November 14, 2010, Muir and Nisqually Chute

Long time lurker, first time poster . . . it feels good to get that out of the way.  Its been four months since my last turns and that was starting to drive me crazy, thats why nedski and I decided to head up to Paradise despite forecasts of wind, high freezing levels and precipitation.  There was enough coverage out of paradise to ski on, or occasionally off the summer trail which got spottier as we progressed higher.  The winter route up the pan chute was just passible and we ended up going through pebble creek because of the lack of coverage on the winter route.  The snowfield was smooth and comfortable, other than being a little on the soft side (read cement).  Around 9,200' things started to firm up and we turned around 9,500' due to a combination of poor surface conditions, HIGH winds and lack of endurance on my part.  The top bit of the snowfield was the best skiing of the day, buttery and smooth.  We decided to take the Nisqually Chute down as we couldn't fathom skiing spotty glop down lower and it was a mixed decision.  The top of the chute was pretty boney (we hit some rocks).  and lower down it was pretty soft.  It had previously slid down the middle due to the warming and there was a pretty big debris pile at the bottom with a firm bed surface above.  The bottom of the chute also had pretty thin coverage getting back up to the summer skyline trail.  More adventure skiing than truly enjoyable turns, but fun all the same.  The sunny weather didn't hurt either!