Splitboard.com Forums

Most of the Pics are from Scott as my camera Doesn't like cold weather.

With the forecast looking promising for pow above 5000 feet we decided to make a safe bet and head to the Interglacier in MRNP. The interglacier area is perfect for multiple reasons 1. Its all North facing so it has a better chance of staying cold 2. It summits out at almost 10'000 feet so 5'000 ft freezing level wasn't a big deal 3. Rainier blocks clouds from entering the interglacier so while almost all of Washington is cloudy the interglacier will be blue sky.

Friday after work Scott and I made the pilgrimage to the White River Campground and geared up in pouring down rain. It was hard to motivate ourselves to start the hike but we knew above 5'000 feet the rain would become snow which is crazy up here in June.

Kyle Miller Skinning into the Glacier Basin

When we made it to basecamp it was snowing rather heavily so we picked a spot somewhat protected from the elements and put up camp. After getting everything set up we went for a quick run of about 800 vert near sunset which in my opinion was by far the best snow of almost a foot.

The next mourning we woke up to blue Sky's and another few inches of fresh on our gear.We decided to tackle Mt Ruth as a warm up run while everyone else was going to head for the interglacier.

A quick break on the ridge with the Emmons and Tahomas in the background


We skinned up to the summit of Mt Ruth with brutal winds depositing snow in the gully's but leaving nothing but Ice on the summit.

A quick shot with Rainier and the Interglacier behind.


After taking a few minutes to check out the views we decided to drop into the main gully down and back to the glacier basin.

Dropping the summit above the Sea of clouds

June Pow


We descended into the clouds were visibility was less then 20 feet so we waited for a clearing which took Little bit. The run of mt Ruth is cliffed out other then 2 main chutes so we searched for awile then came upon it.

Droping into the Chute



Then Scott as the clouds rolled in


(if anyone got picks of our tracks I would love to see them)

When we reached glacier basin we Refueled on water and calories for abit soaking up sunshine. We ran into a few other splitboarders and got some beta about conditions on the Interglacier ( Thanks for the beta )

By this time the clouds had moved out and the sun was shining bright on our ascent of the interglaicer.

Scott skinning up with the Burroughs in the Background


As we were climbing a huge lenticular engulfed the summit of Rainier and with that we got hammered with brutal winds.

Getting close to the top with Rainier engulfed by a lenticular


After being beaten around by the wind for most the hike I finally made it to Steamboat prow and took 2 quick shots.

Looking down at the Winthrop glacier

The burroughs and sunrise (snows melting out fast)


Then I strapped my board together for over 3,000 vert of pow.

Scott First



Then Myself




Scott had to bail for work on sunday so we packed up our gear and left to the setting Sun.

Nice work, Kyle and Scott. Looked good up there. I've got Tuesday and Wednesday off so that looks like a good option.

sweet shot!
I wish it was bigger

Nice work fellas. Too bad you left Saturday night, that's when the weather got good! We ended up making it to about 11.5K or so on the DC before turning around Sunday early AM. The weather was great for our summit bid, but we decided the new snow and warm sun would make for a dicey descent and bailed.

Also of note was a natural release in the Nisqually Chute where it was loaded with the new snow. Looked to be about 6-12 inch crown, maybe 40-60 feet across, ran for a few hundred vert. Sun warmed release. Lower Nisqually still looks to be in pretty good shape, but is melting out super fast down by the bridge.

WHOA! jealous. Reminds me of home.

Well that doesn't suck!

Looks awesome!

The interglacier is a sweet run, nice pics too