3/8/08- Muir to Cowlitz to Nisqually chutes
3/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2990
11
Joe Bell, Paul, Ethan and I arrived as the 9th car at Paradise. Then the race for Muir began. Along the way we bumped into Scotty, Sidney, Michael and crew looking to ski the Nisqually Chutes as well. Joe and I had other plans in addition to the chutes for the day. We opted to gain Muir, ski the upper Cowlitz glacier, then traverse across the paradise glacier to the muir snowfield, then ski the chutes to the bridge. This we did!
The race began under soupy skies and a bit of light snowfall which eventually ceded to blue skies and a few cameo appearances from Helens and Adams. Arriving to a virtually windless Muir at 1:30 was Joe with the gold and myself the silver followed by a snowshoer and the bronze.
We decided to recharge and soak up the sun and make our planned trip happen. We dropped into the Cowlitz glacier's upper reaches to hardpack and wind sculpted snow featuring dramatic icefalls, schrunds, and amazing views of the Cowlitz and Paradise glacier valleys. It seems to be quite skiable most of the way down and only marred by a few sketchy areas of icefall, etc. We took the sunny eastern aspect below Cathedral Rock down to about 9,600' where we spied some potential trouble poking out of the snow and decided to traverse right and below the dramatic icefalls (see pic of joe and icefall) up under Anvil Rock. The turns were best on the sun softened slopes and not unbearable anywhere else. Really a very good day due to the solar radiation softening up even the toughest spots. There were a few spots of firnspiegel to be noted along the way, but nothing too prevalent.
We then made our way down a few hundred vert of the Paradise Glacier and traversed over to the rocky dividing line of the Paradise and Muir snowfield. After a short carry we popped our skis back on and finished our traverse over to the nisqually chutes. Ethan and Paul decided to bag the trip up past Anvil and join us on the run down the Nisqually. Good decision guys! After a bit of waiting for the pea soup to clear we made our way down at 3pm to refreezing corn. This was like skiing with marbles running down past your feet, truly an interesting experience. Joe on the other hand decided not to drop the main chute but opted for the " Lemming Chute" (far skier's right of main). There he was unsure about his options and requested a route check from below. I obliged, skiing untouched corn down the glacier to where a good vantage point would allow me to give Joe the thumbs up. Yes, thumbs up and off he went as I captured it on video (albeit not a very good one). This line proved to be a nice 40 deg or more face holding good untouched snow and probably is not skied as often as it could be this year. As he arced huge turns down through the rocks and over the convexity we could hear an odd sound emitting from his direction- this was dubbed the "Doppler Effect" of Joe on the snow! His jacket flapping wildly in the wind as he accelerated downslope and past us in a rush of gore-tex, adrenaline and smiles.
Video link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8044296716303607577
The rest of the descent was marked by a clearing sky, great views and rapidly deteriorating snow. We skied trap-crust from 6,600 down to about 5,800 which ceded to corn/ slush and all in between. All in all a great day out with views of Adams, Helens, numerous glaciers and valleys, and of course the Nisqually snout (see pic below) and Nunataq.
We arrived at the bridge to a flurry of paparazzi and odd glances of "What the hell are they doing down there". The photographers took a few curious photos of us climbing the staircase to the road and we made one pay us a royalty by driving Ethan up to our awaiting car at Paradise.
Very Nice!
more pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/christopherlyles/MuirCowlitzNisquallyChutes
Chris
The race began under soupy skies and a bit of light snowfall which eventually ceded to blue skies and a few cameo appearances from Helens and Adams. Arriving to a virtually windless Muir at 1:30 was Joe with the gold and myself the silver followed by a snowshoer and the bronze.
We decided to recharge and soak up the sun and make our planned trip happen. We dropped into the Cowlitz glacier's upper reaches to hardpack and wind sculpted snow featuring dramatic icefalls, schrunds, and amazing views of the Cowlitz and Paradise glacier valleys. It seems to be quite skiable most of the way down and only marred by a few sketchy areas of icefall, etc. We took the sunny eastern aspect below Cathedral Rock down to about 9,600' where we spied some potential trouble poking out of the snow and decided to traverse right and below the dramatic icefalls (see pic of joe and icefall) up under Anvil Rock. The turns were best on the sun softened slopes and not unbearable anywhere else. Really a very good day due to the solar radiation softening up even the toughest spots. There were a few spots of firnspiegel to be noted along the way, but nothing too prevalent.
