September 9, 2001, Pinnacle Glacier, Tatoosh Range

Woe, we knew it would be bad, but?? Saddled with the seemingly (at this time of year with so little snow) compulsive obsession to maintain the streak of year round continuous skiing, we turned to the only decent patch of snow that recent recon hikes disclosed: the Pinnacle Glacier. Tucked in between Castle and Pinnacle Peaks on the north facing aspect of the Tatoosh Range, it only gets about 3 or 4 hours of direct sunlight a day and thus has held snow fairly well in comparison to our other South Cascade stashes. The added bonus is that it is about an hour from the car, compared to the two to four hour carries that are common this time of year. The obvious disadvantage is its size, about 300 vf. But what the hey - if you're climbing what you're skiing anyway, what difference does it make if it's one long climb or a bunch of short ones (easy rationalization this time of year, huh? :) After all, 10 laps on a 300 vf run is 3,000 vf, right? So if there's any other "streak mongers" out there feel free to take advantage of our smoothing off the peaks of the suncups for you. Take your boot/ski crampons 'cause it's pretty firm and has not been softening up much during the day as you can see by the