Castle Saddle/Tatoosh info?????

Howdy,

I'm Chris from Corvallis.

This Saturday, I will be attending a wedding in Eatonville with wife and 6mo child. I may be granted a 3hr/ish clemency/leave and am [i]dying[/i] to get the first of my July turns in.....Also My first time to MRNP!!!!!!I'm so excited I'm about to wet my pants....I am hoping for a celar day!

I have gotten good approach beta from Steve from Oly, but he has not seen it in a couple of weeks.

Any thoughts/pics or more ideas?
Is this my best shot/closest shot for turns to Eatonville?
How clear is the trail to Pinnicle for wife(great hiker in sneekers) w/Jackzilla aka:(Mstr faboulous)?

I've been following your Sunrise posts, but that will be a streatch for my need for close and quick.

Thanks...you all have been an inspiration to an Oregon freehealer who starts to loose partners around Memorial Day.......Just as the "southern goods are ripening".

Thanks for any beta!

Chris O'
bisbeeoconnell@hotmail.com

we were on the Muir Snowfield on June 28 and the Tatoosh looked to be in excellent shape. The basin below the Castle showed very little melt out. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I'm not familiar with the trail to the Pinnacle - I've never been up there in the summer.

Hey there Pinhead, I was up to Castle Saddle on Saturday the 1st of July. We parked at Reflection Lake pull-out on the South side of the road. There was about 3 feet of consolidated snow at the road. We hiked about 700 vf until we got above the last steep gully - some hard core could skin from the road but , we wanted fun - not a b-buster !Once you are above the last steep pitch the basin opens up and is plenty good for skinning. We went straight up the basin to the ridge just east of the Castle. In winter this usually has a cornice . The ski down was excellent- good corn- we skied to the car with a little bit of half pipe action in the creek beds down in the flats- duck and weave ! I figured we got abut 1600 vf of turns in . I would hang out and yoyo the upper basin if you have the time - that's the best skiing. As far as the uphill goes- I carried an ice axe - but didn't use - poles were sufficient. The steep section is getting steeper as it melts - I don't know if I would use tennis shoes. If you don't have alot of time this is a good place to get good turns and solitude - not like the Muir circus !Hope this helps- have fun !

Billy et.al,

is that 3' of snow pack as if the pinicle trail would be covered, and not a sneeker hike for my wife and jack-o-bubba?

Is there wildflowers close so they could hike and run a shuttle for me?

The park website says the trail is still in winter travel mode.  It is a pretty dicey trip I'm sure w/ snow on it, if ya could folllow it.  Some folks from cc.com were up and down a while back, but they approached pinnacle from the Castle Pinnacle saddle.

link to cc.com TR www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat...7/an/0/page/0#583817

3 hours is a bit tight for a Rainier tour from Eatonville. You're about an hour each way to Paradise so that would leave you an hour for climbing up and skiing down.
With a non-skier tagging along in tennis shoes I'd probably skip the Tatoosh if it were me. There's some steepish lines on the way up that probably wouldn't be much fun in tennis shoes.

Given a little more time I'd opt for a nice hike around Paradise topping out up on Panorama Point where I would select a nice (probably easterly facing) line to yo-yo a bit while the tennis shoer chilled out. That would probably work out ok.