March 23, 2014, Nisqually chutes to bridge
3/23/14
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3295
3
Thanks Amar for the inspiration! Finally after years of looking at this, Tim and I traveled this line today. It was a beautiful albeit crowded morning at Paradise and on the way up. We exited the cowpath @ 8300' and traversed to the entry area. Really fun to check out a new way to descend. We had it to ourselves until the very end; as we walked across the bridge to the hitchhike zone a group of 3 was coming out.
While a little gripping it seemed safe and wide enough. Looking down at the lower glacier it was interesting to try to imagine which way to go and spot the bridge in the far far distance. There were one set of nice tracks we more or less followed. Down at the bottom we crossed the river from skiers' right to left perhaps 1/2 mile above the road on a snow bridge; not a problem but this may not last a lot longer. I have no real idea where all the crevasses are so its hard to say how much longer the whole trip will be good. A few pictures at https://www.flickr.com/photos/koelle/?details=1
While a little gripping it seemed safe and wide enough. Looking down at the lower glacier it was interesting to try to imagine which way to go and spot the bridge in the far far distance. There were one set of nice tracks we more or less followed. Down at the bottom we crossed the river from skiers' right to left perhaps 1/2 mile above the road on a snow bridge; not a problem but this may not last a lot longer. I have no real idea where all the crevasses are so its hard to say how much longer the whole trip will be good. A few pictures at https://www.flickr.com/photos/koelle/?details=1
Nice work. FYI there are no crevasses as long as you stay generally on the east side of the basin. You drop down right near the terminus of the glacier. There is also no need to cross the river - both sides work fine. The skier's left has a ramp just before the bridge that goes through some light shrubbery up to the road. The skier's right has a short bootpack just after the bridge to the small parking lot there.
author=dkoelle link=topic=31253.msg131073#msg131073 date=1395668184">
There were one set of nice tracks we more or less followed.
Thanks dkoelle! Those were my tracks from the day before! I skied from Camp Muir to the Bridge solo on Sat. 3-22. What a great day too! The conditions were incredible on 3-22. All nice powder up high, and the sun was out. There was only one set of faint, fading tracks that I saw on my way down on 3-22 that mostly stayed to the east side of moraine. They looked like they were several days old. I opted to stay to the west side of the moraine and boot packed up to the road.
I didn't have time to put together a proper TR together at the time, but Sat 3-22 was a beautiful day on Mt. Rainier. The conditions were really solid. The sun was out the whole day, and then at the end of the afternoon, the upper mountain made her own weather as she often does and there was mixed snow and sun for a few minutes at Camp Muir. As soon as I dropped about 800-1000vf I was back in the full sun again.
Here is a shot from camp Muir:
Camp Muir conditions Sat, 3-22-2014
Nutrition before drop
https://www.flickr.com/photos/koelle/13524036355/in/set-72157642828454544
Reply to this TR
Please login first: