Home > Trip Reports > January 5, 2003, Paradise area, Mt. Rainier

January 5, 2003, Paradise area, Mt. Rainier

1/5/03
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
5494
12
Posted by Robie on 1/5/03 4:16pm
January 5th Paradise Area MRNP
After a dissapointing ski season and canceling a ski trip the Day before I wasn't expecting Much. So along with Dorothea and Ron Jarvis. We met up with Charles and Charles W.
The Gate opened at 945. At the parking lot we ran into 3 other Friends Roger Fick ,Bob Black and Dirk Steggy. So much for the hellos and on to skiing. it had rained heavyly at Paradise on Saturday forming a 2- 3" Rain crust while turning cold and then 6" of fresh light to mid density was laid on top. The bond was pretty good and the crust held our wieght in most places.We skied most aspects in a tour that started off at ALta vista down to Edith creek ,up to under golden gates and then down the slope to horseshoe bend.Up Mazama and a quick ski back down and then finally into the back Bowl.
Ah ! Here was the best and perhaps the best skiing of the year so far.East aspects were more even while West aspects were side loaded still filling in the gulleys.
Roger and Bob and Dirk had ventured futher west and down the slope to Nisqually Glacier finding it wind scoured.Then they skied back down East into Edith creek on excellent snow and laying down some fine tracks.
At the end of a beautiful sunny day you could look around and see our tracks just about everywhere. And then there was the Alpenglow. I hope this is the start of the Good season. Robie
Thanks for writing up the TR, Robie. It was sure fortunate that the 6" of snow fell before the precip stopped altogether, otherwise we'd have just been skidding around on sheets of ice - we were all surprised at how good the skiing was. I think we were also surprised at the depth of rain-affected snow under the re-freezing crust - easily 18" in many areas. This large-grained layer was surprisingly "airy" and would not support a boot at all - many of us had plunges up to the thigh while standing around doing skins, etc, when the crust gave way. Don't know what this means for future stability...

That was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a while, with both clouds and Rainier lit up intensely orange. Ron and I took a gaggle of photos, and there are photos from this trip here.

I forgot to add that Ron hit the century mark on this trip - 100 consecutive months of skiing. Congratulations Ron! Who is next?

Congrats Ron! It ain't easy and one can lose motiviation at times, but its worth all the effort! The milestone deserves at least one beer if not several.  8)

Great picture, Charles.  Glad the folks found skiable snow.  I work Sundays and the sunset from my marina in Tacoma was really cool!  Everything was sort of fushcia/purple: the sky, the water and all the reflected light.  I could see the alpenglow on Baker from our front windows.  Very nice!  I've been fighting a bad back the last couple weeks so I'm getting my ski-jollies vicariously!  ;)

Check out the temps up there now at 1700(5pm) Monday eve and then check Snoqualomie.Is that a inversion or what ?

I thought it was a "temperature perversion"... right?
Here's "tickler" photo

to get us through to next week when Charles can get the real pictures up. there's a few more at:

Thanks for the recognition and kind words, Charles and Paul.

Charles excellent photo of Muir. It's now up on my desktop!
And you ain't lookin' too bad yourself.  8)

Check out the temps up there now at 1700(5pm) Monday eve and then check Snoqualomie.Is that a inversion or what ?


There are probably two things happening here.  Primarily, the temperature difference is due to the cold easterly winds (from the east) at Snoqualmie Pass.  Wind goes from high to low pressure;  the high pressure is somewhere east of us, so the wind moves from Eastern Washington across the Cascades to Puget Sound, taking the path of least resistance, through the passes where available.  They act as a funnel.  We all know Eastern WA is colder in the winter.  This explains why the freezing level at the passes is lower as a front approaches, and why fog often times sits near Snoqualmie in clear conditions (like Sunday, the only low clouds visible from Mt. Snoqualmie were below us at the pass and in the valley).  A second effect might be the greater night time surface cooling.  Clear night skys allow the ground to cool much more effectively than the air above.  This is why patchy fog is predicted for the next few days, cold surface air at night and in the early morning gives fog.  But the temps at Snoqualmie and Paradise are probably due to the winds.  Look at the wind speed and direction (90=east, so wind at Snoqualmie is from east, and relatively stong).

Matt


1-7-2003
Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center
Snoqualmie Summit-WSDOT Instrumentation

MM/DD  Hour  Temp  Temp  Temp    RH  Wind  Wind  Wind  Hour Total 24 Hr Total
        PST     F     F     F     %   Avg   Max   Dir Prec. Prec.  Snow  Snow
            3800' 3700' 3000' 3000' 3800' 3800' 3800' 3000' 3000' 3000' 3000'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1 7     0    26    26    29    93    27    35   110     0     0     0    34
  1 7   100    26    26    29    92    24    32   107     0     0     0    34
  1 7   200    27    26    29    92    20    31   111     0     0     0    34
  1 7   300    27    27    29    92    17    23   109     0     0     0    34


 1-7-2003
   Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center
   Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington

    MM/DD  Hour  Temp  Wind  Wind  Wind  Wind  Hour Total 24 Hr Total
            PST     F   Min   Avg   Max   Dir Prec. Prec.  Snow  Snow
                5500' 5500' 5500' 5500' 5500' 5500' 5500' 5500' 5500'
------------------------------------------------------------------
      1 7     0    47     2     5     9    69     0     0     0    65
      1 7   100    45     0     3     7    66     0     0     0    66
      1 7   200    42     0     0     0    84     0     0     0    66
      1 7   300    42     0     1     5    59     0     0     0    65

Ski Photomatt ,I definitely agree with your analysis of cold East air through the pass. Lots of folks stay home when they see the high freezing level and ignore "except at road level in the passes " Keep up the good reports .

I agree that the easterly flow is key, and fortunately the Snoqualmie Pass telemetry sites are well situated to show the flow, as Matt illustrated. If there is good snow on the top of the snowpack, that flow can definitely keep it in good shape despite high FLs, but if the snow is crusty or otherwise bad, that same flow can keep it bad even when places like Paradise and Baker have warmed up due to being farther W (away from the Crest) and out of the flow of cold air. I would guess that is the case right now.

Ron, thanks for the great photo (and for choosing one where I look OK)! Now we've got to get Mad_Dog out there for the big 1-0-0.

Ron, thanks for the great photo (and for choosing one where I look OK)! Now we've got to get Mad_Dog out there for the big 1-0-0.


Wow Charles, you look better than just ok!!

I'm ready for 1-0-0!!!!  Just got back from London were we had been snowed in at Heathrow for a couple of days.  Shoot they only had one inch of snow, but it was enought to shut down 4 runways and cancel several flights.  We were finally able to get home via Chicago to seattle early this morning.  So I'm ready for a ski day, anywhere.  ;D  ;D

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january-5-2003-paradise-area-mt-rainier
Robie
2003-01-06 00:16:36