Feb 4, 2009, Mt. Rainier, Paradise Glacier

Too much work lately and too much sun forecast for today so I opted for a day off to try and find some corn snow on the south facing slopes of the Paradise Glacier  at Rainier.

I accessed the glacier by skiing out to Cowlitz Rocks, a mellow but scenic tour up from Mazama Ridge. The skinning was fast on crust with a solid base below it. By the time I got to Cowlitz Rocks and started up the glacier, the snow low down on the glacier was just starting to soften up in the sun and warm temps.  I stopped ascending at around 8,400 feet as the snow was not softening up any more due to a thin layer of high clouds and cold winds. The first 400-500 feet down wasn't very good skiing... little in the way of hard ice but lots of hard pack with a crusty surface, plenty of wind affected patches and no corn whatsoever. Down lower, however, was great, as the surface got much smoother and the snow corned up nicely as the day went on. The skiing was so good it was worth another 3 laps of the bottom 800-1000 feet down to the Cowlitz saddle or lower Paradise Glacier before the fast ski out.

It feels as if you have the entire mountain to yourself out on that glacier... quite a nice day.