We then made our way down a few hundred vert of the Paradise Glacier and traversed over to the rocky dividing line of the Paradise and Muir snowfield. After a short carry we popped our skis back on and finished our traverse over to the nisqually chutes. Ethan and Paul decided to bag the trip up past Anvil and join us on the run down the Nisqually. Good decision guys! After a bit of waiting for the pea soup to clear we made our way down at 3pm to refreezing corn. This was like skiing with marbles running down past your feet, truly an interesting experience. Joe on the other hand decided not to drop the main chute but opted for the " Lemming Chute" (far skier's right of main). There he was unsure about his options and requested a route check from below. I obliged, skiing untouched corn down the glacier to where a good vantage point would allow me to give Joe the thumbs up. Yes, thumbs up and off he went as I captured it on video (albeit not a very good one). This line proved to be a nice 40 deg or more face holding good untouched snow and probably is not skied as often as it could be this year. As he arced huge turns down through the rocks and over the convexity we could hear an odd sound emitting from his direction- this was dubbed the "Doppler Effect" of Joe on the snow! His jacket flapping wildly in the wind as he accelerated downslope and past us in a rush of gore-tex, adrenaline and smiles.
Video link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8044296716303607577
The rest of the descent was marked by a clearing sky, great views and rapidly deteriorating snow. We skied trap-crust from 6,600 down to about 5,800 which ceded to corn/ slush and all in between. All in all a great day out with views of Adams, Helens, numerous glaciers and valleys, and of course the Nisqually snout (see pic below) and Nunataq.
We arrived at the bridge to a flurry of paparazzi and odd glances of "What the hell are they doing down there". The photographers took a few curious photos of us climbing the staircase to the road and we made one pay us a royalty by driving Ethan up to our awaiting car at Paradise.
Very Nice!
more pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/christopherlyles/MuirCowlitzNisquallyChutes
Chris
Holy Guacamole!!...now that's a tour...
Good job and an interesting route. Our group skied the chute at about 1.00 Pm and it was very nice and not sloppy at all due to the cloud cover that kept coming in and out.
Glad it all worked out for you.
Glad it all worked out for you.
Thanks for writting up a TR Chris. Good tour. Thanks for seeing it through. I was really pleased how well everthing skied really well from top to bottom. Thanks for scoping the line. The top was great but with the rollover I couldn't see nearly half of it from above. The lower portion of the bridge run was much more interesting than I had imagined.
One correction regarding the Cowlitz; I believed that we skied down to the shelf below one icefall and above another at just above 9K and traversed there to the upper Paradise glacier, skied SE below Anvil Rock to about 8.5K and then crossed Little Africa back onto the Muir Snowfield.
It was nice to meet Ethan and Paul and good to run into Scotty, Sydnie and Michael on the hill. Despite your denials that you were headed to the Chutes, I suspected as much and was forced to find a fresh alternative once we arrived and saw the damage done. I thought that I could see the deep troughs Scotty left behind with his 2 meter long water skies. I'm gonna wanna try those one day after they have a few scratches in 'em.
One correction regarding the Cowlitz; I believed that we skied down to the shelf below one icefall and above another at just above 9K and traversed there to the upper Paradise glacier, skied SE below Anvil Rock to about 8.5K and then crossed Little Africa back onto the Muir Snowfield.
It was nice to meet Ethan and Paul and good to run into Scotty, Sydnie and Michael on the hill. Despite your denials that you were headed to the Chutes, I suspected as much and was forced to find a fresh alternative once we arrived and saw the damage done. I thought that I could see the deep troughs Scotty left behind with his 2 meter long water skies. I'm gonna wanna try those one day after they have a few scratches in 'em.
Leming vidieo very cool.
