10-23-12 Paradise MRNP

Headed up to Paradise this morning hoping to make it to the Muir Snowfield. Once we got to the base of Pan Point, it became much more windy, and the visibility was not looking good above that. So we decided traverse across Edith Creek basin towards Mazama ridge. There were plenty of rocks to be found at most places at this elevation, probably around 6500ft.

We crossed over the creek and skinned up the summer hiking trail to the top Mazama ridge. The snow was pretty deep on the trail from wind deposit. The main face was not nearly as deep. We did however find a nice powdery pitch to ski down. We skied all the way to the road. It wasn't pretty at the end though. Sticky snow, and a few rocks here and there. Once at the road, you could see that there were much better and more open lines to ski with better planning.

I'm headed back up tomorrow but plan on taking a different approach to the whole day in general. Seems to be a great time to ski around and and not worry about getting a lot of "skiing" in. Just cruising around in the snow and planning for better, deeper days, is still plenty of fun!

I'll try and load pics and video one of these days.

-Whitey