June 25, 2005, Paradise Glacier
6/25/05
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3043
1
Driving through South Hill at 6:30 am in a cool drizzle we assumed we would be having a day of skiing crap snow in the fog in damp clothing.....but maybe there is a god....
We got to Paradise to find the lot pretty full and the ground dry, still cloudy above, but looked promising. About 1K up from the lot things started to thin and above Pan.Point it was bluebird. The clouds seemed to be pooling over from the Paradise Glacier side so we were loosing hope and assuming we would have to ski the Muir. As we made our way up to Anvil Rock the clouds cleared more and we could see the valley below Paradise Glacier and it looked like we could make it past the 'Iron Curtain' crevasse at 7800-8000.
The ski off of Anvil was quite nice, there was one small crevasse opened at the top of the glacier but it was pretty narrow and not an issue on skis. As we approached the rock island the snow started to soften a bit which made us a bit concerned about bridge strength. We gingerly made our way to the area of the Iron Curtain and passed it without issue, in fact it wasn't opened at all. We skied to the right below the really steep section of glacier, wrapped around the right side of the valley and traversed (a little up) to the Golden Gate area and were back in trail runners and on our way out..
Great day on the mountain and as always the Paradise Glacier was sweet.
Month Count: Bill 69, Dave 68, Steve 57
We got to Paradise to find the lot pretty full and the ground dry, still cloudy above, but looked promising. About 1K up from the lot things started to thin and above Pan.Point it was bluebird. The clouds seemed to be pooling over from the Paradise Glacier side so we were loosing hope and assuming we would have to ski the Muir. As we made our way up to Anvil Rock the clouds cleared more and we could see the valley below Paradise Glacier and it looked like we could make it past the 'Iron Curtain' crevasse at 7800-8000.
The ski off of Anvil was quite nice, there was one small crevasse opened at the top of the glacier but it was pretty narrow and not an issue on skis. As we approached the rock island the snow started to soften a bit which made us a bit concerned about bridge strength. We gingerly made our way to the area of the Iron Curtain and passed it without issue, in fact it wasn't opened at all. We skied to the right below the really steep section of glacier, wrapped around the right side of the valley and traversed (a little up) to the Golden Gate area and were back in trail runners and on our way out..
Great day on the mountain and as always the Paradise Glacier was sweet.
Month Count: Bill 69, Dave 68, Steve 57
Hey Thank you for the report on a favorite trip. Suprising that that the big break crevasse hasn't opened yet. One might take note that you skied to the south of a couple of little pest crevasses near "Land's end" that we have noticed in recent years. "Land's end" is the last rocks on climber's right around 7600'. These crevasses or glide cracks are around 7400' and would have been north of your descent line.
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