Sunshine in spring 2005? Fortunately for Em & I, we were unemployed the week before Memorial Day...yes, that one week of sunshine!

This was a week we'll think about whenever living outside of the PNW and recall just how amazing a place this nook of the planet is. Our week took us from blowing rain on the Long Beach Peninsula to calm sunshine on Mt. Rainier to hot sunsets over Deception Pass and the San Juans. OK, focusing on the Mt. Rainier part of the week...

Knowing the park opened the road to Mowich Lake just the day before (May 22) and with a forecast that finally looked promising, we left Monday to camp above Spray Park. This was my first time to this part of the mountain any time of year, so I was stoked. Monday's hike in consisted of overall blah weather with little visibility and some light snow. But to my happy hopes, I awoke in the middle of the night to brightness as the full moon was rising just south of the summit.

With the hot weather predictions and recent snowfall (and I really wanted to recon as much as I could of this side of the mountain!), we were up and skinning by 6:30. The morning was magnificent. My goal was to get up between Echo & Observation Rocks. Fortunately, Em was loving the conditions and felt like pushing further up. We made our high point a couple hundred feet above Observation Rock looking down onto the Russell Glacier. The Russell looked pristine and beckoned us to lay marks on its virgin slopes. Rather than gambling on the fun/work ratio for the team, I decided to save the Russell for another day and keep the focus on all positives for this ski experience. We descended the east flank of the Flett and it was smooth sweetness.



With a cloud level at ~5000' and moving up the west side of the mountain, I traversed to a ridge to determine if we had time to grab a quick lap before clouds might affect our final descent to camp. Giving Em the go ahead to grab more fall line, she jumped all over it with ecstatic "yahoos." I knew she was feeling it when I descended next and my turn ratio wasn't any larger than hers!



Just beating the clouds to camp, we finished the skiing with this tasty shot...



We were stoked to see this area and grateful that we had the opportunity to ski in such pristine conditions that have been so scarce this spring.

Labels: ski touring