Home > Trip Reports > October 8, 2006, Tatoosh treat

October 8, 2006, Tatoosh treat

10/8/06
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
7436
10
Posted by skip on 10/8/06 11:31am
Cass didn't want to get out of bed this morning.  He muttered something about having spent all day yesterday laying Pergo flooring, but I had a suspicion it may have been the crap weather.  Whatever the case, after a hunt for my lost keys from 6:30-7:00 that gained the ire of my housemate I met Cass at the agreed upon rendezvous at exactly 7:30.  From there we continued south.

In all fairness, the weather was poor and it degraded the further we drove.  Arriving at the base of the Tatoosh in a steady rain, it was all but impossible to get Wipe out of the car.



Only after my insistence that the snowline was low and falling did he emerge.

About 500' up the trail we ran into a wall of weather.  White room.  Snow had clearly fallen here throughout the night, as it was knee-deep if it was an inch.  I was happy to have brought my skin wax; the snow down low was a hint soggy and was at first sticking badly to my summer-dusty skins.  My laziness the last two months was rewarded with an ass-kicking the remainder of the uphill, despite the fact we were taking turns breaking trail.  My only good fortune to this end is that it was considerably cooler up high, keeping my sweat production in check.

The snow unfortunately stopped falling as we ate lunch in the lee of the peak.  No matter, though, as we had the mountain all to ourselves for the first run down:



It was killer.  Energized by the unexpected conditions, we took to the skintrack mid-descent for a second run at the upper slopes.  Just when it didn't seem it could get any better, the sun came out(!).  I seriously could not have made up a better day - it was unbelievable.

As the new snow was still unconsolidated, we felt comfortable taking a steep glade for the remainder of the descent.  All went flawlessly. 




We swapped to trail boots at snowline and were back to the car in 20 minutes.  All in all, it was a lovely October day.





Looks like it was deep! Nice report!

I myself was turned back due to the climax slides thundering down around us in the Glacier Peak area.

;)

-Matt

Huh?  ??? How high did you go?  I could not ski cuz the kid had a soocer game in Sunnyside, but there was warm rain going over chinook this morning.  The pics you had were amazing considering the weather at the pass.  If you're not snowing us, kudos for the freshies!

That snow was sooooo fantastic, I'm still amazed!  I must say I was rather concerned that we'd only be skiing a relic snow patch in the rain, but that unexpected deep powder treat made it all worthwhile!    ;)

Nice try Skipper!  I'll let you know if Sky & I have it that good on the Coleman-Deming midweek.  8)

Everyone loves a kidder, nice way to start your winter cardio training program  :D. 

That earthquake near Mt. Rainier must have rattled Skip's brain.

You two get my vote for the TAY TR "Creativity" and "Entertainment Value" awards.  Excellent pics. (even Cass's patch shot)  Nice try picking a spot with no telemetry station... but... sadly, Paradise is close enough  :)

hmm, yeah...i thought i recognized those pictures from elsewhere.  i was ALMOST jealous, for a second... ;D

Wow.

Another first, Skipper.
There should be an award here, somewhere.  The first fiction works on TAY to hit 1000 views.  That outta be worth something.

I got it - I think you've won a free chance to buy the (two sided!!) TAY shirt of your choice.
Just go HERE to select the shirt of your choice.

the first on tay to have have a 1000 veiws,  thats surpriseing considering some of the descents that skykilo has made, it is an awsome pic though!

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2006-10-08 18:31:55