Home > Trip Reports > June 22, 2010, Burroughs - Sunrise, MRNP

June 22, 2010, Burroughs - Sunrise, MRNP

6/22/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4250
8
Posted by Kenji on 6/23/10 3:08am
Hiked a tail from the WW campground up onto snowy Sunrise.  They were still driving around a snowcat!  The snow is still unconsolidated, but the coverage is great.  Once they open the gate, there will be a lot of Summer skiers here.

What a view from the 3rd peak!  A bunch of skiers on Inter glacier, climbers on various route, huge Willis Wall. And my next destination, Curtis Ridge down to Mystic Lake!

Made a short run down North side, but our skinny gears were no match against the heavy mush.  There was a recent lone uptrack from the north basin, not sure where he/she came from.

We then skied into the Glacier Basin joining Bryan/Carol back on the trail out, wishing I had brought hiking boots!

We may have missed good snow on Inter Gl, but really enjoyed this tour.  Highly recommended!
Damn that some nice turn farming on the upper right part of the prow.
Thanks for the report.
Sunrise will be goooood when it opens.

author=Kenji link=topic=16988.msg71594#msg71594 date=1277316508]
The snow is still unconsolidated, but the coverage is great. 


Thanks for the report. We were thinking about hiking up there this weekend, but I think we'll give it a little more time.

I would not put off any trips up here because of the snow.  The unconsolidated layer is not that deep, just not optimal for skiing.  Rich booted up a 40 deg slope (when he realized leaving his skins above) without sinking very much, maybe only 8".  The slope up onto the 1st Burroughs was actually firm with 2" soft on top, which would have been good for a quick run.  The lower slopes didn't seem too bad either.


Thanks for the report, Kenji.  Skied out there Saturday and can only say wow, what a view!  A group of St Lawrence University alumni joined me and we spent most of our time together congratulating ourselves for skiing to such an awesome spot.  It was like going to church and then I got to ski back to my car.

author=glenn_b link=topic=16988.msg71738#msg71738 date=1277745509]
A group of St Lawrence University alumni joined me ...

Was that Skip, Jack, and Paul (AKA "Cor"?)? Or were there two pods of Larrylanders up there on Saturday?

They owe me for clueing them into the fact that the road had opened, despite my having given in to my wife's desire to hike-not-ski on Saturday! Otherwise, I might have managed to sucker at least one of them to join me for the hike...

John, Benj, Dave, Skip, Jack, Cor and Kam.

Thanks for the tip on the road, saw that post seconds before heading out of town on Friday. We (Paul, Mary, Andrew) dropped a car at White River CG had great tour out to 3rd Burrough down to bottom of Interglacier (a bit grabby and inconsistent). Then up to Camp Curtis. The ski down was amazing, like floating on crystals spraying away with every turn. Much better than expected from the looks of it on our way up. The least consolidated was on steeps down from Burroughs so sought out lower angle over a steep roll. Chose to stay high rather than lose elevation going around the knob and dropping low into GB. Had an extra bit of uphill but it turned out to be the best choice route wise getting down below St. Elmos.. Really a perfect tour, being able to start up high from the car at Sunrise and getting the long run down Interglacier. Tons of snow left out there. We drove over to other side to hike Fifes on Sunday, noted good coverage out Naches to Dewey or anywhere on the pass for that matter!

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june-22-2010-burroughs-sunrise-mrnp
Kenji
2010-06-23 10:08:28