July 14, 2016, Mt. Rainier, Sunrise

I was up at Sunrise to shoot some star pictures from Dege Pk, but was hoping to find some snow for skiing the next day. Not much left up there - Boroughs looks pretty melted out. I thought I'd have to hike up to the Inter, or drive over to Paradise, but hiking back from Dege I walked over to look down a patch off the north side of Sourdough ridge in the second saddle west of Dege and saw that it went to the bottom. The snow was very firm in the morning when I checked it out so I had a leisurely breakfast and hung out before hiking back with skis. 11 a.m. saw the snow barely corned enough for my taste on the initial steep pitch and I didn't fancy booting back up it without an axe and crampons so I put a boot pack up a patch east that didn't go all the way up. After 3 laps there I climbed back up top (climbed rocks on left at top) and did another down that. Had the place to myself other than a few hikers who exclaimed "Hey there's a snowboarder over here!"

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Should be good for at least another week if temps stay cool.