Mt. Rainier NP achieves major milestone

Snow Bell - thanks for reaching out to Mr. King.

Its great to hear that he invested some time in your concerns, which I share. This is a great chance for us to see a positive outcome that supports public access to such  an important place.

I just spoke with the MRNP Deputy Super (R. King) who told me that for now the mid week closure is in effect but that they were trying to resolve logistical issues that would allow them to safely open the road to Paradise week long.  He says that he hopes to be able to allow midweek access in the near future, perhaps by using signals stationed at either end of the damaged roadway.  For now, King says, the staff is focused on preparations for this weekends opening.  I for one intend to be positive and supportive in the hopes that public access is a priority to the park management and that this may prove an opportunity for them to demonstrate it.

Time will tell.

That is good news; if he is successful, I'll invite him over for free beer any time any number of times he wants! That's the kind of performance I expect and appreciate from governmental employes ( and I was one for 33 years).

Many thanks for the personal concern & encouraging report, Snow Bell!  I was hoping someone would play the 'good cop'.

I just spoke with the MRNP Deputy Super (R. King) who told me that for now the mid week closure is in effect but that they were trying to resolve logistical issues that would allow them to safely open the road to Paradise week long.  He says that he hopes to be able to allow midweek access in the near future, perhaps by using signals stationed at either end of the damaged roadway.  For now, King says, the staff is focused on preparations for this weekends opening.  I for one intend to be positive and supportive in the hopes that public access is a priority to the park management and that this may prove an opportunity for them to demonstrate it.

Time will tell.

Judas! I hope the 30 pieces of silver in your pack don't slow you down on our tour tomorrow.
Good job Joe for taking the initiative!

Finally got up to Paradise early today.  Gate open when I arrived about 7:30  First, a brief conditions report.  Quite a bit windier than forecast; wore pile coat & hat until we left at 1pm so Robie could meet family obligations..  Considering the warm temps on telemetry, the snow (below 6500') was surprisingly mostly hard frozen granular with a few icy patches in wind-exposed places.  Some runnels, but small creeks still mostly filled in.  Steeper direct SE & south aspects developed a bit of semi-corn by about 11.  Folks booting/cramponing up the W side of Pan appeared to move pretty slowly, but it looked like a few were able to skin up on the winter (south nose) route?

Robie astutely observed that the road damage on Glacier Hill seemed related to the power/phone lines installed under the road a few years back.  This damage seemed fairly trivial to me, considering MRNP's reaction.  I'm more convinced than ever that all this avy/safety hype is just another smokescreen for management's exclusion agenda.  Spoke with ranger Stephan L (acting Gator).  He was Mt Olympus ranger for a while when I worked at Olympic NP.  A good guy and a great skier, he seemed sympathetic & thought the Paradise road will eventually reopen on weekdays.  Hope he's right!

...  Steeper direct south aspects developed a bit of semi-corn by about 11. ...

Don't know where you skied, but Regine and I got there about 10:30, climbed a bit, and skied down for 2,000 vf of perfect corn, left at 1:30 (so we probably skied down from 1-1:30 as it was nice and it was fast).

p.s.: apologies to you young folks, but us geezers find 2,000 vf to be easy and fun--we know you all prefer 7,000 ft or more ...