The Interglacier is one of the biggest lines in Mount Rainier National Park. Being Northeast facing I had always dreamed of riding it during the winter. From the moment that we first started sledding up White River Road it was the first line to tick off the list. I would keep coming back to this line year after year to ride in excellent powder. This trip focuses on heading in via the Emmons Glacier and doing an up and over trip in January.

A Little Bit of Info About the Interglacier

The Interglacier is a prominent point on the Northeast slopes of Mount Rainier National Park. The glacier starts at Steamboat prow at 9,4000 feet and runs to 7,000 feet in Glacier Basin. It can be accessed via White River Campground on the East side of the park. The glacier is part of a standard summit climbing route up the Emmons Glacier via Camp Sherman. The Road is not maintained during the winter but is open to public traffic by late May.

Heading up the White River Road

The trip started as it always does removing the sleds at the Silver Springs snowpark. Once ready we were off on a 16 mile ride up to the White River Campground. The road closes after the first snowstorm of the season riding 6 miles to the Park than another 9 miles in the park. With it only being a road you never really see sledders in the zone this place is all about ski touring.

The Machines were from the mid 90’s and not exactly built for breaking trail in a foot of new snow. It was all about momentum keeping up our speed as if we stopped the sled would just sink. Ever time we got stuck we would have to pull out the shovels and start digging. This usually happened one in every 3 trips. It’s a special treat if someone else had already gone up and put in the track. 99% of the time this you are blazing your way up the White River Road.

Skinning on Glacier Basin Trail

Once at the White River Campground we were surrounded by big mountain terrain. The North side of Goat Island Mountain was proudly on display with multiple  3000 foot avi paths directly to the river.

We followed the trail towards Glacier Basin two miles before bouncing off. Soon we were crossing the White River and getting onto the lower moraine of the Emmons glacier. In my opinion it’s a much better winter route to the Interglacier. It’s a much more scenic and gradual route than the standard route. After about 20 minutes of pain we were in wide open terrain breaking trail among the biggest volcano in the Cascades.

Heading Towards the Emmons Glacier to Access Interglacier

It was a long slog breaking trail up the Emmons Glacier but the scenery was stunning. instead of being in the forest heading up to Glacier Basin it was great to be in the sun. Following the contours of the mountains and setting switching back and forth we were putting the skin track into a blank canvas.

Soon enough the whole ascending route was in front of us. With such big terrain it looked like what seemed 2 hours away was easily 6 hours putting in the skin track.

As we started heading up I would use Goat Island mountain as a reference. The summit is over 7000 feet and our transition point was almost 10,000. The starting elevation at White River Campground was 4,400 feet.

A Scenic Skin Up the Emmons Glacier

We hugged the north side of the glacier as it was crevasse free until the top 500 feet. Once a bit higher up we made sure to keep distance from Mount Ruth‘s south face to keep away from the potential avalanche path. It was a beautiful and smooth ramp from the base of the Emmons all the way to Camp Sherman at 10,200 feet.

Once we were above Goat Island Mountain the surrounding mountains really started coming out. We could see everything from Sunrise on the left of the photo to Tamanos Mountain on the right with Crystal Mountain in the background.

The slog went on and on for hours as one person broke trail before needing a break. This went on for hours as we made our way towards Steamboat Prow.

Heading up to Steamboat Prow

After around 6 hours of climbing we were heading up the last 200 feet of steep terrain. Getting off the Emmons glacier we were making our way up to Steamboat Prow. From our vantage point we could see most of the terrain Jason Hummel and I covered while doing a ski traverse from Paradise to Crystal Mountain over 3 days.

Finally we were at the top of Steamboat Prow. 4,500 feet above us was the summit of Mount Rainier and the vast upper Emmons Glacier. It was one of the most scenic transition spot we could ask for in Washington. With the closest people being on the southern side of the volcano about 5 miles away we saw no signs of other people.

Snowboarding Down the Interglacier

Once done transitioning it was time to drop onto the Interglacier. We were spoiled with amazing powder as we made a scenic descent. In Front of us we could see everything from the 3rd Burroughs to Dege peak. On the left corner was Fremont which we linked together with Skyscraper Mountain

A turn at a time we descended 5,000 feet of open and deep snow before even touching a tree. The line just seemed to go on forever.

Before long Boot barely see me as I rode down the open glacier. By this time I still wasn’t even half way down the Interglacier.

What took us 7 hours to climb was ridden in just over 5 minutes. Before long we were back together as a group and preparing to snowboard down the Glacier Basin Trail.

Before long I was in Glacier Basin and waiting for the rest of our group is a safer spot before descending down the Glacier Basin Trail.

The Long Exit via the Glacier Basin Trail

The Glacier Basin trail is always smooth if there is a skier but we were all snowboarders. It was a mini epic with a few up hill spots meaning we would have to bootpacking in knee deep snow 10 minutes at a time. Before long we were back at the sled in the dark. While we were cold we were still thinking about the turns we took a few hours back.

The long exit was worth all the pain arriving at the car a few hours after sunset. After hitching a ride back to Enumclaw I was taking 2 metro buses with wet ski gear and a grin from ear to ear. At home in Kent I was sleeping in a warm bed and thinking the turns I had earlier in the day.

Thank you for reading our trip to the Interglacier and want to see more ski tours within Mount Rainier Backcountry check out this link