April 22, 2018, Muir to bridge - Nisqually Chutes

Arrirved at Longmire at 9am, gate already open and arriving at Paradise there were many folks already on the move - guessing the gate opened way earlier than usual.

Far from a wilderness experience...but thats to be expected :) ...and at least I didn't hear anyone using bluetooth speakers on skin up (thank you!). Very light breeze and nice temps on the snowfield kept us from roasting on the skin up - still comfy enough for t-shirts until stopped at Muir.

Started skiing down around 1-ish I think. Upper snowfield rather wind affected and bumpy but soft. Only a couple parties had been in the chute before us, and it was generally pretty smooth with a couple inches of rapidly warming pow-crud over a carveable/supportive base. I wonder if later in the afternoon the whole thing turned to mashed potatoes.

Looked like there were at least a few parties skinning their way up/across the Nisqually for Kautz or Fuhrer attempts the following day.

Fast smooth snow out across the flats of the lower Nisqually and surprisingly it didn't start to get to sticky or mushy until the final turns near the outflow of the Nisqually River.

We followed other tracks on the west side of the river - looks like east side will work too (though getting up to the road is a shwack on that side). Only one spot where we had to de-ski and rock-hop a side stream.

Go get it summit to bridge skiers!