Tatoosh Range, WA - Castle, Pinnacle, Plumber Peaks....

Michael, Gaby and I wanted to head into the Liberty Ridge area via the west side of the Carbon Glacier but unfortunately our drive up to the trail head was thwarted by wash outs and downed trees. So instead we spent the night in the Westy at the Paradise parking lot and watched an amazing full moon rise in a cold, crispy and clear sky.

We were up early the next morning and instead of heading up the usual to Camp Muir we decided to play in the Tatoosh Range just south of Rainier. With snow conditions ripe for post hole-ing we choose our MSR snowshoes as the weapon of choice. It wouldn't be long before we were cruising past a group of Mazama mountaineers knee deep and wallowing up the slopes. Michael looked at them as we went by asking "don't you wish you had a pair of these?" I'm sure you can imagine what they were thinking...

The day yielded three lovely peaks with a tad bit of roped climbing on the steeper slopes and for rappelling off of Pinnacle Peak. A round trip of about 10-12 miles made it a fine sunny outing.

Floating up what would otherwise be beyond knee deep snow

Cruising along early in the morning

An amazing background view

...and here comes shaggae Mr. Cartwright

A picture perfect day

Roped up on the backside of Castle and heading to the summit

Looking back at Pinnacle after completing Plumber Peak (out of the pic on the right)