Palisades Tahoe, CA - ◊◊ National Chute (1-28-23) [4K]

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Oh boy. This was insane.

National Chute is one of the steepest trails at Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw Valley). It's one of several iconic drop-ins that define the famous Palisades at this namesake resort. Even though National is considered the "easiest" way down from Wa She Shu peak, it's still one of the steepest in-bounds trails here or pretty much anywhere. A grueling hike is rewarded by a splendid view, or at least until the nerves kick in.

This was my first time doing a trail of this nature and I was (quite justifiably) terrified! But after seeing a few people do it, I finally regained my confidence when I was able to see the drop down just when I was preparing to drop in. I promise, it gets much easier once you see the ground you're dropping onto.

Advice: Everyone else I talked to at the top gave pretty sound advice. To sum it up: it will look terrifying from the top (where I was originally standing) but gets MUCH more manageable once you get into position to drop in. It was especially scary to me because I couldn't even as much as visually confirm where the ground and sides of the chute were, but this all changes when you move into that slot.

Moving into said slot also appears quite daunting, but the snow is pretty resilient and usually wouldn't be slippery enough to cause major slippage. Both slide-in techniques in the video (parallel parking and sliding in from the left) seem to be effective.

After that, it's all about the first turn! Just go in a straight line from the drop-in until you have enough contact with the ground to regain control. I definitely wouldn't recommend dropping in right off the edge (perpendicular to the cliff) - there's a reason no one in the video did that because it is quite dangerous due to the accumulated speed on a super bumpy surface.

Another thing to note is there is an easier way down than shown in the video - if you continue further down the top plateau there is a drop-in that is significantly less steep. It's a little hard to find, though, and ironically that's what I was looking for. I ended up on the hard way down, but it still wasn't bad at all!

I also want to stress that the hike up is still actually outrageous in its own right. It's one of the steeper in-bounds climbs to get to a trail, and even if the first few hundred feet are groomed it absolutely takes a toll on your body. You'll be carrying all your gear up an icy, wind-swept incline (oh yeah, the wind is nuts, too) at super high altitude. I was honestly almost as discouraged by the hike itself more as the vertical staredown from the top.

But hey, honestly, if you've skied any other double diamonds at Palisades before (e.g. Poulsen's Gully from the very top, Moseley's, Chute 75, etc.) you will probably be fine!

Overall Difficulty: 8/10
Relative Difficulty (Double Diamond): 6/10
Accessibility Rating: 3/10 (Brutal hike up from one or two lifts)
Open Trail Index: 1/10 (Extremely weather-dependent! Closes instantly if Siberia is down, usually patrol closes it after ~1:30pm, requires boatloads of snow to stay open for more than a day)
Enjoyment Rating: 6/10 (While the satisfaction afterward was immense, it was extremely intimidating and anxiety-inducing up until all velocity is dissipated at the bottom)

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Song "Outlaw" by Creo
   • Creo - Outlaw  

This is my first time adding music to one of my ski videos. Feel free to add constructive criticism - this isn't something I plan on doing a lot but I thought it was well worth the occasion.

If you would prefer to watch this video without music, here is another link:    • Palisades Tahoe, CA - ◊◊ National Chu...  

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REGARDING COMMENTS

Hey there, if you're stumbling across this video in 2024 or later, I have paused comments for the time being. There were a lot of nice people with constructive feedback, but I'm not willing to put up with a bunch of grumpy curmudgeons downright insulting my skiing form or editing choices. If you were about to leave a hateful comment, that's you. This video isn't even about politics, man. What's the point? Like, what outcome to you anticipate from commenting that?

This video was experimental from the start and is edited differently than any of my other content. It just happened to get popular. If this isn't your style, I'm sorry you didn't like it, but leaving rude comments isn't doing your generation any favors. I just don't understand some of these people these days. Think about the human on the other side of the screen. Is this the legacy you want to leave?