www.turns-all-year.com
| Backcountry skiing photos from Van Trump Park, Van Trump Glaciers, and the Turtle,
Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Turns All Year: Previous Home Page Galleries | This is a gallery of Van Trump Park backcountry skiing photos which appeared on the Turns All Year home page in the past. Thumbnail images on this page can be clicked to view the full-sized photos, and lead into a slide show sequence for the gallery. These photos are from a spring backcountry skiing trip on the south side of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. Starting at 3600 feet in snow-free forest, we hiked past Comet Falls and then skinned up Van Trump Park, Van Trump Glaciers, and onto the Turtle to around 10,200 feet. Breakable crust on the Turtle turned into generally nice spring skiing on the Van Trump Glaciers; lots of photos of telemark skiing and randonee skiing (alpine touring).
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from March 21, 2005:
Van Trump Park, Van Trump Glaciers, The Turtle,
Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, March 11, 2005
Spring greenery on the
Comet Falls trail | 
Log bridge over
Van Trump Creek | 
Comet Falls photo | 
Comet Falls with mist rainbow | 
Close up photos:
Comet Falls mist rainbow | 
Overview of upper Van Trump
Park from near 5800' | 
Skiing up Van Trump Park | 
Skinning out of Van
Trump Park near 6200' | 
Skinning near 6600' | 
View down to the dark forest | 
Skinning near 7000' | 
Near 7600' with Van
Trump Glaciers above | 
Looking back down
from around 9000' | 
Near 9600' with Kautz
Glacier ice cliffs above | 
Looking back down
from near 9600' | 
New views from the
bottom of the Turtle, 9800' | 
Muir snowfield
from lower Turtle | 
Skinning lower Turtle, with
Kautz Glacier ice cliffs | 
Eric skiing breakable
crust, lower Turtle | 
Eric and Mary
skiing on lower Turtle | 
Mary, randonee skiing | 
Tom in better snow,
upper Van Trump Glacier | 
Tom on alpine
touring (AT) gear | 
Mary, randonee skiing
on Van Trump Glacier | 
Allen, telemark skiing
on Van Trump Glacier | 
Allen | 
Eric, telemark skiing
on Van Trump Glacier | 
Eric, looking down to
the Nisqually River | 
Tom, AT skis | 
Allen, telemark skis
| 
Eric, telemark skiing,
Van Trump Glacier | 
Eric | 
Tom, randonee skiing | 
Mary, randonee turns | 
Julie, telemark turns | 
Eric | 
Mary skiing spring corn snow | 
The Mod Squad poses | 
Julie skiing spring corn snow | 
Mary | 
Megan, with overview
of Van Trump Glacier run | 
Eric carves a big one | 
Julie skiing into the draw
above Van Trump Park | 
View back up the draw | 
Overview: Mt. Rainier from
Van Trump Park, near 6200' |
Photos by Charles Eldridge
| Backcountry skiing trip report:
March 11, 2005, Van Trump Park, Van Trump Glaciers, The Turtle, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
The seven of us, three with randonee skiing (alpine touring) equipment and four with telemark skiing equipment, left the Comet Falls trailhead at Christine Falls at 9:00 AM. The snow-free forest was beautiful on this sunny warm morning. There were only a couple of short snow patches on the trail before Comet Falls. We got fantastic views of Comet Falls in the morning sun, complete with mist rainbows, before the trail started climbing out of the valley.
We found continuous snow beginning at about 5700', where we stashed the hiking shoes, put on ski boots, and started skinning. There were beautiful views of Mount Rainier and the Van Trump Glaciers from upper Van Trump Park, where a couple of snow connections had only a day or so of melting left. Around 6400' the more serious climbing began, on dusty, consolidated snow, and it was amazingly hot for mid-March.
We took a snack break at about 7200', then headed for the main skinning event on the Van Trump Glaciers. The sun was softening the south-facing slopes nicely, but in some places too nicely, weakening the frozen snow which overlay a large granular layer beneath. Clouds started forming above the Van Trump Glaciers, keeping things a little cooler for the skin up to the Turtle.
As soon as we got to the lower Turtle, with its more southeast exposure, we began finding breakable crust. We skinned a little way up the Turtle, but it was clear that the skiing would not be so great, and we topped out at about 10,200'. Nice views of the upper part of Mount Rainier, the Kautz Glacier ice cliffs which overhang Camp Hazard, the Muir Snowfield, and a steaming Mount Saint Helens.
The skiing on the Turtle was not very good, but as we turned onto the south-facing Van Trump Glaciers it got better, with nice corn snow areas and others where it was difficult not to break through into the underlying mush. Fat skis definitely worked better here. As we skied down the Van Trump Glaciers the semi-crust disappeared, and we found 2-10" of softened, granular snow. Many turns later, at the bottom of the Van Trump Glaciers, we headed toward a prominent draw which would lead us back to upper Van Trump Park. Some skied the draw, and others traversed above it. The last few hundred feet of vertical featured some very grabby snow where still in the sun. Then all that was left was the 2100' descent by trail back to the cars.
Charles
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