June 27, 2009, Mt. Rainier, Nisqually Chute

We (my friend Dave, son Zach, and I) did our traditional "sometime close to Father's Day" ski of the Nisqually Chute Saturday.  We hit the chute about 2PM.  There's an easy entrance from the left side.  The top portion was gritty and cupped, but we scrambled just 25 feet or so over a rock rib over toward the cornice and found much nicer snow there.  That side was smooth and buttery all the way down - where it got grabby again.  In fact, it was sticky enough that we were able to ski up and out at Glacier Vista without taking off skis.  It's a huge plus to go from top to bottom without putting skis on the back.  Lovely day. 

We saw many other skiers on the snowfield on the way up, but didn't see anyone else in the chute.

One photo of Zach hopping off the cornice where the snow was good.