The chute narrowed to approximately 30ft before opening up again. We couldn't relax much because it remained steep -- 40 degrees. I began to maneuver my way through ice seracs and crevasses when Troy told me to stop. He apparently wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go any further. I had already given up because I knew we had to turn around before the snow softened up too much. We could have gone another couple hours but there was no point in risking life and limb on the glacier if we weren't going to reach the top. Did I mention that we didn't have a rope?
Ice where the Finger meets the Nisqually Glacier. The parking lot at Paradise is seen below Mount Adams.
We found a nice spot to stop and switch gear somewhere around 12,000ft. The sun was beating down and there wasn't a trace of wind. It would have been a perfect day to summit but we just didn't have the time. We should have started at 2am like a normal person. I'll know better next time.
We took our time because the snow was just beginning to soften. I wasn't sure exactly what we were standing on but I tried not to step too hard just in case.
Troy at the turnaround.
We started skiing down around 11am. The snow was perfect. Any harder and we would have worried about falling. Any softer and we would have worried about avalanches. We took our time skiing down. The rocks were still falling so we had to keep an eye on each other. We took turns skiing and hollered each time we saw a rock.
Looking down above the Finger.
Turning in the chute.
Opening up above the Wilson Glacier. Our camp is on the rock ridge above Troy.
The skiing was excellent. I just wish the snow had waited a little longer to soften up. Who knows, we might have summited.
Some of the fallen rocks had stuck in the snow. We'd hit them from time to time but it could have been worse. I imagine this slope turned into a minefield a few weeks later.
Tele near the base of the Finger.
We were back at camp by noon. It was plain hot so we took of most of our clothes before packing up. I was disappointed that we didn't summit but I was also glad that we turned around when we did. We survived an excellent ski and I'm sure we'll do it again, from the top of course.
Back at camp.
We filled our heavy packs and skied down several miles until we reached the Nisqually Glacier. The snow was awfully heavy. I was glad to have fat skis.
If we followed our tracks back to Paradise we would end up having to hike over 1000 vertical feet. The other option was to ski down to the bridge and hitchhike back to our car. We decided to ski down to the bridge.
Skiing the lower Nisqually down to the bridge.
We got to the road by early afternoon so there were plenty of tourists still driving up. Troy put up his thumb and had a ride within minutes. This gave me some extra time to enjoy the sun and think about next year's trip.