standing in front of a slope the "Looked" good enough to ski and the jones got the better of us. So we climed up to the saddle stripped skins and dropped in. JW went first and of course made it look easy as pie(I love pie), then called up after flawless turns "its a little grabby." not because of difficult snow but because I strive to be a one of a kind so when My turn came I decided to make it look as hard as possible witha hip check and a few elbo deep fist plunges for good style. the snow skied well and  the run back down our up track was very nice but the June blizzard and constant changing temps made for a fun and wierd day in the mountains. fine snow good turns and great people made for another nights sleep worth skipping. I have some pics but seem to have misplaced my camera ;-) I'll post em as soon as I find it.