March 6, 2005, Paradise MRNP
3/6/05
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4812
12
It was another beautiful day in/at Paradise. Melt the butter on the stove because the corn is ready! ;D Breezed past the Longmire gate and found a parking spot in the deserted Paradise lot. There were actually only about 10 cars in the lot this Sunday, and we spotted only 6 skiers. What's up with this on such a beautiful day. We headed from the parking lot to the snow and started skinning towards Golden Gate, when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but an untracked slope of beautiful corn, right there within 5 minutes of the car, rightly named "My Back Door". Why pass up good snow for better? We de-skinned and skied this fine slope down to the lower Paradise road. It was too short, but very sweet. Being such a beautiful day, Ron, Jerry and I decided to explore some new lines that we have been wanting to search out. We skinned up and over the top of Edith Creek where Jerry spotted a great chute east of Pan Point. Booted up to the top to find the entrance, found it and drew straws to see who was first. Thank goodness Jerry won the draw. It was actually quite steep, and narrowed in the throat with a rock garden at the exit. We aptly named this beauty "Scary Jerry" 8), way too scarey for me today. Ron and I traversed across Golden Gate ridge until we found a small area with continuous snow to the main slope. The skiing was great, more perfect corn, and just a few patches of bare ground to deal with. Skinned back over and caught "White's Knuckle" which has had considerable meltout from the last time. Ended up on the lower Paradise road and skinned back to the car. What beautiful views today looking over to The Tatoosh, clear views of Mt. Adams, St. Helen's, and Mt Hood. We took lots of pictures today, which I should have ready for viewing in a couple of days, and maybe, just maybe ;) Jerry will have another one of his great videos for viewing later. ;D
Sounds like the three of you had a good day in your playground.
Not that I regret skiing at Baker on Saturday, but it sounds like you were rewarded with some better skiing and weather today.
Did more people (skiers) show up later in the morning?
Not that I regret skiing at Baker on Saturday, but it sounds like you were rewarded with some better skiing and weather today.
Did more people (skiers) show up later in the morning?
It sounds like Sunday DID turn out to be the better day at Paradise. The NOAA guys must be suffering whiplash from their flip-flopping forecast. What happened to "mostly cloudy with a chance of rain" on Sunday?
Glad you hit a good one!
Glad you hit a good one!
JibberD, more people did show up at Paradise, but with the weather being somewhat summer like, the skiers seemed to be outnumbered by people just enjoying the nice weather and hiking around Paradise proper. We only saw one other skier from our perch on "scary Jerry".
Lowell, Sunday was a fantastic day weather wise and skiing, with such clear skies and great views. There was no wind at all, the snow had corned up and softened just right. I had to look at my thermometer a couple of times just to make sure we hadn't passed through a time warp and were in the middle of July. (It was 56 degrees) One of the best view of the day, was Mt Adams peeking over the saddle of the Unicorn. What a great day in the PNW. 8)
Lowell, Sunday was a fantastic day weather wise and skiing, with such clear skies and great views. There was no wind at all, the snow had corned up and softened just right. I had to look at my thermometer a couple of times just to make sure we hadn't passed through a time warp and were in the middle of July. (It was 56 degrees) One of the best view of the day, was Mt Adams peeking over the saddle of the Unicorn. What a great day in the PNW. 8)
Brenda and I were there on Sat and, after a brief rest at Nisqually Lodge, returned for more fun on Sun. Sat wasn't bad, but it took a while for the crust to soften - fat skis solved that problem. Saw Dorothea and crew up there on Sat. Seemed like more skiers on Sat than on Sun. Really nice snow from above Pan Point and down some chute east of there that we've never skied before - pretty steep too. Back bowl was pretty good too. Lots of tracks way east below Paradise Glacier on Sun. We'll have to get over there one of these days. I'm thinking that, without any new snow, we may be done with Paradise for the year - had some good days up there this year. Time to head north for snow - hopefully Baker and North Cascades highway will last a bit longer.
Nice report, MadDog. What, No Pictures?
Mike, we saw you and Brenda go by but couldn't catch up to you to say hi.
It's hell being old ;)
Mike, we saw you and Brenda go by but couldn't catch up to you to say hi.
It's hell being old ;)
What, No Pictures?
Here ya go :D, photos are here.
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/paradise3605.msnw
8)
Nice June skiing in early March! What can you do, might as well have fun! 8) Here's another corny(get it) video:
Soak up the Corn
Soak up the Corn
mad dog, nice report and pics! it was definitely a gorgeous day out there. if we had made it a little higher, we might have been able to wave to you from adams! 8) glad you guys had a great time shuckin'. :)
Woo Hoo! Jerman -- Another Rockin' Viddy!
Superlative tune selection; exceptional camera work; Spielburg class editing and compilation.
Another keeper, mate.
And seeing as how we haven't used up our one shot quota for the thread, what better way to use it up than to imortailze the author of the TR?:
Superlative tune selection; exceptional camera work; Spielburg class editing and compilation.
Another keeper, mate.
And seeing as how we haven't used up our one shot quota for the thread, what better way to use it up than to imortailze the author of the TR?:
ahh another trip I wish I was on, thanks for sharing:-)
Jerry that is a funny, funny video. I definitely got some laughs.
Dude, ya' gotta make those sandwiches the night before man! Coffee making in the morning, that's all...
Ron's ski pole toss initiated another humorous sequence. I could almost hear Ron mumbling..."ahhh what the hell?...this crap goes there...and that takes care of it...I know what I'm doing." ;D
Oh yeah, the skiing looked good too!
Dude, ya' gotta make those sandwiches the night before man! Coffee making in the morning, that's all...
Ron's ski pole toss initiated another humorous sequence. I could almost hear Ron mumbling..."ahhh what the hell?...this crap goes there...and that takes care of it...I know what I'm doing." ;D
Oh yeah, the skiing looked good too!
Great video and pictures, thanks for sharing the fun. :)
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