Major storm cycle brings 4-8 ft of snow Jan 7-14!

I'm really hoping to see a Paradise-area report soon to know whether it's worth going to high south facing stuff there. The freezing levels are one thing and certainly hint to a corning-up. But it would be all for naught if the corning process can't find a layer within under that 3 ft of recent snow that becomes the supportive layer above which melt-freeze happens. I've had times where have been up there in winter inversions hoping for that proto corn. But instead it ends up being something that goes from crust-trapcrust-bottomless goo throughout day and aspect, with nothing pleasingly skiable to be found.

I'm really hoping to see a Paradise-area report soon to know whether it's worth going to high south facing stuff there. The freezing levels are one thing and certainly hint to a corning-up. But it would be all for naught if the corning process can't find a layer within under that 3 ft of recent snow that becomes the supportive layer above which melt-freeze happens. I've had times where have been up there in winter inversions hoping for that proto corn. But instead it ends up being something that goes from crust-trapcrust-bottomless goo throughout day and aspect, with nothing pleasingly skiable to be found.

FWIW, the various crust types below 7K were mostly supportive on Thursday's warm afternoon (except mostly breakable for XC skis).  No goo in Ice Cave valley or on Mazama ridge.

There were large step-down crown fractures up to ten feet high from last weekend's storm, and appeared to be large windslabs still hanging on the east sides of McClure Rock & Sugarloaf.  I'd be very cautious at the rollovers on lower Paradise Glacier.

I'm really hoping to see a Paradise-area report soon to know whether it's worth going to high south facing stuff there. The freezing levels are one thing and certainly hint to a corning-up. But it would be all for naught if the corning process can't find a layer within under that 3 ft of recent snow that becomes the supportive layer above which melt-freeze happens.

I should have written a reply much more promptly, but for the sake of historical completeness I'll do so belatedly now.

It turned out that the supportive layer was right on top of all the several feet of recent snow: even by January 16 only 2 days after the heavy snowfall ended, a
solid surface wind-and-sun crust covered almost everything on all aspects, topped by a couple inches of windblown powder in spots. It was fully-supportive and edgeable on skis, but not really so on foot with deep postholing into 2 ft of partially-consolidated snow below the crust for those not on skis, and it provided easy travel on skis and skins, but with ski crampons essential on most steeper or shadier aspects. An unexpected and pleasant surprise to find the surface consolidated and fully supportable so soon after 5-6 ft of new snow fell. All steeper south and southwest aspects below about 10000 ft were also corning nicely as of the 16th, and continued to do so on almost every afternoon through January 26 (except for a couple of windy and mostly cloudy days).

This resulted in the best January ski conditions on the south side of Mount Rainier (and by extrapolation, at higher elevations and above timberline on southerly aspects throughout much of the Washington Cascades and northern Oregon Cascades) during the last 18 years that I've been ski mountaineering. And unexpectedly produced the most concentrated period of ski mountaineering on a single mountain that I've ever done, skiing 7 times in an 11-day period from above 10000 ft on Mount Rainier down to Nisqually Bridge at 3900 ft via several different routes and variations. Each time skiing over 6000 vertical ft in a single run with smooth sweet corn snow for the majority of the run and an easy exit on fully consolidated snow out to the bridge, just amazing conditions for January or June or anytime.

Here is an extensive summary of the 2 weeks after this storm cycle ended, including multiple trip reports and weather info combined in a single thread:
Juneuary 16-26, 2014, Rainier, 10K to Bridge CORN!