July 11, 2015, Mt. Rainier, Russell and Flett

Jordan, Pat, and myself made the most of a cool, cloudy day and found good skiing on the Russell and Flett glaciers in MRNP. By good skiing, I mean that the following phrases were spoken:
"Oh, these sun cups aren't too big!"
"The sun cups are soft enough that you can really slice through 'em!"
"It's not too grabby!"

We had a fun time skiing from our high point of 9,000' on the Russell, over the steep roll for some fun turns, and down to 7,400'. We flipped and climbed around Observation Rock (through some boot top scree) to the top of the Flett at 7,900', which we proceeded to ski down to 6,900'. From there we were able to traverse to our shoes and ski a snow finger out to the Wonderland Trail for a total of over 3000' of skiing.

The weather was a gamble, and it worked out okay in the end. We began by hiking through a marine layer which broke up at 7,000'. From there clouds rose and sank throughout the day. The summit was enshrouded in high clouds, and occasionally we would get sprinkled on. At other times, we were in full sun.

The Russell and Flett are great options for July turns this year. Although they look much more like late August right now, they are probably some of your better options. Also, the road to Mowich has been graded this year and is nearly free of potholes. And the hike through Spray Park is as amazing as ever.

GPS: https://www.strava.com/activities/344152712

Picture captions in order:
1) Hiking the climbers trail above Spray Park
2) Breaking through the clouds, gaining the Russell
3) We've named this "Rocky" the Snowman