Home > Trip Reports > January 10-12, Mt. Rainier, Pyramid Pk

January 10-12, Mt. Rainier, Pyramid Pk

1/10/12
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4524
7
Posted by jhamaker on 1/12/12 11:36am
I had so much fun night skiing, that w/ clear skies forcast I had to get in some more.

Summary: 
About half the snow arround 5500' was great skiing.  Parked at Kautz Cr.  Camped near Mirror Lks ( ~ 7mi from rd, water at outlet).  Day 1 up and over Ararat (6010').  Day 2 Pyramid (6937') and Satulick (5577') .  Day 3 Copper and Iron (6280').  Lots of open flats between 5000' and 5500'.

Conditions: 
Contiuous coverage (ice) starting at 3800'.  Nice glade skiing as low as 4200' (but still icy in the trees).  Nice tree skiing as low as 4600'.  Wind and sun affected slopes bad, protected and shaded slopes good.  Entire N side of Ararat was great.  S  and W sides of Pyramid crusty.  S face of Pyramid wanted crampons, but W faces of Pyramid, Copper, and Iron had excelent kickable crust - for hiking, not skiing.

Comments:
Great area for skiiers wanting to treat their inner peak bagger or visa versa. 
Great terrain for backcountry skis (2x camber). 
Great views of four volcanoes and the Olympics.
Skied the Ararat Satulick ridge w/o skins - lots of gentle rolling terrain.
Many, many protected glades, slots and gullys.
I'll be back.

Photos:
P1110032 Pyramid, Rainier
P1110035 Copper and Iron
P1110069 Pyramid NW face
You're starting to stand out, in my mind, as  touring aristocracy around these parts..

Nice report - thanks

extra nice James ! The year we did it in the spring we used kick wax to get around.

Nice James--Looks like awesome terrain!!
Need to put it on the bucket list.

Great trip report!

Fantastic James -- amazing terrain back there.  On the list.

jealous ... beautiful scenery .. we're not capable of skiing most of that .. but we have been talking about getting back there in winter ...

There is terrain for every taste.  When I return I'm still not sure if I want to bring my Karhu Lookouts again or bring heavier gear, and use kick-wax for the flats/skins/hiking for the steeps.  One could even have lots of fun on skinny skis.

Reply to this TR

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january-10-12-mt-rainier-pyramid-pk
jhamaker
2012-01-12 19:36:49