Still in the foothills of these giant peaks, but peeking a little into the High Sierra near one of my favorite summer spots.

Acclimitizing to the elevation and checking out the foothills of the Eastern Sierra. Maybe some of the best top to bottom corn I’ve ever skied!

The start of our Sierra ski trip. We might have arrived at an awkward time...

A glorified backpacking trip to round out skiing the Washington volcanos. The ski descent was pretty mediocre, but it was otherwise cool to check out the changing season on Washington’s most remote volcano.

Just soaking in the views of the crevasses up close on this one. I hung back with one of a friend who was having a problem with the altitude and encouraged the other two to summit without else since I had already been up earlier this year. A bit disappointing, but this outing confirmed my ability to make turn around in practice, and was otherwise happy to explore this side of the mountain regardless of the outcome.

Little Tahoma is a satellite peak of Rainier, the pointy thing next to the main summit. I think it looks like a castle made of mahogany. Little T is actually the remnants of what used to be an even bigger volcano; it’s hard to imagine another a couple thousand feet on top of what Rainier is currently.

Mount Rainier is just an absolute unit looming over the Seattle skyline from afar - a 14411’ ruler from sea level if you were curious what that might look like. I’ve always dreamed of what getting to the roof of Washington would be like after first seeing it.

Eldorado Peak is one of the “Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America” that shouldn’t be. The quality of skiing itself was mediocre but the views more than made up for it. We were debating turning around with the grim visibility on the way up, but we pressed on and were instead rewarded with brief yet stunning views near the summit.

There is nothing notable about Ruby Mountain in the North Cascades, but its view of Ross Lake and the surrounding peaks is pretty cool. We missed the powder window in favor of mashed potatoes so I definitely need to come back early on a cold bluebird day!

In retrospect this was probably kind of burly for me at the time, but I’m super thankful for the receptive partners and the proper conditions to ski a line of this caliber with no drama.