Home > Trip Reports > January 30, 2005, Paradise

January 30, 2005, Paradise

1/30/05
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
7000
8
Posted by hankj on 1/30/05 6:27am
Rolled into the lot around 10am.  Conditions sunny and getting pretty warm.  The snow was as reported in yesterday's Paradise report except maybe another 1" on top.  It was a tremendously beautiful morning -- pretty light and mist drifting in and out of the Tatoosh range.

Near the parking lot the snow was sun affected and mushy, but got a lot nicer from Alta Vista up.  Skinned up Pan Point and took a look at the black diamond "runs" on the back side -- they looked very nice.  But decided to head another couple of 100 vf up the snow field and ride the longer intermediate pitch down the Golden Gate route.

By the time we got there, 1pm, clouds were just starting to roll in.  The snow was a little heavy but really smooth and fun -- a bit thin on the very most wind affected rollers but also drifted in and even w/o much underlying crust in the shadiest spots.  It was point it and carve hard from the backseat snow -- nice and soft but a little grabby if you didn't stay agressive.  My partner took one highspeed header but there was just enough fresh to make it nothing worse than funny.

Headed back down into Edith Creek Basin on the north side of that little ridge at the top of the basin, and in there the snow was a little colder, so that was fun too.

Headed back through the light fog and mist in the basin.  It was a really nice day up there: good smooth snow, good visibility until around 2pm, beautiful warm day w/ very little wind, wide smiles the whole time.  I'm really surprised it wasn't more crowded because it was a hell of a lot better than it's been for a while.  
Did you get a good look at the Tatoosh? How did the skiing/climbing look?



In writing my report I almost mentioned that it looked really nice over there.  The most obvious ski slope between those two chunky peaks looked absolutely great.  I don't know what makes for good climbing conditions, but the peaks themselves weren't terribly icy or snowy.  I could easily walk on the consolidated snow underneath the new stuff w/o punching through except in sun protected areas.

The Nisqually chutes looked very nice too, but the sun was on them for a good while so who knows now.

I was up there with my gf and was also pleasantly surprised by the weather/conditions. The upper snowfield to Camp Muir was in great shape, with plenty of snow - although a bit wind-affected - for high-powered backseat cruising. On the way down, though it had warmed up a lot and everything below 7500 was getting mushy, with increasing shrubs being exposed, and even the base crust getting scoured somewhat. The warm temps and slush will turn to ice very quickly in the next cold snap. Remedy: more snow. Good times while it lasted, though.

I was at Paradise this weekend doing Nordic Patrol.  More snow is needed before skiing is feasible below the altitude of Paradise.  Snow gets non-existent in the trees.  Mazama Ridge has adequate coverage to ski on and the Park Service allowed snow camping there Saturday but was closing it down on Sunday.  There is insufficient snow for camping at Reflection Lakes.  Now if you want to snow camp you are required to go to Pebble Creek or above.  There was about a half inch of new on Sunday but the afternoon temperature was very warm so it didn't stay around much.  

Sunday I went into Bench Lake in the Tatoosh.  There was 0-1 foot of snow and it was mostly bare.  

If you ski the Tatoosh before there's another dump you will find the road to Reflection Lakes with major bare spots that you will need to walk.  Expect to be able to take summer trails and only have 1k or less skiable.  You can definitely get in more vertical going up to Muir.

I was airline flying past Mt. Rainier, Saturday Jan 29th, 12:00 noon.  The cloud layer cut off at about 8,000 feet.  I was thinking how great the top of the mountain looked in clear blue and sunshine ... and hoping someone was getting up there.  

RUX...  that's an interesting observation about the blue sky clearing beginning at 8000'.

We were above Paradise on the 29th but decided  not to go any higher than 6500' because the weather was getting consistently thicker the higher we went.  It was actually intermittently snowing and blowing pretty hard at 6500'.  From our perspective it was only going to get worse up higher, so we dropped to the lower edge of the cloud deck at Alta Vista.

I'm wondering if there is a resource...there must be...that gives real-time data on cloud decks and visibility?  So you might be willing to wade through 1500' of murk if you know that blue skies are awaiting above...  Does anyone know if there is an FAA weather channel that we could utilize or something of that nature.  Does anyone use this type of resource?

Yes, I know that white outs above Paradise can be extremely hazardous and respect that fact.  Just looking for another tool to add to the collection.

JibberD - I was thinking exactly the same thing... How can we tell where the cloud layer ends?  I want to try to research that a little.  I am sure it must be buried in weather reports somewhere.... especially reports for aviators.  I can receive weather channels on my Motorola FRS radio, Model T6300.  I never paid much attention to it, but now I think I will check it out more.

We were flying somewhat East across the North side of Rainier.  All of Little Tahoma and more was exposed to blue sky.  So 8,000 feet is a visual estimate. The top of that cloud deck was pretty flat. I could also see Mt. Adams sticking up. Perhaps there was an inversion holding down the weather.

I know how nasty it can get.  I've seen fog jet streaming at about fifty mph over the rocks at Pebble Creek. I turned back because ice was ripping my face. That was the last weekend in July a couple of years ago.

The computers in the UW Atmospheric Sciences department have cool data sets of weather readings taken by airliners on their approach to Sea-Tac.  The readings are taken very often, giving quite good resolution as to the vertical structure of the atmosphere.  From this information you could figure out where cloud decks may start or end, although I need to look into it more to find out exactly what obervations they take.  Also, I do not know where (or even if) on the open internet they can be retreived.  However, soundings from Quillayute are available from any computer at www.atmos.washington.edu.  Its distance from Rainier may reduce its usefulness though.

Reply to this TR

2035
january-30-2005-paradise
hankj
2005-01-30 14:27:23