Earl Peak May 17

After a prolonged recovery from a strained achilles heel I finally got out to the Teanaway for some turns before the snow goes away. I was able to drive my low clearance 2WD car to the trailhead and carried skis up to the basin to the west of Earl. Couldn't get across the stream due to it being a raging torrent, so it was a mild bushwhack to the east of Bean Creek. The snow was surprisingly not mushy in the basin once I got out of the trees (around 10 AM). I took what seemed like the mildest route up due to my healing heel...headed for the ridge northwest of the summit, then doubled back with a little booting on the ridge. The snow on top is melting fast, but there's still lots on the north side. Descent was quite pleasant on a southwest line that had soft suncups over a slowly weakening base.  I was able to keep my skis on all the way back to where the trail crosses Bean Creek...entertaining bush whacking, bare ground connect the dots and skinny snow ridges between the trees.  It's good to be back on the snow!!