|
|
|
|
|
|
Turns All Year Trip Reports
(1) Viewing these pages constitutes your acceptance of the Terms of Use.
(2) Disclaimer: the accuracy of information here is unknown, use at your own risk.
(3) Trip Report monthly boards: only actual trip report starts a new thread.
(4) Keep it civil and constructive - that is the norm here. |
|
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: 4/19/09-Muir, Nisqually Chutes to the bridge (Read 1656 times)
|
skierlyles
Member
Offline
Posts: 270
|
The mountain was out in all her splendor today, sending ufo's off her summit all morning long. Weather dissuaded alot of climbers from summit attempts. We saw quite a procession coming down after the morning's attempts. One group mentioned they had went as high as 13,000 feet before turning back.
Joe Bell, Dave Coombs and I all headed out from the 512 park and ride after rousing Joe from his truck. Seems like I missed a good party last night  After leaving late we arrived to a closed Longmire gate and luckily did not have to wait long for it to open. Opened at 8:30, not too bad. Line of cars made their way up and before long everyone was off to the races up the Muir snowfield.
Started off pretty warm at the parking lot, then became surprisingly cold and windy as we gained elevation. This was good for the snow as we were worried about the warming temps rapidly mucking up the chutes we planned to ski. We continued past the drop in for the chutes and decided that the snow would stay cold enough and would hold until after we made it to Muir. Made it up to Muir in respectable time and made our descent around 12:30 in a quickly warming environment. Snow on the way up varied between melting crust, supportable crust, mashed potatoes, proto corn, and windbuffed powder. Wind action across the snowfield was quite apparent but sculpted an easily skiable surface. The waves scattered across the snowfield were powdery enough to be enjoyable and easily breakable when there was not a smooth surface to ski on. We made quick work down the snowfield to 8,300 and the entrance to the Chutes. Did a few ski cuts across the upper section back towards the safety of the rocks and decided the stability was good enough to go. Temps were quickly rising and many previous point releases from the rocks were evident as we made our descent. No sloughing of concern was noted, and what did slide were merely rollers with no accumulation of material. Ski down the chutes was fun on a slightly toasted snowpack with 2-4 inches of ski penetration. As we skied down towards the flats of the glacier the snow got noticeably heavier, I sure could have used a fresh wax job last night...
Made our way down to the bridge and bumped into Jarvis, Jeaneatte and company. Beers were had in the sunshine- good times. Good to see you guys!
Nice day to be on the mountain.
Chris
|
|
|
|
|
Teleskichica
Member
Offline
Posts: 346
|
Thanks for the TR Chris, sorry to not have rousted ourselves out of bed this morning and made it up to join you guys... Joe, I don't know how you did it! Next time. Next time.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Livin' high on the cold smoke!
|
|
|
Eli3
Member
Offline
Posts: 172
WWW
|
Interesting that it wasn't THAT windy on the muir snowfield - we were across the nisqually having a go at the finger and got to about 9,400 feet before we could barely stand up.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Scotsman
Member
Offline
Posts: 3169
|
Nice work guys!
With Crystal closing I'm gonna have to get on my touring boots and try and keep up with you guys.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Chief Etiquette Officer of TAY and TAY's #1 Poster
Poet Laureate of TAY.
Chairman and Founder of FOTAY( Friends of TAY)
Moderator of the moderators.
"Most Brilliant Move" of the 11/12 ski season
" Knows what he is talking about"
Expert Typist.
|
|
|
Stugie
Member
Offline
Posts: 924
WWW
|
Glad you guys had a good trip! I'll hopefully be able to join you next time Joe! Fun hanging out at the ski chicas though!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"The mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals; the houses where I practice my religion." - Anatoli Boukreev
|
|
|
telemack
Member
Offline
Posts: 1320
|
Good TR & photos.
Will the Nisqually be passable for a while linger? I've not been up there in months.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
George Santayana
|
|
|
skierlyles
Member
Offline
Posts: 270
|
Mack- the chute proper looks like it will be good for awhile. The route along the river to the bridge is a different story. Getting pretty close to the rocky walls with a small ribbon to ski along close to the bridge. You could still ski the chutes and climb out to Pan Point for the foreseeable future though...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Snow Bell
Member
Offline
Posts: 507
|
Interesting that it wasn't THAT windy on the Muir snowfield - we were across the nisqually having a go at the finger and got to about 9,400 feet before we could barely stand up.
That is why I ski on heavy skis and boots. It helps keep me bottom side down. 
The wind was a bit much. I was curious to check the telemetry recordings and see just how strong some of the gusts were but it seems to have been (and still is) offline. I'll guess at 40mph to 50mph. It threatened my balance one or twice and took my hat just below Muir, but it held the snow as Chris noted and kept us cool on the climb. Aside from the wind the cloud formations were quite dramatic. The "flying saucer" hovered over all day.
Glad you guys had a good trip! I'll hopefully be able to join you next time Joe! Fun hanging out at the ski chicas though!
For sure Stugie. Anytime that it doesn't interupt your sleep schedule. Ski chica throws good parties. You missed the pizzas.
sorry to not have rousted ourselves out of bed this morning and made it up to join you guys... Joe, I don't know how you did it!
Clean livin'
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Life is going to slide by you one way or another
|
|
|
|
Thank you to our sponsors!
|
Contact turns-all-year.com
Turns All Year Trip Reports ©2001-2010 Turns All Year LLC. All Rights Reserved
The opinions expressed in posts are those of the poster and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Trip Reports administrators or Turns All Year LLC
|
Turns All Year Trip Reports | Powered by SMF 1.0.6.
© 2001-2005, Lewis Media. All Rights Reserved.
|
Page created in 0.579 seconds with 20 queries.
|
nunatak2.jpg
