from March 7, 2005:
Kids cross country skiing and snow camping photos: Mazama Ridge, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, February 25-27, 2005
Skinning up Mazama Ridge | 
Mount Rainier
from Mazama Ridge | 
Mazama Ridge kids
cross country skiing | 
Mount Rainier
from Mazama Ridge | 
Kids cross country skiing
glide, fast snow | 
Kids cross country skiing
glide, powdery snow | 
Close up photos:
Muir Snowfield | 
Kids cross country
skiing on Mazama Ridge | 
Gliding back for
some snow camping | 
Dinner time | 
Close up photos:
Success Ridge sunset | 
Spring skiing
on Mazama Ridge | 
Stevens-Van Trump
Memorial view | 
Cross country skiing with
Mount Saint Helens | 
Kids cross country skiing
with Goat Rocks | 
Solar heated lunch nook | 
A successful day of
shredding the slopes | 
Gliding down the lower
Paradise Glacier valley | 
Cross country skiing glide | 
Close up photos:
upper Mount Rainier | 
Evening ski touring | 
Sunset glide | 
Fast snow in the shade | 
Cribbage on
snow camping bench | 
Cowlitz Rocks view from
snow camping bench | 
Tent and ski tracks | 
Unicorn Peak
from Mazama Ridge | 
B&W photos:
Mount Rainier lenticular cloud | 
Heading back
up Mazama Ridge | 
On the way out
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Photos by The Eldridges
| Backcountry skiing trip report: February 25-27, 2005
Mazama Ridge, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington,
Kids cross country skiing and snow camping photos
My daughter, who goes by the cross country skiing moniker of Tahoma, and I went up to Mazama Ridge for our annual skiing and snow camping trip. This was our seventh year of doing this, having started when Tahoma was five years old. We've gradually increased the difficulty of the trips, but are limited by the fact that Tahoma has never been on downhill skis and doesn't really know how to turn. In addition, she still uses traditional (skinny) cross country skis and matching boots.
Overall there was a wide variety of snow conditions. Friday was sunny and warm, with almost-corn in the sun and thick crust in the shade, with a few pockets of dense powder in areas that had not received any sun. We set up camp in an out of the way location on the far side of Mazama Ridge, then toured south down Mazama Ridge. Since Tahoma can't turn, our tours consisted of a series of descending traverses where our speed could be killed on a slight rise. I set the track, Tahoma followed. This actually turned out to be pretty fun (lots of skiing uses only a little vertical), and since we weren't trying to turn, it didn't really matter that there was breakable crust in areas. The dense powder on N-facing slopes was slow and we discovered we could use this to control the speed of our glides. I did manage to get in about 10 turns on really nice corn snow in one spot. Skiing back up to camp we stuck to the eastern edges of glades to stay in the sunny and still soft snow, because shaded snow refroze quickly (we used skins to get up to Mazama Ridge, but fishscales for the rest of the trip). With the short days and rapid cooling, we were in the tent by 6:30.
On Saturday, we lounged around in the sun on our "morning" snow camping bench, playing cribbage and waiting for the snow to soften. Then we skied to the top of Mazama Ridge, across the flats, and up the lower Paradise Glacier valley to lunch near the waterfall. There were a whole bunch of skiers just ahead of us who continued higher. We didn't see them ski down but there were probably some good turns in the semi-corn snow of the sunny slopes. Skiing back down to camp was fun since the wide open slopes allowed us to do long glides on the fast snow. We had dinner, on our "evening" snow camping bench, earlier than the previous night so that we didn't get shaded out while eating. Then we skied up to the edge of Back Bowl and did numerous glides back to camp on the rapidly refreezing, and very fast, snow. Mount Rainier was beautiful in the low-angled light.
Sunday started sunny, but there were high clouds to the southwest and a nice lenticular on Mount Rainier's summit. The sun was able to start softening the snow before the clouds came over, and after breakfast we did another tour down Mazama Ridge, exploring glades that I had never seen and checking out the east side of the ridge. This time we went farther down the ridge, stopping where the combination of denser trees and shallower snowpack made our style of skiing impractical. We packed up and left camp about 1:30, and Tahoma was able to stay on skis part way down the west side of Mazama Ridge, to where the gullies develop. She walked from there back down to the road. The skiing was challenging for me because the west slopes were really tracked up - ski, snowshoe, boot - and the tracks were firm.
All in all a great trip. Now I remember, though, why I like spring ski camping so much more than winter. Warmer and longer days, better snow for travelling. Given this year's snowpack, however, it didn't seem wise to wait until our usual April-May timing for our trip. Hopefully next year will be back to normal!
Charles
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