Days like Saturday are pure gold. Sunny skies, cold temperatures, low avalanche danger and a foot of fresh snow, along with a full free day and a partner to share it with. John and I headed up Bullion Basin at Crystal and skied two great runs into Cement Basin, then two more on the front side of East Peak. The snow on the back was fantastic, only hitting crust on the last 200' of the run. John did a manly job breaking trail out of there, and the runs on the front side were great too. So good, in fact, that John blew off his 4:00 departure deadline to do another run (which sent me completely over the fatigue cliff).

Mt. Rainier from the top of East Peak.