July 23, Summerland area, Rainer

After getting thoroughly beat in Saturday's mountain bike race near Greenwater, it was high time for some more summer skiing fun. I camped out with fellow racer Matt at the Buck Creek race venue--still dusty and muggy from the day's event--since the White River campground was unfortunately full.
The next morning we drove into the park and were on the trail by 9. We reached Panhandle Gap a couple hours later, still not entirely sure where we would try and make some turns, but some tracks down a steep-ish face just to the west looked mighty good. A short scramble up some rocks to the top of the snow and then skis were put on to traverse toward the top.
Lunch was eaten at the high point of about 7200 feet, and a plan was made to ski down this face and then cut over toward Ohanapecosh Park for a few more turns before putting on the skins and climbing back up toward the saddle above the lower Fryingpan glacier. The snow on the face was wonderfully soft, making for a fun run that was probably the highlight of my trip.
We were able to skin most of the way back up the ridge, then scrambled a bit to reach the top, where we scouted a good line and put skis back on. From there it was a fast run as far as the snow would take us toward Summerland--our tracks are somewhat visible in the second photo. We ended up making sort of a loop around this high point southeast of Meany Crest, and skiing down through the basin in between... if that provides any sort of clarification to my confusing description.
The hike back to the car was followed by a quick dip in Fryingpan Creek to wash off some trail dust and give the legs a much-needed ice bath. In all, it was an enjoyable trip; the skiing was fun enough to justify the hike, and a bit more knowledge of the area was collected for future ski escapades.