www.turns-all-year.com Children backcountry skiing and snow camping : photos from Mt. Rainier National Park Turns All Year: Previous Home Page Galleries This is a gallery of images which appeared on the Turns All Year home page in the past. Thumbnail images on this page can be clicked to view the full-sized photos, and lead into a slide show sequence for the gallery. The photos are from a kids backcountry skiing trip to the north side of Mt. Rainier National Park, and include images of children cross-country skiing, backcountry skiing, and snow camping. List Galleries            < Older  Browse Galleries  Newer >

Turns All Year CD-ROM The complete version of this photo gallery is now available on Turns All Year CD-ROM. Below you can view thumbnail photos from this gallery. Turns All Year CD-ROM contains over 180 photo galleries, containing more than 3200 full-sized photos, from backcountry skiing and snowboarding trips in the Pacific Northwest.

from June 2, 2003: Grand Parklet, Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington, May 13-14 Skiing the road ribbon Skiing the road Booting Dad's tracks Forest skiing Touring Grand Parklet Tahoma on S slope Charles on S slope After-dinner forest ski Twilight forest glide Action! Morning forest glide Dad, I didn't fall... Home sweet home Muck prepares for the descent Wet end Photos by Tahoma and Charles Eldridge

Associated trip report: My daughter and I aimed for Grand Park for our 5th annual ski overnighter, taking advantage of a small window of good weather. Snow stopped us on the road 2 miles from the beginning of the forest, and we were able to start skiing after 0.5 miles. The snow had frozen overnight and so the road skiing was good. Very good coverage going into the forest, ranging from crunchy under the big trees to 8" of mush in larger glades. We had to switch to hiking part way up, when it got steeper, because Tahoma was not able to get the needed grip with her waxless skis. Hiked down the little slope past the saddle, then skied glades into the first meadow ("Grand Parklet"), where the snowpack was very ample (6'?).    Ê Tahoma really wanted to get to Grand Park, but I was able to convince her that it would be more fun to tour around where we were rather than plod up another 800' of too-steep-to-ski. We set up camp and skied meadows, glades, and woods in beautiful sunshine, finding lots of long glides which satisfied Tahoma's need for speed. The snow in the meadows had become breakable crust and then 6-8" of mush in the sun, but started refreezing quickly when the shadows arrived. After dinner we toured around until dark, then capped the day with hot cider.    Ê The next morning started mostly cloudy but became mostly sunny, and we again toured around, exploring new areas and trying slightly steeper terrain. Menacing clouds started appearing in the afternoon, and just as we were hoisting packs to leave, the rain started. Having learned a lot about fall lines, edging, getting a waxless grip, and step turns in the past 24 hours, Tahoma was now able to ski up some of the firmer forest snow, kick her own steps (so I could still ski), and negotiate some of the gentler downhill through the forest toward the road. The road ski down was a bit tedious for me, since the old tracks had weakened, but great for Tahoma in my newly compacted tracks. The road was drivable for an additional 0.2 miles when we arrived at the car. Charles

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