February 3, 2003, Mazama Ridge, Mt. Rainier
2/3/03
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2881
5
went up to mrnp today. the plan was to yoyo mazama ridge .we did a shovel shear test and about 14" fell away as i was putting the blade behind the block, not even much pressure. so on to the Rutschblock stepped on to the block and heard a whump, jump one was stable, jump two it started to move about 14" down, jump three and a deeper layer let go about 2' deep, and so much for sweet turns today. the wet snow down below the third jump release was warm and soggy, about 8 deg warmer than the new snow on top ,the weak layer seemed to be graupel and draining alot of moisture into the snow below. we did see some fellas making turns skiers left of panorama and all looked well.
[edit: added day and location to topic line - Charles]
[edit: added day and location to topic line - Charles]
Where exactly did you do the pit, please :)
We skied Mazama Sat and Sun, mostly lower angle stuff down to Paradise Creek and the back bowl; I did ski 9-1-1 on the back bowl after 5 trips had been made down it (steep slopes to the north of the bowl)--had some short cracks propagating but all in all pretty stable; we had grauple falling on us both Sat and Sun and late in the day Sunday the sun began to peak out and temps went up. abc
We skied Mazama Sat and Sun, mostly lower angle stuff down to Paradise Creek and the back bowl; I did ski 9-1-1 on the back bowl after 5 trips had been made down it (steep slopes to the north of the bowl)--had some short cracks propagating but all in all pretty stable; we had grauple falling on us both Sat and Sun and late in the day Sunday the sun began to peak out and temps went up. abc
Yes Sag -where ,Aspect and slope angle would be nice.
As part of a class on Sat we dug a rutcshblock on 30* west facing 5860' Edith basin . We failed the student cause he couldn't get it to budge !:-) Snow layers were as you describe but snow had drained. Were you above 6000' ? Of cousre every day and every different aspect it changes.Thanks for the report, Andy you too.
As part of a class on Sat we dug a rutcshblock on 30* west facing 5860' Edith basin . We failed the student cause he couldn't get it to budge !:-) Snow layers were as you describe but snow had drained. Were you above 6000' ? Of cousre every day and every different aspect it changes.Thanks for the report, Andy you too.
where mazama ridge, aspect west,directly east of paradise, elevation 6100' roughly my altimeter runs in 10' increments slope angle was 33deg . learned not to cook and post at the same time you tend to forget important info and oregano
Sounds like you were in that area that gets side loaded .
Thanks for all the useful info! I have a question for any of you who were in this area over the past few days: do you think there will be any soft snow to be found in the area now? I'm thinking about going to Paradise on Thursday. Maybe Muir was high enough to not get really wet snow? With all the wet snow around Pan Pt and Mazama over the weekend, it seems like things might be frozen solid now and not very fun?
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