Public meeting on Winter Operations, Mt. Rainier

Did anyone else see the commercial on tv regarding Mt Rainier access this winter?
It showed a  woman on a sled/toboggan.  The heading said "Come enjoy Mt. Rainier's recreation this winter Friday -Sunday".  Almost as if there were no other dates available...
Are they merely encouraging the public to go ahead and come on the days they're most likely to come...or setting everyone up for weekends only?

Ah, the plot thickens!  I don't watch much TV and haven't seen sharp-eyed Rusty's commercial.  But in a similar vein, any guesses what this two minutes cost? 
I'd bet the film makers will still have jobs after the fiscal speed bump, but many of the on-screen rangers might not.

The very brief Paradise scene is priceless!  I'm trying another contest promotion:  List the three violations of park sledding regulations.  As usual, first prize is Ashford lodging on a Tuesday.

This concludes the Airing of Grievances; time now for Feats of Strength.
Happy Festivus everyone...and a powderful New Year!
And please, designate a driver!

... But in a similar vein, any guesses what this two minutes cost? 

I'd bet the film makers will still have jobs after the fiscal speed bump, but many of the on-screen rangers might not.

The very brief Paradise scene is priceless!  ...

LOL--at least some Paradise scenes were filmed at the end of the lower parking lot at the Deadhorse trail trailhead; they also had a number of group-standing-together shouting Merry Xmas; I thought they were yelling at me so I yelled back; maybe I ruined that part of the video.  In the spirit of Scrooge, I agree that video was a waste of $$, just like all the free weekends the NPS has been having in times of budget crunches  :; must have a new PR group in D.C..

I didn't see the t.v. ad, but I think that the Park plans to groom the snowplay area only on Friday mornings--who knows for how many Fridays; last year they closed it the week before grade school spring break--thus bring the toboggans Fri-Sun (also when school is out).  So I don't think the ad was hinting at 4-days/week closures, but there have been a disappointing number of other closed days and openings on the open days have tended toward noonish, with some stealth openings a bit earlier than the predicted opening.  Given the continuing unpredictable and noonish openings, I'm sure a lot of would-be visitors don't bother to come because of the long-drive-time:short-fun-time ratio and very limited time that gives for explorations with the looming late-afternoon gate closure.  My fear is that visitation is dropping so rapidly (just a guess by the number of cars I see go by) that the Park might decide (in a self-fulfilling prophesy logic) there are too few visitors to warrant opening during the week at all.  Obviously, there has been no major blowback from the 2-day planned closure.

It wouldn't have bothered me a bit if the Park had stayed closed on Christmas day so employees could be with their families.  However, a 6:54 AM  tweet 'projected' opening Paradise at 11.  A following tweet (9:34) said Paradise would not open "due to wind and snow".  Telemetry for Christmas morning showed 2" new snow and a maximum gust of 13 mph.  The lies get more pathetic every year.

This morning's 7 am phone message guesstimates opening at 11.  A tweet an hour later claims no estimated opening time yet...

Did you hear the one about Bill Gates' Christmas?  He asks the kids what they'd like.  The oldest wanted a ranch, so he bought Montana.  The middle child wanted a train set, so he bought the Union Pacific.  The wee tyke just wanted a Mickey Mouse outfit, so Bill bought the National Park Service.

Looking on the bright side, mere incompetence seems to be a step up compared to the three previous MRNP superintendents, all of whom could have (and should have, IMO) served jail time.  More on that later.

My supplement to Rainier's administrative history is posted on the prequel to this thread:
www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi....php?topic=26113.100

I'm going to ask a question which has probably been answered already somewhere else on this forum but here it goes. 

Does the park service grant access to Paradise to anyone other than MRNP employees when they are playing around with the Longmire gate not opening or late opening's for the public?  Namely RMI or any other group?

I'm going to ask a question which has probably been answered already somewhere else on this forum but here it goes. 

Does the park service grant access to Paradise to anyone other than MRNP employees when they are playing around with the Longmire gate not opening or late opening's for the public?  Namely RMI or any other group?

FWIW, I would think they would allow GSI (concessionaire) access, but why they would want to go up when no one else (customers) is there, I don't know. In past years when Paradise was closed due to flood or other road damage, concessionaires such as RMI etc were allowed and Park employees were allowed to go skiing--I know some employees told me they got 50+ days in skiing (on the job or not I don't know). Haven't heard anything about that this year, but guide service operations are slow this time of year; they do conduct winter training classes that require overnight stays, but anyone is allowed to stay Monday night (and of course has to stay Tues and Wednesday night). I don't think they allow any such to go up before gate opening for the public except in the past they did allow volunteer ski patrol to go up before the public. Others may be quite better informed than me to address this.