Mount Pilchuck

[New to TAY and first TR!] Wet but fun day at Mount Pilchuck yesterday. It was my first time skiing there, and it was the second time ever my son (15 y/o) was skiing in the backcountry.

We hiked up the summer trail in runners up to 4600 ft, where we switched to our boots. Snow was covering the trail starting at ~4000 ft, and we should have switched to boots at ~4300 ft for better traction. We finished booting up to the Lookout, as it looked easier than skinning.

Got on the skis at the Lookout and descended the Gunsight Couloir then the South slopes down to 4200ft. Snow was wet and heavy, but it skied OK.

From there it was rocky, so we climbed back up to the ridge East of the summit. Skinning worked well there, except through the trees right below the ridge. Probably should have dismounted and booted the last 30 ft to the ridge. 

I was planning to ski down via Larisson Ridge, but all the tracks were rather down in the gully, and the ridge appeared to be a little rocky. We therefore opted to follow the track down the gully. From 4200ft, we followed a bunch of tracks that were staying high on the left where they all stopped at 3840ft above Hawthorne Creek, below a rock wall. We couldn't find the way from there. A couple had also arrived at the same point a little before us, and couldn't find a way either. We backtracked just a bit and skied down a little lower and closer to the Creek until we reached the hill to the saddle at point 3945-T. Booting the hill was easier than skinning as the snow was super wet.

From the saddle at point 3945-T, we skied WSW to the unnamed tarn, some tracks were going around on the left, but we followed those on the right. We then had to cross the tarn's outlet. From there we could ski a little down but then had to dismount and struggled in bushes for a while. FIRST MISTAKE. I think we should have headed a little more North (W to WNW) from the saddle at point 3945-T and pass well under the unnamed tarn.

Ultimately, we joined the winter trail, and kept on skiing until below 3400ft. We kept following boot tracks, and found ourselves in marshes with water up to the ankles. SECOND MISTAKE. At 3400ft we probably should have reconnected with the summer trail. Ultimately we decided to get out of the marshes instead of going through them to the parking, and we reconnected with the summer trail above the trail register. 

The couple we had met at the end of the tracks above point 3945-T took a different way out. They arrived after us at the trailhead and told us that they also backtracked a little but but rather than going down closer to Hawthorne Creek to reach the saddle at point 3945-T, they instead climbed up a small gully above. The gully must have put them back on the summer trail at 4200 ft. So they missed some ski further down, but they also missed (for their benefit) all the bushwacking.

Lots of navigation. Fortunately, I always knew where we were. I definitely wouldn't go there without a good topo map!