Inter Glacier

I was up early, ready to get my first turns in over a month. I arrived an hour early at the parking lot and poked around, snapping some pictures of mighty Mount Rainier. Tim and Kenny rolled in around 8:00am and we were on the trail slightly after 8:30am. We kept a medium pace, trying not to exhaust ourselves before we hit the snow. After 2 hours of hiking, we reached the Inter Glacier basin and sat in the shade and grabbed some food.

Once on the snow, we could really feel the sun coming down - it was hot and only getting hotter. We proceeded up the basin floor, keeping an eye out for possible lines. The coverage was good, considering the miserable year we had. Halfway up the first steep pitch, I took a short break and waited for Tim and Kenny to come up. Tim didn't want to stop, so he took the lead and kept moving. It eventually mellowed out and after awhile, we stopped to eat and hydrate. I had been looking up at the Emmonds Glacier thinking that was still Inter Glacier and I was relieved once I consulted the map and realized we were not far from the top of Inter Glacier.

There were some dark clouds rolling in and we heard some thunder, but it looked like they were going to miss us. We opted to start skiing rather than climb up any further. The ski was nice, although it was a bit slushy and the first couple of turns proved difficult as I had to adjust to the heavy sun. Huge pinwheels released after every turn and I think Tim created some of the largest ones I have ever seen.

We reached the bottom of the basin and skinned over to the camp ground. Tim decided to chat with some Asian tourists and tell them about our magnificent ski. The hike down was long but uneventful. It is amazing how fast the hike up is compared with the hike down...