May 19 Fortune-Ingalls

The road to this Fortune is unpaved and did not notice any gold dust but the N Fork Teanaway is open to the end. Thanks to John Morrow for recent update. Arrived to threatening clouds and the view of two mountain goats foraging on the high east face of East Esmeralda (?). Put the skins on at appr 5000'. A bit icey on the upper parts of climb. Some snowflakes at the summit and decided a south run to see if weather improved. At bottom of south bowl sun started appearing so on up again and this time the big peaks of Alpine Wilderness to the west appeared. Nice run toward Stuart for 1700' yielded mixed conditions as snowpack consolidation somewhat lacking.
When heading down south bowl second time the upper part had softened nicely but a 6" deep wet slab loosened and slid on appr 32 degree part. Easily avoided but even this far east things not yet fully bonded. This was with just 3.5 hours of direct sun at 7000".
Another fine day in east Cascades when leaving Pugetopolis in a downpour. Two other groups: a pair of Friday night campers I'll call Mssrs. Goode and Trab and a familiar threesome of the legendary Joe Firey skiing club.
With a few exciting de-skis for rushing creeks, was able to ski down to just short of junction with Ingalls trail at appr 4600'.