July 1, 2012, Mt. Rainier: Pan Point/Edith Creek
7/1/12
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
1898
1
Three of us headed to do some easy touring out of Paradise. The plan was to head up to Panorama Point, evaluate conditions/visibility, and decide where to go from there.
Despite the forecasted chance of rain, none was encountered. Visibility, however, was pretty poor; even Paradise itself was swathed in fog. We had not known that the trail to Pan Point was marked, however, which made travel significantly easier (for better or for worse).
The skin up was uneventful. The expected climbers, skiers, and tourists in jeans (!) were encountered. As we detoured around a melted-out section of the trail, we also encountered some local wildlife (see the first photo). We were not as close as the photos shows - camera zoom.
We stopped for lunch just below Pan Point, where the trail is also melted out. Given the visibility, we weren't comfortable traveling farther than Pan Point. (all of us are still in our first year of BC skiing) Since we weren't going to be continuing on, we decided not to hike the melted portion of the trail; it was a fine break for lunch.
As we were gearing up to ski down, we met and were joined by a fourth skier keen on descending in a group. We initially descended in the general vicinity of the trail, which was... okay. It wasn't awful, just not great; the snow was harder than it let on, and with the stiff sun cups/errant hiker tracks, it wasn't an area we were particularly interested in skiing more than once. The best decision of the day, however, was choosing to cut east and ski the slopes down towards Edith Creek. The sky also cleared somewhat around this point (second photo); it turned into quite a pleasant afternoon.
The slopes east of Alta Vista down towards Edith Creek made for pleasant laps. The snow was almost corn-like (helped by some appearances of the sun), softening up the sun cups nicely. Stability was fine while we were there. Snow cover in the area was good; until things melt out further, it's not a bad place for easy laps close to Paradise.
We lapped those slopes until legs that we wish were in better shape and some questionably behaving knees suggested it was time to call it a day. Not bad for the first day of July.
Despite the forecasted chance of rain, none was encountered. Visibility, however, was pretty poor; even Paradise itself was swathed in fog. We had not known that the trail to Pan Point was marked, however, which made travel significantly easier (for better or for worse).
The skin up was uneventful. The expected climbers, skiers, and tourists in jeans (!) were encountered. As we detoured around a melted-out section of the trail, we also encountered some local wildlife (see the first photo). We were not as close as the photos shows - camera zoom.
We stopped for lunch just below Pan Point, where the trail is also melted out. Given the visibility, we weren't comfortable traveling farther than Pan Point. (all of us are still in our first year of BC skiing) Since we weren't going to be continuing on, we decided not to hike the melted portion of the trail; it was a fine break for lunch.
As we were gearing up to ski down, we met and were joined by a fourth skier keen on descending in a group. We initially descended in the general vicinity of the trail, which was... okay. It wasn't awful, just not great; the snow was harder than it let on, and with the stiff sun cups/errant hiker tracks, it wasn't an area we were particularly interested in skiing more than once. The best decision of the day, however, was choosing to cut east and ski the slopes down towards Edith Creek. The sky also cleared somewhat around this point (second photo); it turned into quite a pleasant afternoon.
The slopes east of Alta Vista down towards Edith Creek made for pleasant laps. The snow was almost corn-like (helped by some appearances of the sun), softening up the sun cups nicely. Stability was fine while we were there. Snow cover in the area was good; until things melt out further, it's not a bad place for easy laps close to Paradise.
We lapped those slopes until legs that we wish were in better shape and some questionably behaving knees suggested it was time to call it a day. Not bad for the first day of July.
