Home > Trip Reports > Mar 26, 2009, Mt. Rainier, Paradise

Mar 26, 2009, Mt. Rainier, Paradise

3/26/09
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2875
4
Posted by Andrew Carey on 3/26/09 8:46am
Deep snow. Variable crust.  Break thru the crust and your ski can dive deep.  short tour to Mazama Ridge (big cornices up there), lots of wind affected snow.  Highly variable snow on the way down. some powder pockets, some trap crusts, some heavy & wet.  Breaking trail, ugh!

1st deep powder day on my new AT setup.  3rd turn off the Paradise Valley Road  on the southerly facing slopes left me waist deep in powder with my ski somewhere down there at the end of the leash.  Put the backpack to good use to get remounted.  May need to set the DIN higher (the 3rd loss in deep snow).
Crunch time Andy, Bigger skis ,better technique or more din ? ;) We better be quiet about this after all our recent posts . Actually I'm quite jealous and wish my skis were coming off. I'm nursing a sore back. looking forward to doing a light weight spring tour with you.

Dorothea & I did the little loop to Glacier Vista & down Edith Basin today.  Multiple and variable crusts as Andy described.  There was a  recent crown fracture on the SE side of Pan Pt about 8" deep and a couple hundred feet long.

author=Robie link=topic=12826.msg53436#msg53436 date=1238120010]
Crunch time Andy, Bigger skis ,better technique or more din ? ;) We better be quiet about this after all our recent posts . Actually I'm quite jealous and wish my skis were coming off. I'm nursing a sore back. looking forward to doing a light weight spring tour with you.



Yeah, not the best conditions for geezers with bad back (I almost didn't go after having to shovel out the driveway on Wed); looking forward to some long spring tours on corn!  BUT "all snow is good snow and all skis are rock skis."

3/28 Skied between Paradise and Narada.
Upper crust was supportable in open areas where the sun had prior access which made skiing in open areas a delight and shaded areas a challenge.
Dumping all day.

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mar-26-2009-mt-rainier-paradise
Andrew Carey
2009-03-26 15:46:48