Summerland/Frying Pan winter beta, please

Does anyone have any info about ski touring the Summerland Trail this time of year (or deeper in winter), including where to camp and good places to ski (such as the Frying Pan glacier)? Never been to this area of Rainier before and am considering going for a little trip...<br><br>Thanks!<br>Lara

Lara-I remember something somewhere about skiing Fryingpan recently..Oh There.... www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB...splay;num=1127107503 <br>But, as far as Winter goes you need to access by a super long tour from the gate, snowmow, or ski from Crystal. It is still about 5 miles from 410, at the White River Gate. 11 miles from the East entrance by Crystal Blvd. I think there are closer better options, but Goat Island Mtn. always looks attractive and it is right off the trail head.<br>Once the snow starts accumulating the Rangers close the gate to White River, so they can monitor the folks that drive into the ditches at Chinook and Cayuse Pass. If I read into what you are thinking...Unless you time it right, that tour would involve some pretty good planning and stable snow conditions, short daylight also is a factor. There are several avy chutes that come off of Goat Mtn to consider, besides the whole big mountian Rainier thing. On those days that I can see the mountain in the winter, the Fryingpan looks to be cooking up some great turns. It would be nice to hear of anyone else who has done this in the Winter. Rather than me splashing vinegar in your Kool-Aid.<br>Joe

A few years ago, an occasional poster on this board (who shall remain nameless but is pictured below   ) had the idea to ski the Interglacier in November. We parked our car at the White River turnoff from Highway 410 and rode our bicycles to the White River Campground. Then we hiked and skied to Glacier Basin and finally to St Elmo Pass. The left picture below is at Fryingpan Creek; the right picture is near St Elmo Pass.



The problem, we discovered, is that Glacier Basin is a very rocky place in early season. But if you wait until the basin is well covered, the road will probably be deeply covered as well. As soon as Chinook Pass closes, they gate Highway 410 all the way down at the Crystal Mountain turnoff. The solution is to either ski in and camp out, or use a snowmobile. The snowmobile option is quite attractive, if you have one. (I don't.)

Old-timers tell me that during the 1950s and 1960s, when Cayuse Pass was plowed throughout the winter, Summerland was a popular mid-winter destination (although "popular" in those days meant something different than it does today). You could park year-round at the White River turnoff, ski up the road, and stay in a shelter near Summerland. This was possible from about 1958, when they paved the Ohanepecosh highway, to 1974, when the gas crisis (remember it?) prompted the highway department to stop plowing the road.

This is one of the few cases where access was actually better in the old days.

There's a recent related thread here too:<br><br> www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB...m=1126048044;start=1

Thanks everyone...looking at the late Sept report it seems a bit sketchy, even with the amount of recent snow (maybe just enough coverage to make us think the crevasses aren't very big). Anyone else have any ideas for a ski on the Frying Pan this weekend?<br><br>THANKS!

It would be a bitch scrambling up to the crest getting to the Fryingpan...steep...loose...with just enough snow to make it slippery, yet not enough to kick steps or skin.