July 18, 2010, SW Chutes - Perfect Conditions at 2
7/18/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2698
2
John, Peter and I had an incredible run on the SW Chutes on Sunday. The surface was smooth and flat from top to bottom with a layer of corn that had softened up nicely by the time we headed down.
Skiers on their way down Saturday said that they found ideal conditions at about 2 PM so we planned out descent on Sunday accordingly. In spite of the fact that there were more than 350 climbing permits issued for the weekend, there were only about 20 people on the summit at 11:30 so it didnt feel like quite the mob scene that we were anticipating.
At the bottom of the chute we mixed some nice turns with the traversing until we were out of the main basin. We still had a long way to go to since we set up camp to the east of the main trail and at 6,800. We pretty much had to maintain our elevation all the way back to our tent which involved a lot of dead level traversing and some climbing.
Skiers on their way down Saturday said that they found ideal conditions at about 2 PM so we planned out descent on Sunday accordingly. In spite of the fact that there were more than 350 climbing permits issued for the weekend, there were only about 20 people on the summit at 11:30 so it didnt feel like quite the mob scene that we were anticipating.
At the bottom of the chute we mixed some nice turns with the traversing until we were out of the main basin. We still had a long way to go to since we set up camp to the east of the main trail and at 6,800. We pretty much had to maintain our elevation all the way back to our tent which involved a lot of dead level traversing and some climbing.
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