November 26, 2004, Mt. Rainier, Paradise area
11/26/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2094
0
Headed up to Rainier to see what conditions were like. Snow looked promising from a distance but it was not to be on this day. Was a wee bit chilly with little to no wind. Skinned down the Paradise Valley road and observed the dusting of new on ice. Then up Mazama Ridge for more dust on ice with some nice wind blown around them trees. Once Sanchez and I gained the ridge it was more of the same. So we decided to head up to Golden Gate. All we found was more dust on death with the ocassional wind blown pockets scattered about. We skinned up a little hill to view the surrounding terrain. The sun was out but clouds were looming around. We enjoyed our lunch and view. A hasty pit uncovered an ice crust layer which varied in thickness from the previous rains with a bit of fresh on top. Underneath was the consolidating snow from previous dumps. Well after convincing ourselves that conditions were not going to improve any higher we decided to roll out. So down to Golden Gate we slid. Damn! The whole hill was still frozen solid. I wish I would have sharpened my edges. So we did our best survival teleing and boarding down and slid from wind blown section to section. It felt like a giant game of hop-scotch. The boot pack past the bridge was the easiest snow to ride on today. I should have brought ice skates for the rest. Back at the parking lot some guy decided to provide some enterainment by hanging on to his friends car on his skateboard (minus the trucks) and zipped up and down the parking lot. After a few passes and brodies they were outta there and just in time cause a park ranger showed up shortly after. Wonder how conditions on Muir were. Maybe I'll just have to go and find out tomorrow. ;D
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