May 28, 2007, Little Tahoma

Back in Seattle for work for a week and a half, I made sure not to forget my skis, I was also pleasantly surprised when I realized that this was going to be a long week end...great involuntary planning. Greg, Magali and I had planned to ski Little Tahoma Saturday and Sunday, but because of the bad weather changed our plans. We skied in the Tatoosh on Saturday and decided to push little Tahoma out to Monday - unfortunately without Greg as he couldn't make it that day.
Magali and I left the road at 5:45 am and were pleasantly surprised to see that the weather had completely cleared overnight. Other than a couple of logs mentioned in Andy's report, the trail was in great condition and we quickly reached summerland. As I was looking for a good spot to cross the creek, I didn't pay enough attention to where I was putting my feet and hadn't seen the thin layer of ice on the rocks and before I knew it, I landed in the creek. With the skis and pack on my back it took me quite some time to get myself standing again. Magali on her crossing slipped as well and landed with both feet in the creek...nothing like a good bath at 7 in the morning! At least we were not going to be too hot for a while.
The rest of the climb was uneventful - we took it easy as we knew it was going to be a long climb, snow conditions were pretty hard on the way up until we reached the final slopes. We reached the summit after seven and a half hours or so and enjoyed the amazing views on Rainier - this is definitely the best view I've ever had on the mountain!!
The ski down was just one huge run of perfect corn snow with amazing views all around. This is an amazing summit and perfect as a ski tour  - I am actually really surprised that there aren't more people climbing it since it is so easily accessible - we were the only ones on that day...
We decided that the ratio of snow vs branches in the forest was pretty favorable and decided to ski as far as we could ending up about 700 feet and a 30 mn walk above the car. The day almost took another turn as a snow bridge over a creek collapsed between my legs, but I was able to escape...a fall into the creek could have been very ugly...looks like I am a bit too heavy and need to stop the Swiss chocolate ;-)

Definitely a very recommendable trip - conditions should hold there for a while...