July 13, 2013, Paradise Glacier from 4 Crossing

It is almost ski from the bumper still at 4th crossing. Have to go maybe 50 feet uphill. And then just a few short carry gaps to stitch together and to get onto ridge. Once on Mazama Ridge there is lots of snow and no gaps (for now). Went past McClure again rather than up the ex-icecave valley, a few of the pure-snow connections for that route are nearly gone, but the valley route should be good for awhile.

The raised tracks from skiers past are becoming an issue particularly higher between Anvil and the rock island where the ski lines concentrate in a narrower area. But past the rock island things spread out and it is easier to avoid the raised tracks. On the lower rollover there are some medium cracks starting to show, and the steeper lines near the exposed ice lead to a point where there's a little rockstep that's melted out and you'd need to scramble. But if you stay closer to saddle still connects.



Other than having to avoid raised tracks snow today was primo. Got a pretty hard freeze last night and the relatively mild temps were just enough to thaw out the top and not make it sticky.



The Muir side was crowded and the parking lots were crawling with people but over at 4th Crossing and the Paradise side of the divide things were much more peaceful. Another good crop of ice worms today BTW.