The Tatoosh range in Rainier National Park is a favorite of mine due to it’s stunning views and relatively easy access. With low avalanche danger and a sunny forecast Kincaid, Rachel and I headed to the park. I love the Tatoosh but the Longmire gate opening at 9am and closing at 4pm is a major downside of day trips inside the park. We met up, loaded into one car, drove to the Narada Falls parking lot, and departed the parking lot just before 10am.
There are two common routes for skiers to reach Stevens Canyon road from the Narada Falls lot: an ascending and switchbacking traverse through the trees or a boot directly up the face. With the firm conditions and a group putting the boot-pack just in front of us we opted for the direct ascent.
We followed the road to Reflection Lakes and turned uphill, generally following the summer trails to the col just east of The Castle.
Did I mention it was a bluebird day? Once we reached the col we were greeted with stunning views in all directions.
From the col we skiied southeast into the trees, enjoying the best snow of the day. The sun had warmed this slope and we had what was approaching corn-snow in the middle of January! We transitioned and skinned straight back up to the ridgeline east of The Castle to plan our next move. Surveying the terrain a NW-facing line just below Foss peak caught our eye and we decided to head that direction.
We traversed the ridge and decided to ascend to our bench via the ridge and faces south of the unnamed lake just below Foss. The runnels in the snow formed from the recent rains were particularly striking.
After attaining the bench we dropped our intended line. There were around four good turns at the top where the sun had softened the snow, but we encountered crusty ice below that for the rest of the face. Still a fun line, though!
From the plateau below Foss we descended a small chute, which would have been fun in better conditions but was tough with the icy snow and avalanche debris from earlier that week.
Below that we looked for another chute (the “baby chute”) we’d spied out on a previous trip, but decided against dropping due to a tough entrance and the prospects of more crappy snow. Instead we trended NE around the ridge and back to the road, put our skins on and trekked back to the face above the parking lot.
Kincaid and I opted to ski the crusty face, while Rachel booted down. All in all another fantastic day in the Tatoosh, it never fails to deliver!