Jan 1-2, 2005, Mt Rainier - Paradise Area

After having another amazing day in the N Central Cascades this past Friday, it was time to return to my backyard.

Saturday Jimjar and myself decided that a trip to the Paradise area was in order.  Arrived at the park entrance around 8:45am and the ranger said the gate wouldn't be open till 10.  It figures.  We soon pulled into the Longmire lot and within 10 minutes the gates were open.  Roads thus far were good.  Just a few snow and ice patches here and there.  The rest of the way was compact snow and ice with a fresh coat of gravel.

We pulled into the lot at Paradise only to find low clouds and fog.  Anyway we strapped up and rolled out.  Temps were cold, proly mid 20's, light wind and visibility was in and out.  Our first run would take us thru Edith Creek to some nice glades.  Before traversing the last section Jim dug a pit on a sw aspect.  He found about 6" of new snow atop of 6 or so of recent snow on top of a hard crust.  It sheared at the crust 12" below but not easily.  Compression test yeilded nothing to alarm us.  By the time we started traversing again we couldn't help but notice group after group creeping up.  Must have been close to 20 people.  We got to our drop in zone and Jim and I were outta there.  We ended up passing a bulk of the groups who traversed below us.  Snow was boot deep but knee deep in places where mother natures wind helped out.  So to the brigde we went.

We gained another ridge and spied Black Cat, 911, 912 chutes.  Which one did we want to drop first?  A hasty pit told the same story down below but the upper layers were different.  Kind of slabby in places but not sketch enough to turn us around.  Well 911 got the call.  By the time we had strapped in the death fog had rolled in.  It was time!  Jim board cut it to boarders left and nothing released.  So he went and disappeared in a white cloud of smoke.  I dropped down the steepiest part of the face and the top 6" came with me.  With the bad visibility I did manage to sneek a peek below.  Snow up top crumbled but everything that released below was sluff.  I was easily able to ride out.  Anyway the snow here was easily knee deep fluff (disclaimer: at 5'7" on a good day, the snow appears to be much deeper for vertical challenged folks like me!). ;D  With the recent winds there were some serious crossloading on these aspects.  Face shots were had on demand despite the bad visibility.  Just bend them knees and take them bumps!  After this run we decided to go play on the front side since we couldn't see.  Even at 12 or so feet my probe still failed at feeling for creeks. ;D  Front side still had some nice lines left.  Snow was boot to knee deep and skin tracks came in handy for the flat sections.  The skin out was just as easy.  As we skinned out the visibility got better and we could see Mazama ridge.  Lots of lines pushing further and further down the ridge.  In the parking lot we bumped into JW who was doing a little self harvest.  Also witnessed the carnage from all the cars making there way up and down.

Sunday I met up with Jimjar again for assault number 2.  Once again the ranger at the entrance said the gate would open at 10am.  When we pulled up to the Longmire gate around 9ish, another ranger was just opening it. ;D  It was a bluebird day at the parking lot with light winds and colder temps.  We didn't waste anytime skinning straight to the back bowls.  When we arrived there were people already skinning about.  Turns out they spent the night up there.  Jim and I couldn't believe that no one had skied or boarded the lines we spied the day before.  As we approached I saw what I released the day before.  The slide, about 15ft wide, actually went around 40ft or so and stopped where the slope started to peter out.  Anyway we found ourselves atop an adjacent chute where I did a pit.  On a south aspect I found easy shearing at the hard rain crust layer.  However compression proved to be bomber with layers only failing after administering a pounding king kong would have been proud of.  We did notice a thin layer between the hard crust and recent snow that could have the potential for a weakening layer if these cold temps keep up.

This time it was my turn to board cut the chute entrance and nothing significant released, just a little sluff.  We were again rewarded with knee deep, face shot fluff from the previous day.  By the time we reached the chute again there was a group of people (bud and some ladies).  I assured them of conditions and they were off hooting and hollering.  Jim and I snuck one chute over and repeated our experience.  As we approached for our 3rd and 4th lines we noticed how resort looking it felt like.  Tracks everywhere but a few sections of untracked remained.  For our last 2 lines we were joined by 2 skier buds Marco and Rick.  Conditions were still nice but the sun started taking it's toll on the surface.  Couldn't feel it on a board but was felt by skiers.  Our 5th and last line took us to Golden Gate where we encountered Capt. Ron, Jeanette and posse.  Looks like they did a good job tracking this area out.  Thanx for the boarders left tip Sag.  Didn't matter too much since I took 2 turns in the trees and straighted it to make it thru the creek and up the knoll.

What an excellent way to close the first weekend of the new year.  Great snow/coverage, a bluebird day, and a handfull of lines that I can hang my hat on! ;D