South side of Mount Rainier,
showing Muir snowfield | 
Ritual gathering near
the Camp Muir potties | 
Nisqually Glacier icefall |
Skiiing the Muir snowfield
toward Nisqually Chutes | 
View down the Chutes
from near the entrance | 
Jason skiing the
Nisqually Chutes entrance |
Jason carves deeply into
good snow in the Chutes... | 
...with a nice finish | 
View back up the top section
of the Nisqually Chutes |
Aaron and Jason pause in
front of the Nisqually Glacier | 
Jason hucks one,
photo 1 of 4: lift off | 
Jason hucks one,
photo 2 of 4: mid-flight |
Jason hucks one,
photo 3 of 4: touch down | 
Jason hucks one,
photo 4 of 4: exit | 
ÊAaron hucks one: mid-flight |
Overview of
Nisqually Chutes skiing run | 
Skinning up from the
Nisqually Glacier moraine | 
Mount Saint Helens lets off
steam at the end of a good day |
Photos by Jeff Huber
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Backcountry skiing trip report: December 18, 2004, Paradise,
Camp Muir, Nisqually Chutes, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Mount Rainier seemed like a good option today given the high freezing level, clear weather and the repetitiveness of again skiing on Mount Hood with little snow--not that skiing on Mount Hood is ever bad, it's just nice to have a bit of volcano variety.
Ê In order to conserve fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we took Jason's "little VW" (aka VW Golf) arriving at Paradise under perfectly blue sky, no wind and t-shirt temperatures. Yes it was Paradise! We started skinning at 10:40 (per camera timestamp). The pitch below Panorama Point Aaron and I skinned while Jason bootpacked, I think the consensus was skinning is more efficient here.
Descending from Camp Muir there were a number of "wind undulations" in the snow. The upper Muir snowfield was firm but by no means icy, and lower down it became progressively softer. We arrived at the entrance to the Nisqually Chutes a bit before 3:00.
The snow near the entrance was a bit heavy, leading to concerns about the stability of the soft snow. After hesitation and discussion we entered noting we'd ski cut, ski one at time, and noting safe spots to stop if we wished. Once in the "chute" of the Nisqually Chutes the snow was mucho better quality and not nearly as soft as we had anticipated. The skiing was really, really good -- I'm not sure if it was still quite hero corn (at least by the high standard of this California native), but it was very close and uber good for early "winter". At the base of the chute Jason and Aaron hucked off the mini "half pipe".
Jeff |
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