July 8, 2007, Sunrise Chutes, Mount Rainier NP
7/8/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2051
0
We'd planned to ski Dege Peak, but it looked a bit thin from the lookout. I think that the route on looker's left will probably go (or at least would yesterday), but we weren't sure. We continued on to sunrise. What a difference from 2 weeks ago! Then we had very good coverage and had 4 inches of fresh fall while we where there. This time, most of the chutes off the back of the ridge were melted out. We found one chute that still connected just east of the main tourist lookout (where the trail first reaches the ridge). It was very fun, but pretty narrow in a couple of places - might not last more than a day or two more. We found a wider way down a couple of hundred yards to the west - at the intersection of the main trail with Huckleberry Cr trail. That took us down into the basin where we could climb up and ski down various fingers that didn't go all the way up to the ridge. Weather was pleasantly cool and surface conditions were very nice (not too slushy). Left about 2:45. Didn't see anyone else skiing all day. A fun day and well worth the trip. But I wouldn't be counting skiing there much longer. I think we've done our last Sunrise trip for '07.
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