Memorial Day Weekend Pt. 1: The Nisqually Chute

DATE HIKED: 5/4/25

TOTAL MILEAGE: 6 MILES

TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 3,300’

We try to plan a ski trip for every Memorial Day weekend since a long weekend at the end of May lends itself well to big spring ski tours. This year was no exception. We initially set the weekend aside as a potential Rainier summit attempt via the Emmons, but on Thursday the Rainier climbing rangers posted a blog post detailing how sketchy the route currently is. Recent snow created shallow snow bridges over big crevasses, and there were reports of highly capable parties taking their skis off and belaying each other down the most precarious sections. This did not sound like something we wanted to do, so we looked for other options. After quite a bit of waffling, we decided to keep it chill for the weekend and go on a couple of half day ski tours in Mt. Rainier National Park. It would still give us the opportunity to ski and marvel at the beautiful Tahoma, but without any sketchiness. The first tour we planned for the weekend was one we have been dreaming of completing for years: the Nisqually Chute.

The Nisqually Chute in the center

The Nisqually Chute is a beautiful line that pours from the Muir Snowfield down to the Nisqually Glacier 1,500’ below. In winter, it is a line that can famously be skied all the way to the Nisqually Bridge, allowing for a relatively small ascent for a big descent and reward. Unfortunately, that line was already out for the season, but we could still ski the chute itself, something Alex and I have been wanting to do for years, yet somehow never quite got around to. Instead, we used all our trips to the Muir Snowfield as a conditioning mission up to Camp Muir and straight back down to Paradise, skiing right past the chute each time.

It turns out some friends were planning to ski the chute the same day, so we linked up with Sander, Dan, and another Alex for a party ski.

On Saturday morning, we left Seattle just after 5AM. It was forecasted to be hot and sunny so we wanted an early start. At 7:30AM, we arrived to a nearly full parking lot at Paradise, we were clearly not the only ones with this idea. The parking lot was overflowing with skiers, hikers, and casual mountain-watchers.

There was still plenty of snow at Paradise so we were able to start skinning from the parking lot, making our way through the crowds toward Panorama Point. Panorama Point is always the most annoying section of any trip to Camp Muir. Like usual, it was peppered with a foot prints, skin tracks, and glissade tracks, all refrozen overnight. I made a few kick turns up the face and immediately decided to switch over to booting, which was much more efficient for me.

In just under an hour we made it to the top of Panorama Point and took a quick water and photo break before continuing up. While most of the crowd was making their way up toward Camp Muir, contouring along the east edge of the snowfield, we broke off and began heading northwest toward 8,300’.

The snow was softening up nicely in the sun and made for quick skinning. In 2.5 hours we made it to our drop in spot. Given how many people were out, I was surprised that we were the only group heading for the chute.

We took another snack break before transitioning to ski mode. We slowly made our way toward the chute, the entrance is a convex rollover with cliffs on either sides making it easy to miss, but luckily we found the entrance without any issue.

Standing on top of the chute, with the slope falling away toward the Nisqually Glacier was exhilarating. I had been apprehensive about this ski, it looked steep on topo maps, but standing at the top it seemed so doable. Alex skied down first, the snow was chunky and he even wobbled and slipped a bit, which is very unlike him. He skied to the bottom and radioed up to us that there were snow chunks hidden on the slope that could easily catch an edge. Not wanting to catch an edge and tumble down the entire chute, I kept my turns very conservative in the upper section. There were certainly chunks to avoid and contend with, but about halfway down the snow started to get better and I could start to open my turns up some more.

We regrouped about 3/4 of the way down the chute. Sander headed up to a ridge and then came on the radio, “you guys have got to get over here!” We all followed him, eager to see what he saw. Up on the ridge, we found ourselves looking at the dreamiest slope, a field of untouched corn. Gleefully we all skied the corn, whooping with joy.

That slope led us to the bottom of our line. We grinned from ear to ear as we transitioned back to skinning for a short ~200’ push up to Glacier Vista where we once again were a part of a crowd of hikers. We transitioned one last time and after another five minutes of skiing, we were back at the parking lot. I looked back at the mountain. We could still see our line from the parking lot!

It was the perfect way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning in late May. I can’t believe it has taken us so long to ski this line, but it will not be our last visit. I definitely want to come back next winter and ski all the way to the bridge!