May 31, 2004, Grand Park
5/31/04
2539
3
Inspired by reports here I teamed up with Don and Ken to check out this area. It was fun as none of us had ever been in there. The road was drivable just to Eleanor Creek, and we only had two ski carries on the way up. The snow was continuous after mini Grand Parklet. Estimated 2-3 feet deep in most of Grand Park...won't last long. It did not actually rain or anything but there were very limited views to lower Mt. Fremont and Skyscraper Mountain, and towards Berkeley Park. A fun trip for fishscales but not a lot of turn action.
This trip was fun, even though snow was getting pretty low and the Parklet is melted out. Thank you Charles, for posting your trips here.
Snow conditions: spagnum moss mixed with needles on well-cupped solid base, up to 5100 feet. Above that, an inch of new wet snow on top. Well, probably a day or two old and rained on, but we counted it for fresh and it was a lot better to ski on. The park is Grand. Saw one or two sets of older tracks, one elk, no other humans -- they must have all gone to the sunny south at Paradise.
Snow conditions: spagnum moss mixed with needles on well-cupped solid base, up to 5100 feet. Above that, an inch of new wet snow on top. Well, probably a day or two old and rained on, but we counted it for fresh and it was a lot better to ski on. The park is Grand. Saw one or two sets of older tracks, one elk, no other humans -- they must have all gone to the sunny south at Paradise.
I'm glad you all got into there while the access is still reasonable. Those were probably our tracks you saw - Andy and I skied there on the 29th.
After Grand Parklet, did you cross the unnamed creek right away and stay on the trail route to the north end of Grand Park, or follow the unnamed creek up toward the west side of Grand Park?
After Grand Parklet, did you cross the unnamed creek right away and stay on the trail route to the north end of Grand Park, or follow the unnamed creek up toward the west side of Grand Park?
Sort of one thing on the way up and the other on the way down. On the way up, we followed the unnamed creek for a bit, traveling under some mini-cliffs to our left, until in the upper creek area we were able to climb left on moderate 20-25 degree snow slopes, maybe 400-500 vertical feet, up to the edge of Park (west edge). These were a bit steep for the gear Ken and Don had. For the descent, we traveled more to the far north tip of the park, gently descending in open meadows, and then finally dropped in to our left into the lower creek drainage, hitting a lesser amount of lower pitch "vertical" to regain the creek bottom. Thanks to Ken's GPS mastery, we always knew :exactly: where we were.
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