July 28, 2011, MRNP, Camp Muir/Nisqually chutes
7/28/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2033
2
Left Seattle at 0445 this morning, headed down to MRNP to get my July turns in. Driving up to Paradise, noticed that the Fly on Lane Peak is still pretty filled in... might need to go back for that before it melts. Meandered around the parking lot for a while, then headed up at around 0815. At this point, one needs to take off skis three times to cross the rock bands and trail that have melted out when following the standard route. Topped out and took a nap until 1330ish. As previous reports have mentioned, top 500 ft of vert are quite heavily suncupped and not exactly pleasant skiing. Below this, though, it smooths out pretty nicely. I had nice turns down to the entrance to the Nisqually chutes and met up with another skier coming up from Paradise. We enjoyed perfect corn through the chute all the way down to the glacier. Cruised back up the moraine and bootpack and skied surprisingly reasonable snow back to the car. It's the end of July, and you can still ski from Muir to the car... thanks La Nina!
Surprisingly reasonable indeed. I was a couple hours behind you and skipped the chute, but I agree this was amazingly good and lengthy skiing for this time of year. Lumpy in most places, but mostly good corn on the surface.
Crowds were moderate and it was easy to skin far from the climbers’ track for a feeling of isolation. Worth noting that the three dry sections of trail are fairly close together, so a single pack-carry is a good plan on the ascent, but three hand-carries made sense on the descent.
Skiers have a word for everything. What do you call ski tracks after the snow around them has receded, turning an innie into an outie? This is a common phenomenon in windy midwinter conditions, but I don’t remember seeing it so pronounced in the spring. In any case, these are what dominate the landscape on the upper snowfield, not natural suncups or runnels.
Crowds were moderate and it was easy to skin far from the climbers’ track for a feeling of isolation. Worth noting that the three dry sections of trail are fairly close together, so a single pack-carry is a good plan on the ascent, but three hand-carries made sense on the descent.
Skiers have a word for everything. What do you call ski tracks after the snow around them has receded, turning an innie into an outie? This is a common phenomenon in windy midwinter conditions, but I don’t remember seeing it so pronounced in the spring. In any case, these are what dominate the landscape on the upper snowfield, not natural suncups or runnels.
Nice to meet you Andy. Glad you got the chute in such great conditions. Some of the fastest smoothest turns I've made since my trip down to Shasta last month. I'll try to post some video sometime soon. Now I'm off to vantage for the Soundgarden concert 8)
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