Denzions of Paradise

First off  there is new operating rules for winter Access to Paradise .

5 days a week Thursday thru Monday and gate opening will be now posted on

MT Rainier web site both  on the web cam page or road status page.

Projected opening will be posted at 4pm the night before and after 7am the morning of.

In our case it was  posted at roughly 7:20am on Nov 10th.

https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/road-status.htm

5 days a week is a bit better commitment from the park than last year.

But living in West Seattle its a still a bit of uncertainity to have the gate opening info delivered  at 7 being a 2 hour plus drive to Longmire gate.

Enuf said there.

Ken and I seeing that there was only 17" or so on the telemetry packed up our "road skis " expecting to at least get some XC or XCD type skiing in. "Road skis" in this case were Madshus Annums with fishscales and being the heretics we are ,were mounted with TLT bindings.

Paradise in winter is beautiful no matter what gear you have. We opted to first XC over to Dead horse creek and wind around a bit. Finally putting skins on to climb a bit just for the feel of climbing. Being geezerly we were a bit anxious with the thin snow pack and possible early season injury. Then we succumbed to mission creep and our lot in life and gave ourselves over to the softest meadows. Lower angle meadows always provide in early season and there are some nice ones quite close to the old Paradise lodge. Powder tuns -Yes , breakable crust - Yes ,windblown Yes ! Regular skis next time Yes !

Almost the last car in the parking yes

Have a good season

Robie