Aug 3- Paradise Glacier

Schwerkraft and I drove up through through the heavy marine layer and were rewarded with bluebird goodness from Longmire on up to Paradise. It was a full on tourist carnival up there, but we managed to snag a spot not too far from the Inn. After saddling up, we took Skyline out to the Paradise Glacier Trail, and then got seduced onto the first snow that looked continuous. This lead to some creative route finding and a few dismounts to get onto the glacier proper. The surface was very nice, 2-3" of soft over harder ice below, with no sun cupping, and only a few cracks on the way up to ~7800'. The glacier was pretty gnarly looking above this elevation, so we decided to head down. BTW, a cache of old (40's? 50's?) tin cans exists at this elevation; any history buffs know anything? Ski down was on certainly the best surface I've seen on Rainier in August, and we skied 2100 vf with only two dismounts, which is also unprecedented in my summertime Rainier outings.