July 1, 2001, Yellow Aster Butte - Tomyhoi Peak

Quite a few flowers, lots of hiking, a little good skiing. The butte is pretty bare, so we continued on towards Tomyhoi. The basin of blue ponds west of Yellow Aster is mostly snow covered, but getting bumpy. Snowmobile tracks were clearly visible here, well within the Mt. Baker Wilderness. The route beyond is a sub-optimal combination of snow and non-snow. Some all-terrain skiing is required here on the way down. The big notch below Tomyhoi is snow-free. As we labored up the other side, two scramblers passed us coming down. They were puzzled by our skis, apparently unfamiliar with the concept of hiking 3 hours (OK, it was more than 3) for a little skiing. We bypassed the formidable-looking summit and headed for the glacier on the north side. The left side of the glacier is a bit on the active side, with massive mobile home size cracks. The right side is more friendly, and we made a nice but short run down about 700 feet, below which most of the glacier basically falls off some cliffs.

PaulC