March 12-13 Rainier- Mowich Lk, Knapsack Pass
3/15/05
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2959
3
Not much skiing was had on this trip, but I figured I could at least provide y'all with some worthwhile info about that side of the mountain.
Six of us had plans to get in to the spray park side of the mountain for some turns this weekend. Was to be a trip when the members of our mt. waddington ski trip all finally met and skied together before we depart next month for our traverse.
Two headed in to spray park on Friday, four of us headed in yesterday. No snow until the last few hundred feet on the Grindstone trail which cuts off some of the road switchbacks from the road gate at Paul Peak TH.
Given the lack of snow...I'd recommend bringing bikes, I wish we had.
We skinned the last half mile on the road to Mowich Lake, only about two feet of snow on the road. Shortly after our arrival the Park Service's heavy machinery arrived. Apparently since they already had all their dozers and equipment on that side of the mountain for the Carbon River Rd. washout repair...they headed on up to clear the Mowich Lake Rd. too.
We had never gone over Knapsack Pass before and figured 'why not'. Skis were off and on as were tried to link together bands of snow and not veer too far from the trail to the pass. Skis were only on about half the time though. Probably woulda been much faster to hike the completely snow-free trail into Spray Park as my buddies did the day before.
Just as we reached the top of knapsack pass, Ry rolled his knee in just such a way that something snapped and all of a sudden he couldn't straighten his leg out and couldn't put any weight on it....not a good situation to be in.
We got a good view into Spray Park, though the pass was as far as we got. The Flett glaciers look like they are good to ski, though wait for a warm weekend, my friends who were already in there said the slopes above cat-eye lake were icy as hell.
We descended a few hundred feet to the first flat spot and set up camp. Figuring we'd try to get Ry out first thing Sunday morning.
7am we were moving, Becky with a double pair of skis on her back, Todd and Ry doing there best impersonation of a three-legged race as Ry hopped along on one leg, and me figuring out the best way to carry two backpacks.
We made it down to the lake in just a few hours and fortunately the Park Service was still pushing snow around so they radioed for a ranger to drive up and give Ry a lift down to Paul Peak TH. We were all back at the cars by 1pm thanks to the park service giving him a lift...otherwise I figure we would been inching our way down the road well into the evening.
So....
Mowich Lake Rd is now plowed to the lake...and can be biked to within about a mile of the lake, the plowed area was still compact snow and ice the last bit so it won't be completely bikable for a while still. And as for the snowpack on that side of the mountain...as grim as everwhere else, but just catching a glimpse of the Obervation Rock headwall got me excited to get back in there in a couple weeks if we get some more hot weather soon. Not much if anything to ski on the west side of knapsack pass, though we could've skied almost continuously from the east side of the pass into spray park.
Six of us had plans to get in to the spray park side of the mountain for some turns this weekend. Was to be a trip when the members of our mt. waddington ski trip all finally met and skied together before we depart next month for our traverse.
Two headed in to spray park on Friday, four of us headed in yesterday. No snow until the last few hundred feet on the Grindstone trail which cuts off some of the road switchbacks from the road gate at Paul Peak TH.
Given the lack of snow...I'd recommend bringing bikes, I wish we had.
We skinned the last half mile on the road to Mowich Lake, only about two feet of snow on the road. Shortly after our arrival the Park Service's heavy machinery arrived. Apparently since they already had all their dozers and equipment on that side of the mountain for the Carbon River Rd. washout repair...they headed on up to clear the Mowich Lake Rd. too.
We had never gone over Knapsack Pass before and figured 'why not'. Skis were off and on as were tried to link together bands of snow and not veer too far from the trail to the pass. Skis were only on about half the time though. Probably woulda been much faster to hike the completely snow-free trail into Spray Park as my buddies did the day before.
Just as we reached the top of knapsack pass, Ry rolled his knee in just such a way that something snapped and all of a sudden he couldn't straighten his leg out and couldn't put any weight on it....not a good situation to be in.
We got a good view into Spray Park, though the pass was as far as we got. The Flett glaciers look like they are good to ski, though wait for a warm weekend, my friends who were already in there said the slopes above cat-eye lake were icy as hell.
We descended a few hundred feet to the first flat spot and set up camp. Figuring we'd try to get Ry out first thing Sunday morning.
7am we were moving, Becky with a double pair of skis on her back, Todd and Ry doing there best impersonation of a three-legged race as Ry hopped along on one leg, and me figuring out the best way to carry two backpacks.
We made it down to the lake in just a few hours and fortunately the Park Service was still pushing snow around so they radioed for a ranger to drive up and give Ry a lift down to Paul Peak TH. We were all back at the cars by 1pm thanks to the park service giving him a lift...otherwise I figure we would been inching our way down the road well into the evening.
So....
Mowich Lake Rd is now plowed to the lake...and can be biked to within about a mile of the lake, the plowed area was still compact snow and ice the last bit so it won't be completely bikable for a while still. And as for the snowpack on that side of the mountain...as grim as everwhere else, but just catching a glimpse of the Obervation Rock headwall got me excited to get back in there in a couple weeks if we get some more hot weather soon. Not much if anything to ski on the west side of knapsack pass, though we could've skied almost continuously from the east side of the pass into spray park.
Sorry to hear about the injury. I remember hobbling out of there with a severely sprained ankle, which was bad enough despite my being able to weight it. I'm glad to hear everything worked out OK.
Hey Pete, thanks for the report. Sorry to hear about Ry - how is he doing? That was fortunate that NPS happened to be up there. I think bikes would be the way to go with so much of the road snow free - actually makes the return trip enjoyable. Interesting to note that although the road will soon be cleared to the end (or is now), the MRNP site shows a projected opening of the gate for May 22! Should be some good hiking then. >:(
Yeah, we lucked out that the park service was up there.
Doc said he's likely got a torn medial meniscus...hard to believe something so severe can happen just while hiking.
As we left yesterday, they were plowing the last of the mowich lake parking lot, so its totally plowed out by now, but there was a layer of compact snow-ice on the last stretch that will probably still take a week of warm weather to melt out cause a lot of it is in the shade. But you could still bike all the road to that point.
Doc said he's likely got a torn medial meniscus...hard to believe something so severe can happen just while hiking.
As we left yesterday, they were plowing the last of the mowich lake parking lot, so its totally plowed out by now, but there was a layer of compact snow-ice on the last stretch that will probably still take a week of warm weather to melt out cause a lot of it is in the shade. But you could still bike all the road to that point.
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