December 18, 2004, Muir + Nisqually Chutes
12/18/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2195
2
Rainier seemed like a good option today given the high freezing level, clear weather and the repetitiveness of again skiing on Hood with little snow--not that skiing on Hood is ever bad, it's just nice to have a bit of volcano variety.
In order to conserve fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (your reading this DonellyMM?), we took Jason's "little VW" (aka VW Golf) arriving at Paradise under perfectly blue sky, no wind and t-shirt temperatures. Yes it was Paradise! We started skinning at 10:40 (per camera timestamp). The pitch below Pano Point Aaron and I skinned while Jason bootpacked, I think the consensus was skinning is more efficient here. Descending from Camp Muir there was a number of "wind undulations" in the snow. The upper snowfield was firm but by no means icy with lower down it becoming progressively softer. We arrived at the entrance to the Nisqually Chutes a bit before 3. The snow near the entrance was a bit heavy, leading to concerns about the stability of the soft snow. After hesitation and discussion we entered noting we'd ski cut, ski one at time and noting safe spots to stop if we wished. Once in the "chute" the snow was mucho better quality and not nearly as soft as we had anticipated. It was really, really good--I'm not sure if it was still quite hero corn (at least by the high standard of this Cali native), but it was very close and uber good for early "winter". At the base of the chute Jason and Aaron hucked off the mini "half pipe".
Here's Jason in the chute:
In order to conserve fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (your reading this DonellyMM?), we took Jason's "little VW" (aka VW Golf) arriving at Paradise under perfectly blue sky, no wind and t-shirt temperatures. Yes it was Paradise! We started skinning at 10:40 (per camera timestamp). The pitch below Pano Point Aaron and I skinned while Jason bootpacked, I think the consensus was skinning is more efficient here. Descending from Camp Muir there was a number of "wind undulations" in the snow. The upper snowfield was firm but by no means icy with lower down it becoming progressively softer. We arrived at the entrance to the Nisqually Chutes a bit before 3. The snow near the entrance was a bit heavy, leading to concerns about the stability of the soft snow. After hesitation and discussion we entered noting we'd ski cut, ski one at time and noting safe spots to stop if we wished. Once in the "chute" the snow was mucho better quality and not nearly as soft as we had anticipated. It was really, really good--I'm not sure if it was still quite hero corn (at least by the high standard of this Cali native), but it was very close and uber good for early "winter". At the base of the chute Jason and Aaron hucked off the mini "half pipe".
Here's Jason in the chute:
Thanks for the report, Jeff - Great picture, as usual!
Yes, I'm reading this. As long as it's small and econo I don't hold that much of a grudge against cars.
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