Home > Trip Reports > 11/24 POWDER and Trouble at Paradise: MRNP

11/24 POWDER and Trouble at Paradise: MRNP

11/24/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3156
4
Posted by savegondor on 11/25/08 12:59am
Ullr take note:  I'm desperate.  The turns were soooo good I just kept going and going, thousands of feet and I kept going.  Powder, lots of wind-blown powder blown off of Muir and onto Paradise.  And at the bottom?  No more glacier, big rocks, not enough snow.  Problem?  The sun was going bye bye.

Yep- excellent day on Muir and I almost got into trouble.  Ducked inside the climbers cabin to put on warm clothes and then headed back down in 40mph sustained winds.  I thought:  no wind on Paradise glacier.  So I slid down under Anvil rock and kept going.  I knew I should just turn right...and at one point I saw my out...then bailed on that out.  That last thousand vert caused me to have to pick my way back up to McClure rock before making my way to my car in the dark...and a message from the NPS that the gate was locked at Longmire...but no worries they gave me the means to escape.

Skinned most of the way from the parking lot up to Muir.  On a skant 4-5 inches at Paradise there was a lot of people skinning and skiing on the still visible meadow vegetation.  And I must confess that on my way down in the dark I may have contribued some slight damage to our alpine environs.  After a short while (i'll give myself some cred) I took off my skis and walked down as I suggest that we should all do untill there is more snow. 

Anyway, back to Paradise Glacier:  I appreciated the large and long drifts that went right down the fall-line.  And this turned into 4-6 inches of dense velvet further down with no ice at all.  Amazing first turns of the season for me.  And a lesson: the days are short, not a lot of time for exploration right now. 
author=savegondor link=topic=11315.msg46831#msg46831 date=1227632348] ...

Skinned most of the way from the parking lot up to Muir.  On a skant 4-5 inches at Paradise there was a lot of people skinning and skiing on the still visible meadow vegetation.  ...  After a short while (i'll give myself some cred) I took off my skis and walked down as I suggest that we should all do untill there is more snow. 

turns of the season for me.  And a lesson: the days are short, not a lot of time for exploration right now. 


I'm one of the first to criticize MRNP for not being visitor friendly and being unreasonable to irrational in some of their management; that said, I couldn't work there because much of the the public is so self-centered as to be completely indifferent to what damage their actions might cause the very environment they've traveled to enjoy (or just to escape the shopping malls--generally, then, they bring that atmosphere with them).

Thanks for the report and the reminder to be aware and to care. abc

Don't get me wrong: I'm just as jaded as you are most of the time.  I think here however that it's just about the lack of education in our culture.  The only reason I even think of such things is that I've been a mountain user my whole life and my dad drilled conservation into my head.  Most of my non-educated friends just don't get it...and to some extent I don't expect them to.

Increased facilities would help.  But that takes more tax dollars.  A trail made for skinning and skiing, and much improved pedestrian walkways would go a long way to discouraging meadow tromping.  Some development would help conservation. 

Savegondor, I think I may have run into you just below muir.  I'm glad you found your stash.  It was so windy I just wanted to get lower.  I followed the bands below moon rocks for great turns too.  Aside from the wind it was a great day to bag my first true TAY.

I was also disgusted too by all the meadow mashers who decided a few turns on heather and grass was easier than a fifty foot walk.  I talked to a couple of rangers who said they just don't have the ability to babysit every yahoo on the mountain.  I'd be willing to bet that those same people would shun summertime users who do the same.  An inch of snow isn't the same thing as a foot.

thanks for the Intel... not that Paradise Glacier was all that complicated.  after I saw you i hid out in the Muir climbers cabin for about 20 minutes.  winds started diminishing at about that time and continued to a dead calm by sunset.  good to see you up there!!! can't say i was expecting 3000 vert of goodness but hey, it pays to go high...

I'm finding muir itself to be a bit boring...but for all the grip about muir as the old standby there's a lot of areas around muir that get very little travel but are still very accessible.  Paradise Glacier is right there, is just as accessible, and given three or four feet of more snow is hardly any more difficult to get out of.  Superior aspect and pitch to Muir.  Protected.  I feel like an idiot for not skiing it earlier.

And to all the old men out there:  Hate to break it to you...but there were a couple of snowboarders slashing "the Stash", filming themselves, and probably sculpting out a score of "kickers".  the sucker's prob a mogul field of shredded chaos by now.  "The stash" has been trashed by a bunch of pink snow pants wearing snowboarding meadow stompers!

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2008-11-25 08:59:08