July 6, 2006, Inter Glacier-Steamboat Prow

Tomski, in his 322nd consecutive month of skiing, is out from Colorado on his annual PWN volcano tour. I met him at his White River CG site to ski Inter Glacier, and we were joined by Chris "Scotsman". Overcast and some drizzle made the hike to Glacier Basin pleasant, and there we started to experience the "Emmons Miracle", the giant sucker hole in the lee of Rainier. We had a "sporting" crossing of Inter Fork and started skinning not too far above the camp site area. Lots of ski tracks on Inter Glacier now, and a surprising number of crevasses showing - a few large ones and more just opening up. Above the steep lower part of the glacier was a just-opened crevasse which sounded like it had a river running in it. By the time we reached Steamboat Prow, the lenticular on Rainier's summit had disappeared and the weather was very pleasant. A sea of clouds over the lowlands, with clouds still pushing up into Glacier Basin and lower Inter Glacier. The ski down was generally good. Dirty, firm, and tracked right at the top, then nicely softened all the way to near the bottom of the glacier. We stayed skier's left to avoid the mass of ski tracks, which in some places had become fairly raised above the dirtier snow surface. Back into the fog entering Glacier Basin and for the hike back. I was a little disappointed overall in the snow given that it is early July in a good snow year, but I think that Inter Glacier is still worth skiing - for a little while anyway.