You can't tell from this picture but I am standing on a high cliff looking at the trail going out of the cirque.  It's hard to see but it goes into the cloud shadow at the left center, follows a waterline and then drops down "Long Ridge" where the cloud shadow is in the upper left corner.  Dropping into Thurston Cirque is a big problem for me because the snow has all the routes blocked.

The cliff in the upper center is where the picture above was taken.  Here I am standing about where the cloud shadow in that picture is.  I finally found a way into the cirque.  In the right center of the picture you can see a small ledge breaking the snow line that let me climb down to the bolder field below.  Once I got into the pines I tied up my hammock and had lunch and a short nap, (I am getting older and it was nap time).  The storm passed without being a problem.  From here it is just down Long Ridge; about three more hours.