October 22, 2004, Paradise - Rainier
10/22/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2911
2
Pulled into an empty lot at 9:30 and hiking by 10. Parking lot was covered in about 2 inches of slush. Was a bit breezy with a mixture of snow and rain. Visibility was in and out all day. Never got greater than 100ft. Hiked for 20 minutes before deciding to skin. Snow was mostly wind blown and packed well. Should make for a good base. Anyways snow covered just about all things with patches of the asphalt trail here and there and some bushes. The higher up we got the more the coverage started to vary due to winds. Anywhere from ice to couple feet. The chutes of off Pan Pt are still rocky in a majority of places and needs about another foot or two before the winter route up it is ready. We ended up skinning the traditional summer route. At the top of Pan Pt the winds were howling and snow was stinging. I had some serious sway action skinning up. My skin tracks looked like ones of a drunk. Anyways we stopped just shy of Pebble Creek around 7100ft. Conditions weren't getting any better. If anything worse. The surface was trap crust about an inch thick with recent consolidated snow beneath which varied in depth. And it was damn cold! It was all laughs from here as we watched each other bail after turns. After a while I just figured walking would be easier. It was except for post holing up to my thighs in a few places. The turns became enjoyable once we started down the Pan Pt traverse. The temps warmed, the wind let up and visibility cleared long enough to pick our way thru the gullies and chocolate chip cookie fields. Chris and I both found some land mines too. Some great turns were had thru the stashes of wind blown in the trees. Chris was able to pick his way down to the car. I stopped about 100ft short of the lot. The best turns were had from midway down Pan Pt to the car even though it was tricky in some places. Coverage should only be getting better within the next few days.
Thanks for the report snoslut, it sounded sort of miserable though . . .
Yeah, I'm really sorry I couldn't join you! Thanks for the timely report though - it is nice to know what is going on up there, and it sounds encouraging for being able to ski to the car soon (without being an outlaw, that is).
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