For me this was a painful, exhausting attempt at AT skiing this weekend on the eastern slopes of Mt. Rainier. Last week’s heat wave decimated the snow on the Summerland trail from Fryingpan trailhead and we had to carry skis almost the whole 4.2 miles to base camp. By the end of day 1 my rental boots had cleanly destroyed my feet and, though I’ve been wronged by rentals before, this time it actually prohibited me from completing the trek- come morning I had abandoned any notion of actually skiing and was hobbling my way back to my car. Not a complete loss- always a pleasure to hang out with this crew- but perhaps I’ve squeezed enough skiing out of this season…
