Home > Trip Reports > Dec 30 Paradise Devil's Dip MRNP

Dec 30 Paradise Devil's Dip MRNP

12/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3500
4
Posted by Robie on 1/1/09 6:11am
Been lift skiing the day before at Stevens and wanted something more like touring. Park road not opening till noon! JEff Spann and myself decided to indenture ourselves To Gary Vogt come what may. We shoveled our way into Gary at the Sheet Metal Ski Lodge. After much whinning by all we settled on a ski ascent/Ranodnee schush decent  to and from the High Hut.
Whoops ! High Hut road plowing far short of the sno park. Looks like a wait at Longmire ? Gate didnt open till 1230 but we did run into one other skier Dave Ellis. This set the stage for a  Devi'ls Dip rodeo  First Run good but some flat work involved. 2nd trip flats became a schush ,3rd run needed a speed trap. 4th run flat out fun ! We also put in 5 sets of tracks down Narada Face perhaps the first people to do so this year. Nothing moved or whomped. Most of this involved below 5000' genteler terrain. Exception Narada face which is a North/NW facing rubble pile. Things are filling in. Hummels were mentioned as being the  record holders of most times in a day. GaryVogt says his record is 13 ???
Jeff. Robie-
Thanks for the shoveling help and bringing that handy tool!  My calculus shows a cumulative here in Ashford of 80" since early December.  Seven inches of cement yesterday and another lighter six inches last night has brought the total on the ground back over two feet.  No County plows for two days.  MTTA website says South District was contract plowed to the middle snowpark after we turned back.

I had unfair advantage the day I did the Dip 13 times.  As a volly, I was able to ride the first plow to Paradise, then hitch back up with the rangers.  Then I met up with several friends, all with open pickups.  When we ran out of pre-stashed vehicles at Narada, we switched to rotating one driver while the rest skied.  Now as a toothless old man, I can barely manage half a dozen laps...

The open pickups were a definite era edge as well.
Nowadays the PS mets out stern disapproval of ferrying skiers sans seats & seatbelts
(proly a touch of backlash from the accidents they see when the pilgrims are surprised by the icy roads  ::)).
Nonetheless even 6 laps is a nice day of skiing.
Glad you guys were the first to nail the laps and get the flats packed down. Thanks!

That bottom picture is the best ever!  I will be smiling all day 'cause of that!

The Longmire protest photo would be even funnier if some non-caveman with photoshop skills could add a sign to the ski pole that said:  "Let My People Go!"

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Robie
2009-01-01 14:11:59