January 14-16, Paradise
1/15/12
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3072
2
So stoked that the missing snowshoer has been found, alive and alert! Last night was particularly cold (9F at Paradise).
Susan and I camped near "The Bench" and skied most aspects, mostly Sunday. Windy trip in on Saturday. Snow was as good as telemetry would lead you to believe; 1'+ of velvety down atop the crust by the time we left (with friendly escorts) Monday morning. Though the SAR closure meant few other travelers, a broken binding kept us to shallow slopes. Eyes peeled all day for the wayward hiker as we wandered all over, but no sign seen.
Bond of pow to crust was poor to moderate. Unconsolidated fluff didn't propagate much. Windslabs brewing from westerlies. Consolidation/settlement of the new snow slowly enhanced slabbiness. Funny double-crust sandwich at our campsite (sheltered, treed, ~NE aspect) at 4700' near the Bench may get twitchy with substantial loading.
Moral of the binding story: If one of your Dynafit heelposts cracks, replace both.
Mr. Kim must have done something really right to stay warm for two nights (lows of 13F and 9F) with almost continuous light snowfall and breeze. The 30-50+ mph winds Saturday afternoon must have been miserable. Big thank-you to the SAR community!
Susan and I camped near "The Bench" and skied most aspects, mostly Sunday. Windy trip in on Saturday. Snow was as good as telemetry would lead you to believe; 1'+ of velvety down atop the crust by the time we left (with friendly escorts) Monday morning. Though the SAR closure meant few other travelers, a broken binding kept us to shallow slopes. Eyes peeled all day for the wayward hiker as we wandered all over, but no sign seen.
Bond of pow to crust was poor to moderate. Unconsolidated fluff didn't propagate much. Windslabs brewing from westerlies. Consolidation/settlement of the new snow slowly enhanced slabbiness. Funny double-crust sandwich at our campsite (sheltered, treed, ~NE aspect) at 4700' near the Bench may get twitchy with substantial loading.
Moral of the binding story: If one of your Dynafit heelposts cracks, replace both.
Mr. Kim must have done something really right to stay warm for two nights (lows of 13F and 9F) with almost continuous light snowfall and breeze. The 30-50+ mph winds Saturday afternoon must have been miserable. Big thank-you to the SAR community!
Great sunbreak photo. ;)
3 for the price of 1 !
As a bonus on Monday one of our teams encountered a pair of day slowshoers who got lost after watching Mr. Kim slide down on Sat.
At least one overnight party made it out Monday evening.
Last I heard there were two parties of two overdue from Camp Muir, but the weather has been so bad the search parties have not made it above Panorama Pt.
At the seattle times -
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/?from=stnv1
-->Advanced Search-->"rainier"
(x) Past Week
As a bonus on Monday one of our teams encountered a pair of day slowshoers who got lost after watching Mr. Kim slide down on Sat.
At least one overnight party made it out Monday evening.
Last I heard there were two parties of two overdue from Camp Muir, but the weather has been so bad the search parties have not made it above Panorama Pt.
At the seattle times -
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/?from=stnv1
-->Advanced Search-->"rainier"
(x) Past Week
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