New Record for Mt. Rainier?

I see on the webcams that the much ballyhooed shortage of plow operators is not impacting plowing operations today. So why are we paying to plow when the road is closed??

FWIW, As i said when they first announced the policy, they can not allow the snow to accumulate or they will lose control putting critical infrastructure at risk. There will be slight savings by having fewer plows/operators on duty throughout the day and fewer LEOs. But the major reason for the closure was a decision late summer/early fall not to fill vacant positions in a timely manner, but IMHO to experiment with a week day closure to see what the pushback would be. The two vacant positions are now filled; the schedule of openings will not change this winter; they will be collecting their data to evaluate political and economic impacts on the park and GSI. It appears to me that they feel they have had enough early success that they are now expanding the criteria for closure, for example to winter weather advisories during the week.

This is really absurd. Our tax dollars at work maintaining a lovely visitor center, roads and parking lot that we are not permitted to use, because... it's for our own good? We can't be trusted to drive up to Paradise without creating multi-car wrecks? Once we get there, we can't be trusted not to dump ourselves down a crevasse or off a cliff in a white out? If nobody gets the privilege of visiting the park, who do they think is going to push to keep them funded 20 years from now? Makes me want to move to B.C.

It appears to me that they feel they have had enough early success...

Therein lies the root of the issue: Their definition of 'success'.

IMO, NPS Chief Ron Jarvis is a problem. He was the wrote who wrote up Dave Uberuaga for the RMI real estate deal. He then promoted Dave to MORA Super and then to Grand Canyon Super. I just don't see any accountability in this, regardless of how it was justified.

That the climbing rangers were apparently not charged for the fireworks incident (MORA staff has refused provide details of how it was handled, other than "appropriately"), when I am certain a member of the general public would have been for the same behavior, is just following suit.

Did anyone take pictures of the fireworks? It'd be pretty cool to see that.

... Makes me want to move to B.C.

FWIW: Garibaldi Provincial park in B.C. charges folks $10 per person per day for using the park instead of the $15 per carload / $30 per year entrance fee charged by MORA -- and the access road is only plowed to 3000ft

Fees are a similar in all B.C. Parks www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/fees/userfees.pdf

I'd pay more for reliable, professional service if job one was preserving access and serving the public. Instead, we've seen climber's fees go up, reductions in service, and we're told "it's not a money problem." Well, if it's not a money problem, it's either a conscious decision to screw the public out of access to the park they're funding through taxes or simple incompetence. I could almost forgive the latter, but it frequently seems like the former.