July 25, 2004, MRNP - Paradise Glacier

With the forcast for this good weather I wasn't about to let another day of it go to waste.  I woke up pretty late for my standards and started hiking from the parking lot sometime between 10:30 or 11.  Since I was late I decided to pick up the pace a bit and the leisure hike turned into a speed walk.  Anyway I cut over to the PG from McClure Rock and watched a solo skier or boarder (hard to tell since I was far away) turning below the glaciers snout.  In just a weeks worth of time the glacier has really opened up below.  So I continued upward with not a soul around nor a crack in site.

What luck...when I reached the base of Anvil Rock I was greeted by glacier people who told me to stay away from their area cause they were filming.  I said sure and climbed half way up a steep finger of snow below Anvil.  While I sat I took in the views and laughed everytime "action" and "fall" were said.  Something funny about trying to capture video of simulated falls instead of a real one.  It looked so fake I couldn't resist laughing.  I should have offered them a chance to follow me sometime to get a real fall with real reactions. ;D  Anyways I took a power nap and munched some bit and was off.  The first hundred hard or so the snow was bumpy with uneven suncups around 6 inches in diameter and inch or two deep.  Was not as soft as I expected but carvable in sections.  Below this the snow was pretty soft and made the turns real enjoyable even though the suncups were a bit bigger and uneven than the previous weekend.  After the run I traded the boots for some runners and jogged down.  I couldn't resist being a smart ass when a couple asked me if I could really snowboard here and we were standing in a part of the trail with snow on it.  I said I carry the board for exercise and the white stuff is actually salt.  Yeah and lots of it...Morton's baby. ;D  They both gave me the stink eye and I laughed as I continued my jog down.  I was back at the car by 4 and ready to go by 4:30pm but realized I lent my radio to a ski bud in the parking lot.  Big mistake as I had an hour and half to kill.  Won't do that again. >:(

BTW I noticed a line from that small finger of snow below Anvil.  Was that you Donnelly?  It was a figure 11 and judging by the bumps and steepness it looked like some air time.