Home > Trip Reports > Nov 28 ,2011, Paradise environs

Nov 28 ,2011, Paradise environs

11/15/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3658
6
Posted by Robie on 11/28/11 1:37pm
James Hammaker, Dave Somerseth  and myself drove leisurely up to Longmire and drove through the open gate at 930 . Nor wanting to spoil my string of powder days I convinced my partners to forgo upper Muir snowfield and drop in at Mclure rock entered  Edith basin at Golden gate and then ski down Bundy's to uptrack leading to Mazama ridge. Not bad ranging from 2" -3 and 4" new over a good crust. Lower down the crust was softer demanding staying out over the tips. Some lee wind deposit but not enough to matter. Dave had never skied Mazama back bowl so we we took his Birthday run back there then climbed out, passed Van Trump memorial and headed back up to entry to Golden Gate for a repeat with a final schuss out Edith Basin.
Nice you got out. Thanks for the update on conditions sounds OK even after all the rain.

Did my first ski since my knee rehab, beautiful day, nice snow, no problems; just went to above Alta Vista and back to check how well my knee would do.

Back in the saddle  8) or should we say dynafits ;)

Thanks for the TR.  New to the area and looking to make my first ski outing in the area and this looks like a great one to start with.  One question, what time does the gate open in the morning?  I swear I read somewhere that it closes at 5pm but haven't been able to find when it opens.  I imagine that a parks pass is also needed to get in, right?  Thanks again.

The gate opening depends on overnight snowfall and staffing, see http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/winter-travel.htm for more info and a useful table of how the closing time changes throughout the winter. Whether the road opens at all is determined by this matrix: http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/winter-road-opening-matrix.pdf

Estimated road opening times based on snowfall, copied from the Rainier climbing rangers' blog http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/:
OPENING:
Each morning the road opens based on road conditions and snowplow operations. Here are some general rules to follow.

If there is 0-5" of new snow at Paradise, expect a 9:00 to 10:00 o'clock opening.
If there is 5-10" of new snow at Paradise, expect a 11:00-13:00 o'clock opening.
If there is over 10-15" or more of new snow at Paradise, consider that the road may not open at all.

Many factors effect how quickly the plow drivers can remove the snow from the road.

1. The snow level. Do they have to start at Nisqually Entrance or only 2 miles from Paradise?
2. The snow density. 25" inches of wet and heavy snow may only be able to be removed by a very slow moving snow blower. 10" of fresh powder can be removed faster than 5" of sloppy wet snow.
3. Trees down. Trees must be cut and cleared by using a chainsaw. This can slow the process down considerably.
4. Snowplow equipment breaks down frequently.
5. Snowplow drivers get sick and injured, too.


Call the park at 360-569-2211, press 2, then 2, each morning to get the current estimated road opening time -- usually updated by 7:30am, sometimes as early as 6am. The park's Twitter feed http://twitter.com/#!/MountRainierNPS sometimes has better updated info than the phone recording, sometimes not. Best to use both. But both can be wrong sometimes too.

Entering the park does cost $$, but the $80 Interagency annual pass is a really good deal, it covers every national park and most other federal lands in the country, including not having to buy a Northwest Forest Pass -- all for roughly (or little more than) the current cost of a single tank of gas (depending on vehicle).


Thanks Amar ,
Concise as usual with a few links I didn't know about.
Don't forget if you are 62 you qualify for a Golden Geezer (lifetime)senior  national park pass
for 10$.  Also there is a Access pass for U.S.citizens or permanent residents with permanent disabilities at no cost.

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9217
nov-28-2011-paradise-environs
Robie
2011-11-28 21:37:40