chute me on SATURDAY (6/11)!!

i haven't checked yet, but is the road to Sunrise open?  and are we going to have another chute fest? huh? huh?  Ron J, what do you think?  oh, the smell of Mad_dog's famous hotdogs roasting on the grill.  tailgate party.<br><br>edited to add:<br>okay, we've decided to ski at Sunrise on Saturday.  meet at Buzzy's (in Greenwater) at 8am.  if the gate is closed, then we go look for some other patch to ski. Ron J has a grill. i'm bringing one.

We were at Summerland over the weekend. Ranger said next weekend for road opening...<br><br>-Dave R

We were at Summerland over the weekend.  Ranger said next weekend for road opening...<br><br>-Dave R

<br>Dave-According to the Mount Rainier Web Site they remain steadfast on the opening date....<br>Sunrise Road CLOSED. Scheduled opening June 11, 2005.<br>Maybe I will have to check if they are opening early they keep pretty close to the schedules they submit to the web site.<br><br>On a side note-I did a quick hike up there yesterday (Monday) to get hands on report. What a great afternoon hike-clear sky and great views of tracks on Inter Glacier. The chutes have really melted out! They tease you as I hiked to the chutes there was about a 4ft snow pack (hump) on the ridge then bone and rocks on the (NW)other side. I would liken the snow coverage to what it was 2 weeks after last years Chutefest. Kam-There may be no Pizza Delivery this season &gt;. The main run above the parking lot is showing rock and is receding to the Huckleberry basin (still skiable).<br>Other chutes that normally are 30 to 40 ft wide are now down to 15 ft or less. Some of the lower Huckleberry basin areas are really melting up to the chutes. The snow levels are to be cool this week and that may help matters, but bring your rock skis when it opens. Chutes will be very select (few) and the Burroughs that I can see from Sunrise barely connect to the lower bowl. Can't make a call on Dege since I didn't do the 3 mile walk down to it.<br>Joe

Thanks for the recon, Joe. That helps a bunch. I agree with you, the Park Service web site is usually pretty reliable for opening dates, and they just updated that page on 5/27. As you pointed out, it still says they're planning on opening the road on June 11. That's actually pretty nice for us, at least in comparison to other years, when the road didn't open until the visitor's center opened (currently scheduled now for 6/25). I applaude the PS for granting us that access 2 weeks earlier than they have in the past. It prolly wouldn't hurt to check with the WR RS again tho, between now and 6/4. Like you say, just in case the ranger that Dave talked to knows more than the person updating the web site -- it would sure be better to get in there on 6/4 <br>Too bad we're shy on snow. Your report doesn't sound that good. Hopefully Dege's go a line or two on it that we can work, eh?<br>Nonetheless, I'm thinking (unless Dave's contact had the best info) we go for it on Saturday 6/11 (depending on the weather, and, of course unless we deem it our "Adams weekend" [so much to ski and so little time] ) If we hit a "dry hole" we can always do the "tatoosh traverse" like we did in 2000. If we find a nice line to work and the weather is even halfway decent, I'll go back for another helping on Sunday the 12th. After all, we gotta get at least one tailgate party in this summer, right? <br>

Good ideas Ron! <br>We can't get closed out on a snow season, Crystal Fest, Chute Fest Tailgate party all in the same year ???.<br>All this melting leads to one big splash of a Slush Cup!<br>Ron-Trust me-I will find a chute for you when this road opens-maybe only one .<br>Joe

Sorry about the "rumor" status of my comment. At the time, I knew I wasn't going to be able to take advantage of it as I'm busy next weekend, so I didn't drill them for details. It seems the party line is 6/11. It's probably worth checking again Thurs-Fri.<br><br>-Dave R