Paradise 12/14
12/14/14
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
24746
8
Gate opened at 905. Road icy. Sunny but windy. Plumes from the east off Pan point and above. No fresh overnight but decent cold coverage . Got above Pan Point and gusts were around 40. Decided the Muir snowfield was likely scoured so traversed to the Mazama chutes and dropped in there which was decent but wind slabbed. Outriggered my knee into a covered rock on a tele turn and it split open like a ripe tomato. My knee pads were in my pack, of course. Packed it with napkins, went home and sewed it up. Not a great day, all in all.
Sorry to hear you got knee capped. I've never skied down that way you described. I should look at it some time.
Yeah, I stuck to the sheltered slopes; being sandblasted by snow LOL
So how the sheltered slopes skied on Sunday?
The Muir snowfield was indeed wind-scoured and there were icy sheets but definitely an improvement from 2 weeks ago.
The Muir snowfield was indeed wind-scoured and there were icy sheets but definitely an improvement from 2 weeks ago.
lower wind-sheltered slopes were mostly boot-top powder on a supportive, not icy, crust. Â Becky and I ventured up to about 8,000ft and bailed for better snow in Edith Creek...never seen so many folks tracking the heck out of Edith Basin before...ski tracks and zig-zagging skin tracks going every which way. Wouldn't surprise me if the sun put a zipper crust on the south aspects by days end. Coverage is still thin enough there to justify caution...we both had our ski tips ricochet off hidden wood/rocks a couple times.
Reasonable turns were possible down to Paradise Valley Rd. Also did a quick yo-yo on Mazama Ridge-Â shaded, wind-sheltered west aspects on Mazama had a lot of surface hoar. Â
Reasonable turns were possible down to Paradise Valley Rd. Also did a quick yo-yo on Mazama Ridge-Â shaded, wind-sheltered west aspects on Mazama had a lot of surface hoar. Â
OUCH! Hope there is no lasting knee damage. Thanks for the report!
I had a similar, tho probably less severe, early-season injury years ago, and have seen many of the stoked hurt themselves in shallow snowpacks as well... The Paradise weather station is partially sheltered by trees, and IMO the telemetry 'Total Snow' figure exceeds the general depth of snow in many nearby areas by about 20% in mid-winter and probably even more now.
Because of the sparse coverage (and general seventh-decade feebleness), I'll probably be sticking to XC until the base at least doubles. Sure wish the park had not plowed the snow off the closed Reflection Lake road.
I had a similar, tho probably less severe, early-season injury years ago, and have seen many of the stoked hurt themselves in shallow snowpacks as well... The Paradise weather station is partially sheltered by trees, and IMO the telemetry 'Total Snow' figure exceeds the general depth of snow in many nearby areas by about 20% in mid-winter and probably even more now.
Because of the sparse coverage (and general seventh-decade feebleness), I'll probably be sticking to XC until the base at least doubles. Sure wish the park had not plowed the snow off the closed Reflection Lake road.
The knee will heal- feel like an idiot for not wearing pads- it was so windy on the ridge I didn't feel like unzipping my pants to put them on. Not surprised to read the note about a slide on Pan Point from wind slab. This was on my mind. Makes for another year with a bad , unstable base- assuming we ever get snow to cover it. Heard today that we are at 6% of normal snowpack!
Tetons looking good via your map!!!
But washington is still rad!
But washington is still rad!
Reply to this TR
Please login first: