Wilson Glacier - ski/split, April 19

Eli, Preston and I attempted a go at Rainier's Fuhrer Finger. We left Paradise late in the afternoon and made good time to a cozy camp on a ridge overlooking the Nisqually Glacier. High winds that night and following day were accompanied by a lenticular cloud that obscured the mountain from about 12,000ft or so. With gusts strong enough to knock us over around the area of the Turtle Snowfield, we called it and made our decent back to camp. We encountered everything from wind-buffed powder, corn and yes also a healthy serving of bottomless mank for the final descent from camp to the Nisqually Glacier flats. All-in-all, it was a nice day trip (despite having camped) and a good primer for a must-do revisit of the finger.