November 26, 2004, Timberline/Zigzag

I was in PDX for TG so I drove up to TLine Friday am on my way back to Seattle to round out my first year of BC skiing. Got to the lot at 11am and decided to spring for a lift ticket. When she asked me if I wanted a senior ticket I honestly (=stupidly) replied I didn't think I was old enough and had to pay full fare. The Palmer lift was closed while they cleared the cables of 6" of ice. I got to the Silcox just as the first snocats were loading for the Palmer. From here it's a short skin up and over toward Illumination Rock. The further over I went the crustier and icier it got. I knew I wasn't going to ski down from the saddle, so I opted to ski the E side of the glacier. Very skiable crunchy granola interwoven with large swaths of windpacked, soft sugar all the way down to the canyon. Skinned back up and did it again and then back over to the Palmer at 3:30. I hit that between snocats and had it to myself until the top of the Magic Mile. Visibility all the way to whatever it is beyond Sisters. Never seen 3 mountains from here before. Beautiful day of solitary skiing. :)