Mt. Rainier, Muir and Nisqually Chute, June 9, 2013

Mt Rainier never gets old. Nisaually chute on the lower right.

Earlier in the week some climbing friends said they were doing a conditioning hike up to Camp Muir on Sunday, with sun in the forecast I couldn't say no.  The group ended up being my rope team from our Rainier summit via Emmons-Winthrop route last summer, it was great to get together again.

I had some skin re-glue issues and decided to just boot pack up with a solid board.  Figured that would keep me more on pace with the group.  The boot pack started easy, firm enough to not be postholing, but easy to step off the beaten path and pass the slooooow newbies.  Once past panorama point it became clear that Cal and Dre wouldn't match the pace that Deb and I were at.  45lbs of water vs. 25lbs really makes a difference at elevation.  Deb and I continued on at a faster pace with a few longer breaks to re-apply sunblock.

Adams poking up over the clouds from Muir snowfield

Once we hit around 9k Deb was feeling the elevation for her first real hike since an ankle injury.  I was feeling great and continued on to try and find us some seating.  As I got near camp I could feel my heart rate was quite high, but I still wasn't breathing heavy, trail running pays off.  I found a few nice rocks to sit on, took my boots off, and kicked back.  

From Muir, Adams on the left, Helens on the right, Hood in the  distance in the middle

The rest of the group arrived, we ate various snacks and proceeded to "shake, shake, shake our booties" in front of some very confused climbers.  I grabbed a radio, Cal and Dre found climbers who graciously accepted the gallons of water that they carried up, and they set off while I strapped in.  I decided to head down a little west and check out the bigger Nisqually chute.  Bellow 9k the snow was excellent corn with no tracks and no one else around.  I got some of the most relaxed carves I've been able to do in months, it felt great.  So great that I ended up over shooting my entrance and had to climb rocks back up to hit the chute.

Not too shabby

I did a cut across the slope, had a little wet slough, and decided to take the mellower pitch above the collapsing cornice.  From there I cut down in around the rock and out on to an open slope bellow with a good pitch.  Got to make some wide open sweeping carves before blasting across avy debris to catch the moraine ridge out.  

Looking back, at some good turns

Then I remembered why I never come over, the boot pack back up the moraine trail.  The snow was gloppy and it was a bit of a slog.  I radioed back to the group, they were still up at around 8k, so at least I could take my time.  As I got back up to the meadow a great view of Adams poking through the Tatoosh greeted me, almost made the slog worth it.

Hi Adams

I got back to the lot of tourists and harleys, such a change of environment from silence being broken only by falling rocks on the nisqually a few minutes ago.  I changed out in to some jeans and flip flops, drank my chocolate milk, and proceeded to take a nap in the sun on a bench at the visitor center, woke up just in time to heckle Cal on the radio as he got to the lot.  All in all a great start to month 43 of consecutive riding!