Home > Trip Reports > February 22, 2004, Paradise Mt. Rainier

February 22, 2004, Paradise Mt. Rainier

2/22/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3028
5
Posted by JMor on 2/22/04 9:35pm
We have had designs on the Nisqually Glacier - bridge - ski for a couple of weeks now. Last week the visibility wasn't good, this week, it looked like there was enough coverage, except for a possible stream challange. There were 7 of us that met at the Tall Timbers in Eatonville for breakfast, Jerry, Stefan, Darryl, Maureen, Evan, Ron and yours truly 8) to plan our strategy for drivers and car pooling etc. We stopped at the Nisqually bridge for a look, and decided that it would be a go, with a choice of bailing later depending on snow conditions etc. Arrived at the Paradise parking with windy conditions and an ice covered parking lot. Skinning out of Paradise and up to Glacier Vista, we encountered frozen crust, breakable crust, wind scoured snow, and patches of some possible skiable snow. The avalanche danger was considerable and had been for the week with easterly winds, some light snow flurries, warmer temps, buried hoar frost, and some noted slab releases in the cascades on north slopes. We got to the top of Glacier Vista with strong east winds and blowing surface snow. As we approached the Glacier Moraine, we did our first ski cut without any adverse results. We skied down the moraine on varied surfaces of wind scoured snow, breakable crust in some areas and some actual nice areas of wind transported snow. We decided to do another quick look at the last roll down onto the glacier for our final decision. Looking down onto the glacier there seemed to be a large partially snow filled crevasse to navigate around before the glacier snout. The large rock on skies left of the snout looked to have some sort of a crevass like divot on that portion of the snow field. Looking over the last roll prior to entering the glacier we noted several large pillows of cross wind loaded areas. While we error on the side of being conservative, we opted for choice B, climbing back up and heading over to Edith Creek basin. On our up climb, it was fairly easy to break off, cake like chunks of snow, noting a layer of faceted snow underneath. Stefan decided at that point to head back to the car and get his new AT gear for a little lesson from the rest of the AT skiers in the group. The snow had warmed significantly throughout the day to early spring like condtions. Sag's first lesson was how to turn in the mashed potatoes. Good job sag, and thanks for the chuckles. It was a good day, but a rather challenging day. There were lots of noted south facing slope releases during the warmer part of the day. Ron and Jerry should have some pictures available for viewing later. ;D
Thanks for reporting Maddoggy 8), well said. A fun day indeed! Congrats to Stefan for trying something new and succeeding despite challenging snow. Here's some shots-----

Seems like bc skiing is a virtual plethora of firsts.  Even if you did the same route every day the conditions change so much day to day that each tour's totally unique.  Then when you add to the mix, a boarder (who has NEVER skied) that goes back to the car to get his new skis to ski with you, it's quite memorable, eh?
Well done, Stefan.
And to add to that, We had a virtual smorgasboard of snow conditions... albiet all skiable.  Here's one of JW having his way with the sastrugi:

There's a few more shots at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/paradise22204.msnw

Jerry and Ron - great photos!!  I'm standing up in all of them.  It was a fun trip!  I think if I wouldn't have confused Stefan (and myself) with all the telemark tips, he would have skied even better than he did.

Thanks, Darryl.
And I thought your tips were GREAT!
I'm gonna work some more on them this next Sunday!

thanks to all of you for your help and tips. They definately made my transition smoother, and Daryl your tips came into play the next day as I skied alot more and your right let em run a little and they turn alot nicer they are telly skis after all.

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february-22-2004-paradise-mt-rainier
JMor
2004-02-23 05:35:33