Rain: Graupel Gully
Rain Peak is the 13130-foot summit that is opposite Silverthorne Peak and directly to the Northwest of Salmon Lake. One can ski right to the summit even in January, and it then offers a 4000-foot descent back to the Willowbrook trailhead down the Salmon Lake and North Willow Creek trails. On May 18-20, 2007, Christian Caslin and Charlie Ziskin camped out near Salmon Lake and skied the gully that drops SSW from the summit of Rain down to the tarn above Salmon Lake, where they then found additional quality turns down to the lake itself. They called the line Graupel Gully; it has steepest angle 42 degrees and they rate it D8, observing that it is similar to Buffalo's North Couloir in spots.
The photo above shows Christian Caslin skiing the upper section of their line. (Photo by Charlie Ziskin). The summit of Rain is shown below, with Graupel Gully being the rightmost line in the photo. The rock section to the left goes to Silverthorne Peak and can be climbed in summer with one 5.1 pitch.
And here is a view from well across the valley taken after a descent of Red; June 10, 2008.
