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The backcountry ski tours in Mount Rainier National Park are some of the most stunning trips in all the the Cascade Mountains. This is a breakdown of 40 separate trips from the summit to tours on the surrounding Peaks. Furthermore it is through these ski tours around Mount Rainier that I learned how to efficiently ski tour and explore new terrain every year.
Ski tours in Mount Rainier National Park
n this post I have broken the ski tours into 3 different regions based on their approaches. These areas offer a different personality and possibilities in terrain. From 7 day ski traverses to a quick hour lap directly from the car. Most of these Mount Rainier ski tours came from my imagination and studying topographical maps. I hope this page exposes you to many different options compared to what can be found in guide books.
Each Photo Represents a Different Ski Tour and can be opened by clicking on the image
Since you are on a Mobile Phone I have the trips listed above the Images.
Sorry about the headache and a full version can be seen on desktop
The Carbon River entrance is opened all year round and if you don’t mind a long approach the terrain more than makes up for it. Usually the Mowich lake area opens up on July 4th and closes with the first snow fall. If you are looking for easy August through October turns the Flett Glacier is the place to go. All of the trips in this section start at either the Carbon River or at Mowich Lake.
Trip Reports Based Out of the Carbon River
White River Entrance on Mount Rainier
The White River road is the area where I spent most of my time doing ski tours in Mount Rainier because of the proximity to my house. Usually the road opens in late May but the terrain is also accessible via snowmobile during the winter. Because the only access is via sled in the winter you are almost guaranteed to have the place to yourself. I have been going out there for over 10 years during the winter and never seeing another group. Since this section has so many trip reports I’ve broken it down to White River Road, White River Campground and Sunrise visitor center to keep it easy to scroll through.
Cayuse Pass
Ski Tours in Mount Rainier via the White River Road
This section focuses on everything particularly focusing from Cayuse Pass to Fryingpan Creek. With only a few trail heads that doesn’t mean there aren’t many mountains. When the snow is deep on White River road and you are using an early 90’s snow mobile just getting to Owyhigh Lakes trailhead is a challenge.
The White River Campground
The next section is focusing on the White River Campground. This area focuses on all tours starting at the end of the road before the turn off to Sunrise. This is as far as snowmobiles can go during winter and allows access to the high alpine slopes of Mount Rainier. The road is usually plowed out and can be drove up by the public in the beginning of June but before that the place is quiet.
Sunrise Visitor Center
This section focuses on every ski tour that goes by Sunrise visitor center. While you can’t snowmobile up it is an easy climb during the winter to access the area. From the high ridge there are numerous great lines to ski within the area as well as down to the White River. Some of this area is the peaks opposite the valley of Crystal Mountain.
Ski Tours in Mount Rainier via the Paradise Entrance
This area has been broken down into two sections focusing first on the Paradise Visitor center then secondly every tour around there. The road is plowed out and allows for public access all the way to 5,400 feet but with a locked gate policy you need to make it out before dark.
Nisqually Glacier from Paradise Visitor Center
Paradise to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Paradise to Carbon River Ski Traverse
Edith Creek Basin near Paradise Visitor Center
Paradise Glacier and the Start of the Winter
Cowlitz Glacier and the Nisqualy Chute Variation
September on the Muir Snowfield
Muir Snowfield Powder Turns in November
Nisqually Chute on Mount Rainier
The Tatoosh Range and Van Trump Area
This section focuses on the tours that aren’t from Paradise visitor center for example Tatoosh Range from Narada Falls, Van Trump Park and the Longmire entrance. These zones offer everything from North facing tree skiing in the Tatoosh Range and in contrast open alpine slopes in Van Trump Park. Furthermore if you are desperate and fearing a gate opening you can tour from Longmire.
Mount Rainier Summit Descents
I saved the best section for last. While the lower slopes have great ski tours it is the glacier covered peak that catches most peoples interest. This is not a winter touring area as powder days are as rare as it comes henceforth it is all about corn skiing. In particular the high season for riding off the summit can range from April to early August. You will be traveling on glacier and hiking around crevasses so it is super important to be careful and knowledgeable about glacier travel. But when the stars align you can find 11,000 vert fall line runs.
In Conclusion
In short thank you for taking the time to check out this page and hopefully it gave you some inspiration for some new ski tours in Mount Rainier National Park. I was very fortunate to call this area my home mountain as well as Crystal Mountain. For the most part no matter what the conditions you can almost always find some great turns and views within these 235,612 acres.