No skiing below Pebble Creek

I am the volunteer who was telling people to not ski below Pebble Creek yesterday, 7/20. I had intended to go out on skis myself and was told by a ranger at the visitor center that no one was to be skiing below Pebble Creek. On the way up toward Pan Point the first visitor I encountered on skis insisted that I get confirmation of this restriction, which I did from a different ranger than the one who had told me before.

The reason for the rule is that the snowpack has gotten too thin in too many places. The park is concerned about damage to vegetation and creation of social trails. The park spends thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours of volunteer time each year addressing the impacts of people traveling where they shouldn't, especially in the Paradise area. While not all of this is caused by irresponsible skiers there is certainly some cost to the park (and taxpayers) from skiers on low snowpack. It costs the park service $18 per square foot to re-vegetate an area once it is impacted. It takes 1-3 off-trail impacts to cause the damage.

In the Paradise area now snowpack can go from 5 feet down to zero within short distances. A skier can think he's acting responsibly by staying on snow while still damaging plants below. In addition to weight impacts on low growing vegetation like glacier lillies the edges of skis damage woody plants like tree seedlings and heather. When skiers go short distances off-trail between patches of snow they create social trails that other visitors follow, which makes the social trail look more like a real trail, and so the impacts multiply. The Paradise area is particularly vulnerable because it's at an elevation where plantlife is still lush, there's a very short growing season and there's a very high number of visitors.

A post from yesterday comments he heard about the restriction and ignored it. I think that was a poor choice.

I told about a half dozen people about the restriction. While most accepted it grudgingly one visitor was particularly offensive, attacking me verbally for enforcing it as well as cussing out the park service and accusing them of ulterior motives. Unfortunately some people can't get beyond their selfish desires to see the bigger picture.

  While most accepted it grudgingly one visitor was particularly offensive, attacking me verbally for enforcing it as well as cussing out the park service and accusing them of ulterior motives. 

Although I agree that whomever attacked you verbally was wrong I'm a firm believer in cussing out the park service on a daily basis.They deserve it. I spend at least 5 minutes every day cussing them out. A more inept and bureaucratic group ( collectively, not as individuals) would be hard to find. As a volunteer can you do anything about getting Sunrise opened earlier next year? Thanks.

Does the NPS seriously consider the area around Paradise a pristine alpine ecosystem? I am not suggesting that's a good reason to trash the vegetation but last time I checked, there was a paved trail there along with 10,000 tourists dropping trash and stomping all over, which already means, well, you know...

Further thoughts; backcountry skiers and climbers have always been a fairly anti-establishment types and getting told by a stranger not to do something never sits well. Maybe people would obey your instructions more if you had a badge or a hat. As a volunteer do you get a badge or a hat? I think it would help!

Does the NPS seriously consider the area around Paradise a pristine alpine ecosystem? I am not suggesting that's a good reason to trash the vegetation but last time I checked, there was a paved trail there along with 10,000 tourists dropping trash and stomping all over,  which already means, well, you know... 

The area around Paradise is certainly not pristine -- but the park service has and does go to great lengths to preserve the beauty of the area as much as possible.   With 10,000+ vistors this is a huge challenge -- particularly when summer busloads of know nothing tourists are getting disgorged in the parking lot.   The park uses teams of volunteers ("meadow rovers") to as much as possible keep vistors on existing trails and minimize the damage.  Those paved trails are needed to handle the huge amount of traffic that occurs within 1 mile of the parking lot without eroding into a deep dusty ditch.

The flower fields around Paradise are (IMHO) actually in better condition than they were back in the '60s and '70s -- beacuse of the efforts to get vistors to stick to established trails.

I find it a bit ironic that some people get so annoyed with having to deal with restrictions on their activities in what is probably the busiest mountain site in the state -- if you want to be free of annoying crowds, rangers and volunteer rangers -- go else where -- even if it is just over to the Tatoosh -- which is much less busy than Paradise.

This is interesting.  I read it and I checked the MORA website--no mention of it; I called the MORA telephone line and went thru their answering tree--no mention of it; earlier today I rode my motorcycle up to Paradise to check snow conditions in the event I would go skiing tomorrow--I saw no signs saying no skiing and what appeared to be sufficient snow to protect the veg on the normal route up Mazama from 4th crossing.  

I know from past years they "recommend" [language on the website] not skiing in less than 5 feet of snow; and i don't ski where veg is visible thru the snow; if the snow is skimpy I take my skis off and hike the trail til the snow is deep. I have no desire to damage the plants. In fact, last year I left my skis at home when the snow got skimpy and went hiking and stopped a MORA-volunteer-somenone skiing on vegetation between patches of snow below Alta Vista and told them they could get a citation  for that and that person said they had been skiing  in the same spot the day before with the woman in charge of revegetation ... etc.  So, what to believe?  And what should the park visitor do, when in good faith they check the website (including the park regulations) and the phone line and find nothing about restrictions and drive several hours to get to Paradise and get the gear ready and begin going up and then are told "oh, btw, you can't do that ... there's now an unwritten general rule of no skiing below Pebble Creek ..."

What does no skiing below Pebble Creek mean? Below that elevation? Between Pebble Creek and Paradise? Can you ski (on snow) below McClure Rock, to the Paradise River on Mazama Ridge (in snow)? Can you ski the Paradise Glacier? Last week I skied to Cowlitz Rocks, plenty of snow, all below Pebble Creek.

My main question is when is MORA going to start handing out customer satisfaction cards to be mailed in to a central office like many USFS offices were required to do--MORA management really needs some stockholder feedback.