June 26, 2010, Silver Peak

    First time poster...long time reader!  Me and my buddy Jacob left Kent around 9:15 and arrived at the base of Silver at around 10:15.  What an amazing day!  Blue bird skies and no hoards of people to dodge, (Guessing everybody was clamoring to get to Sunrise).  We started up the trail and decided to boot pack as far as we could instead of the clicking in and out a dozen times to avoid the dirt patches that greeted us along the road. 
    We got to the bottom of the first bowl and saw some fresh skin tracks (and an odd set of boot stomps) from that morning leading the way up.  We followed these up until we reached the base of the third bowl and could see the group who's tracks we were following not far ahead.  One of them had just got new skis and unfortunately his skins were much to narrow to get any grip so he was relegated to walking to the top.  We paced them to the top of the ridgeline where the view of Mt. Rainier was incredible.  Not a cloud in sight.  I had only been to the ridgeline thus far and was excited to scramble some scree to get to the summit. 
    We left our lake bagging companions, (I'll explain later) at the ridge perch and started traversing around the backside where the views of Lake Annette and Lost Lake were spectacular.  The hike to the top was for the most part, straight forward and easy going.  We had to watch out for some unstable hand holds and some loose scree but the trail was clearly marked so we figured we would be alright.  We reached the top at around 1:00 to find a group of 3, (4 if you include their mountaineering pooch).  They were very knowledgable about the surrounding area and took some time to show us some of the landmarks and adjacent ridges and faces that we had been staring at but had no clue as to the snow pack conditions or safety.  Thanks Guys!  They asked which way we came from and we told them we came up the NW route.  They came from the opposite direction and seemed super excited to circumnavigate the peak.  I was a little jealous.  It sounded like a blast.
    We stayed on the top for about an hour to snap some pics, eat some lunch, and take in the sights and sounds.  When we started down we noticed it was easier than the way up was.  (we must have knocked all the loose debris down on the way up so the sliding was kept to a minimum.  We got back to the perch to find that our companions had already skiied to the bottom and had some great turns leading the charge.  We happened across a rock outcrop with a big enough flat to throw some snow on and get a little air....so we did.  I somehow missed the crevasse that was my endrun and ended up butchering my line.  Jacob repacked the "jump" and launched on his split board, managing to get a good air and straightlined the runout.  We continued to the bottom where the snow was decent until we hit the shade of the trees.  After stopping for some pics of a couple waterfalls, we meandered back to the car completely fulfilled and exhausted. 
    Oh yea...the "lake bagger".  I found this so interesting that I have to share and might have found a new ambition to go for in life.  One of the guys we ran into at the top was talking about how he has skiied to over 153 alpine lakes in the snoqualmie region and was bent on seeing them all before he died.  he mumbled something about needing 500 more.  Good Luck. 
    Hope my first post didn't run on too long or have too many typos.  Happy trails TAY'ers!