SnowBell- I guess I was close enough with the elevations as I only was going by my topo and instinct on when and where we cut over. Little Africa? Is that the rocky section we booted over before we strapped back up? It is not on the topo so I have no idea what that is.
Anyway, good times, except for the tr writing- I somehow lost the first draft as my computer shut down after the battery ran out, and had to retype the whole thing.
Next time I will shout "not it".
Chris
Anyway, good times, except for the tr writing- I somehow lost the first draft as my computer shut down after the battery ran out, and had to retype the whole thing.
Next time I will shout "not it".
Chris
Just a note on the name Leming variation to the Nisqually Chute. This was a name I gave it when Overthills and I skied it last year. It's not it's real name but was so called by us as one day we where casually sitting at the top of the Nisqually chute bucking up when two young, gifted skiers came up ( both post on TAY)and very politely asked if we minded if they dropped the chute first.
We said we didn't mind and off they went but they turned right over the arete and not down the main chute. When we skied down, I said to Michael, " if they can ski it, so can we", famous last words if I ever heard them. ::)
We followed their tracks over a blind rollover onto a very steep pitch with a small bergshund at the bottom. ( it was later in the season). We where a bit scared but manned up and got down after a few scary hissers sloughed past us.
I called it the Lemming Variation as like lemmings we foolishly followed other, more gifted skiers over the cliff.
Good job Snow Bell on getting the Lemming! ;D
We said we didn't mind and off they went but they turned right over the arete and not down the main chute. When we skied down, I said to Michael, " if they can ski it, so can we", famous last words if I ever heard them. ::)
We followed their tracks over a blind rollover onto a very steep pitch with a small bergshund at the bottom. ( it was later in the season). We where a bit scared but manned up and got down after a few scary hissers sloughed past us.
I called it the Lemming Variation as like lemmings we foolishly followed other, more gifted skiers over the cliff.
Good job Snow Bell on getting the Lemming! ;D
author=skierlyles link=topic=9413.msg38018#msg38018 date=1205180054">
Little Africa? Is that the rocky section we booted over before we strapped back up?
This map shows "Little Africa" as the rocky ridge flanking the Muir Snowfield below Moon Rocks and above Sugar Loaf. This is where we crossed back onto the Muir Snowfield at 8.5K. Also evident is the shelf just below 9K where we traversed west to gain the upper Paradise Glacier. Unfortunately, this map does not show the lower portions of the Paradise and Cowlitz glaciers.
author=Scotsman link=topic=9413.msg38026#msg38026 date=1205201347">
Just a note on the name Leming variation to the Nisqually Chute. This was a name I gave it when Overthills and I skied it last year. It's not it's real name but ...
I called it the Lemming Variation as like lemmings we foolishly followed other, more gifted skiers over the cliff.
That's good enough for me. Someone should step forward with another name if one is known (Ron) as this name seems to have some stick.
It was good seeing you guys and meeting Joe, Ethan, and Paul. That little couloir looked to be in great shape compared to when Scotty and I skied it last june and Joe sure made short work of it.
my friend and i skied from muir down and caught up to you guys at the top of the chute waiting for clouds to pass. i think this photo is one of your guys scouting the ridge. fun day, wish we had joined you on your grand tour tho....
Fun times fer sure!! 8) ... good to ski with you all again, and to meet a few new ones ... Overthehills, I think you were the one with the same backpack as me right, the blue BD pack??
author=p0875 link=topic=9413.msg38068#msg38068 date=1205256380]
my friend and i skied from muir down and caught up to you guys at the top of the chute waiting for clouds to pass. i think this photo is one of your guys scouting the ridge. fun day, wish we had joined you on your grand tour tho....
sorry I did not introduce myself, we had been waiting patiently for awhile and the pea soup finally started to thin when you two arrived. Good day out and would have loved to had you two along with us on the cowlitz. We made our way through the glaciated terrain very quickly as I was worried about crevasses so it was not so much a tour but a quick skim thru.
and yes, that was Joe scoping his line on the Lemming chute. video above.
Chris
Reply to this TR
Please login first: