This is the second occasion where I have overestimated the snowpack around Rainy Pass area. Seeing how there is a couple feet of snow at Snoqualmie Pass, which sits at 3,000ft, I figured Rainy pass would have substantially more, when in fact, it barely had any snow. That erased my plans of trying to go in through Easy Pass to explore some new areas, but Frisco Mountain and Lake Ann were still doable. I arrived Friday night, meet up with Tim, and went for a quick skin near Lake Ann and Rainy Lake to assess the route for Saturday.

Saturday morning came early, and we were moving around 7am, as the forecast was calling for showers later in the day. Ominous dark clouds littered the sky as we picked our way through the forest and up to Lake Ann. The skin up to the ridge was a little tricky, but once on the ridge we were treated to views of Rainy Lake and skied down to the bench below Lyall Galcier. The snowfield on Frisco was a great skin and ski, providing a consistent face to ski down. We skinned back up to the ridge and picked our way down the steep face leading into Lake Ann basin, more or less following our skin track.