Home > Trip Reports > June 17, 2011, - Van Trump, MRNP

June 17, 2011, - Van Trump, MRNP

6/17/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4631
10
Posted by BeckyB on 6/18/11 3:32am
I love skiing corn.  I love skiing corn when I should be at work even more.

Anastasia, Marcus, Pete, Ross and I all played hooky from work on Friday to get in some skiing while the sun was still shining.  We headed up to Van Trump Park, an area that was new to Anastasia, Marcus and Ross. 

We left the car at the Christine Falls trailhead at 3600ft around 8:30 in tennies.  We hit mostly continuous snow pretty quickly but decided to keep hiking for about the first 1500-ish feet.  There€™s still a good snow bridge by the wooden bridge near Comet Falls, but I imagine that will melt out soon and there€™s a decent-sized little snow bank you€™ll have to climb down and back up to cross the actual bridge. 

The clouds came and went on our ascent, but they provided some welcome relief from the otherwise blazing hot sun.  We topped out around 9300ft just below the Turtle and soaked in the views of the upper mountain and Wilson and Nisqually glaciers below. A nice long, boots-off break, basking on the sun-warmed rocks was enjoyed by all. We started down around 3-ish to find absolutely perfect hero snow for a solid 2500vf. It was so smooth and so fast €“ I think we were all a little stunned by just how good it was.

As was to be expected the lower we got the mushier it got and we all did our best to not go ass over tea kettle in the inconsistently sticky snow.  We were able to milk the pine needle-carpeted snow in the trees down to about 4300ft and then switched back to tennies for the last bit of trail to the car.  It was a supremely good day in the mountains. Pics to come.
Yeah, the pics of the 2500vf of hero snow would brighten the rainy day in the lowlands.  ;)

Nice call.
Way to nail it.

pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/petealderson/RainierVanTrumpGlaciers#










Great pix and good call. I have never seen the snow fields as smooth as they appear in your pictures.

Looks like if that snow bridge melts out you could build a kicker and air over Falls Creek on the way in .... and worry about the way out later.

What a fantastic day...  Great pictures Pete.  Mine pale in comparison, so I will add only this one, which more or less summarized the day for me:


Looks beautiful!  I need to make the drive up there again sometime.  Looks like you guys scored on the weather and the turns!

Fantastic photos ! I feel better.  The snow surface looks like "Sierra Corn".  Beautiful turns.  ;)

Lordy, great pics. Looks n sounds like a fantastic day!

What a fabulous looking day...Becky, I agree, some of the best days out are while ditching work.  It shouldn't have to be a 'guilty' pleasure...More people need to do just that.

Great people, great skiing, great weather, and tasty candy bacon!  What a day!

Reply to this TR

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june-17-2011-van-trump-mrnp
BeckyB
2011-06-18 10:32:29