april 17, 2005, paradise

the six of us arrived at Paradise 10am.  it was snowing lightly, and there was a few new inches on top of a well saturated layer covered with runnels.  west aspects were wind-scoured and skinning was difficult on steep terrain.  visibility was poor, too, but we managed to make our way to Pan Point and took lunch to wait for the sun.  lots of other people wandering around in the white up there.  we planned to ski down to Mazama ridge, but changed our minds after considering the lack of visibility and evidence of wind slabs on lee slopes -- appeared to be poor bonding between the rain-crust and the new snow.  luckily, we found decent skiing as Peter Spruance demonstrates:



ron j and co.: i thought i saw your vehicle in the lot.  i bet you guys were skiing the deep somewhere.

i'll post more photos later...