June 12, 2016, MRNP Frying Pan Glacier

Headed out with Tab and Ed to ski up to Whitman Crest today. The Frying Pan Creek trail is largely snow free until after the bridge across the creek with a lot of blow downs in the first few miles. On and off snow on the trail until the snow becomes continuous right near the switchbacks up into Summerland. Rather than following the switchbacks, we opted to stay in the main drainage  where we were able to put on skis after a short bit of brush bashing and crossing the creek again. Continuous snow up to Meany Crest and from there all the way to Whitman Crest with the exception of one short carry on top of Meany Crest near the camp sites. There were several inches of new snow above about 6,500 ft.

The eastern aspects of the Frying Pan are well filled in with no cracks visible except for the typical one that starts to open as the slope steepens below Whitman Crest. Easy skinning all the way up to the Crest itself where we were later met by Wes, Brian and David. The ski down from there was nice with several inches of soft, new snow on a firm base. Rather than heading back to Meany Crest we skied the fall line down into the lower Summerland basin, finding continuous snow the entire way.

A beautiful day under sunny skies!