Dec 19, '14; Mt. Rainier, a new page? Or not?

The plow operators were out bright and early, had Paradise parking lot plowed by 7:45, Longmire gate open at 9 a.m.

Awesome!

Didn't it snow?

well, the Park has been doing well in plowing and posting; they gave early notification of a late opening yesterday (Sunday) but today's twitter feed:

"The gate to Paradise at Longmire will not open today due to a shortage in
staffing required to ensure public safety. Longmire is open. – mm"

I hope we won't see a return to routine mid-week closures.

The park service has been doing an admirable job of early AM twitter updates with estimated openings.... really does seem like they've listened to the public requests for more info.

As for today- perhaps they got a some flack for the initial 'staffing shortage' tweet, cause they've since added more detail- sounds like there's an ongoing SAR operation. I think we can all appreciate them needing to divert their limited resources to a search mission...maybe in the future they can include that amount of information so its a little easier to understand why the road would be shut down without much/any advance notice.

The park service has been doing an admirable job of early AM twitter updates with estimated openings.... really does seem like they've listened to the public requests for more info.

As for today-  perhaps they got a some flack for the initial 'staffing shortage' tweet, cause they've since added more detail- sounds like there's an ongoing SAR operation.  I think we can all appreciate them needing to divert their limited resources to a search mission...maybe in the future they can include that amount of information so its a little easier to understand why the road would be shut down without much/any advance notice.       

Yes, they finally put that on twitter after getting a huge amount of flack from local business and frustrated citizens--could have been avoided by posting the SAR early; people understand the need for quick concerted action in SAR.

"The gate to Paradise at Longmire will not open today due to a shortage in
staffing required to ensure public safety. Longmire is open. – mm"

There certainly seems a huge staff at MRNP for what is essentially a part-time park:

"Q: How many people work at the park?

A: Again, it’s complicated. The National Park Service puts the number at 172 full-time equivalent employees."

www.thenewstribune.com/2014/12/22/355024...in-size-numbers.html

The MRNP staff in the seventies was half the size and did not close Paradise for SARs, even tho the road patrol and mountain rescue jobs were done by the same rangers and winter visitation was twice the modern figures.  They didn't have today's 4WD vehicles, webcams, telemetry, or even reliable radios.  They also didn't have a country club mentality.   

What other national park in our country closes it's main attraction for SARs?  No other park in the country plows a road daily, locks it nightly, and opens it so unpredicatably.  Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain and Badger Pass at Yosemite also lead visitors into snowy, potentially hazardous terrain, yet are open 24/7 in winter; I'm sure there are other examples.

No NPS unit in the country over the past two decades has reduced public access (while maintaining administrative use) on 2WD roads formerly open to the public more than Mount Rainier.

And where in the NPS Organic Act are they charged with 'ensuring public safety'?  Safety, public or individual, can never be 'ensured', no matter how many nannies on the staff.

Paradise Backcountry Search Underway for Missing Snowshoer

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Date: December 29, 2014
Contact: Patti Wold, Information Officer, 360-569-6563
A search is underway above Paradise for an overdue snowshoer from Puyallup, Washington,who disappeared during Saturday evening's winter storm. The missing party intended to overnight at Camp Muir, but was forced to descend due to formidable winter storm conditions. A second party took him into their shelter at Panorama Point, but when the shelter was destroyed by the extreme conditions they attempted to complete their descent to Paradise together. During the descent the individual separated from the party in the vicinity of Edith Creek.

The park worked with the Nordic Patrol to conduct a hasty search on Sunday. Today's operations include a ground and air search from Edith Creek to the upper Stevens Canyon Drainage. Members of Tacoma, Everett, Seattle, and Olympic Mountain Rescues are conducting the ground search. The US Army Reserve 214th Air Division out of Joint Base Lewis McChord and park climbing rangers aboard are conducting the air search.

Current conditions are cold and windy. Avalanche conditions are considerable. The air search will focus on high avalanche areas.

The road to Paradise will remain closed during the search.

There certainly seems a huge staff at MRNP for what is essentially a part-time park:

""Q: How many people work at the park?

A: Again, it’s complicated. The National Park Service puts the number at 172 full-time equivalent employees."

www.thenewstribune.com/2014/12/22/355024...in-size-numbers.html"

Gary, read your reference. The list is for full-time-equivalents (FTEs), which includes all the seasonals, who primarily work during the summer, as well as permanent employees who have furloughs. Also, there's a lot going on in parks that don't necessarily support your access to the backcountry in the winter. If you read the Organic Act (to which you so often refer), NPS Management Policies, and the MRNP General Management Plan you'll realize that national parks are there for much more than YOUR enjoyment.

Tell me why they don't shut down the roads, and I mean access, when there is a SAR operation in the summer.

Shutting the road to Paradise for SAR activity started after Margarets death. It is so unfortunate but I believe they are using this incident to their perverted advantage.

Who actually believes that having no civilians skiing, snowshoeing etc, could not be a benefit by having more eyes in the terrain?

Staffing issues again this morning. Thats after tweeting it would open at nine….

A very interesting story from The National Parks Traveler...

www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2014/12/mo...er-fun-paradise26101

Tell me why they don't shut down the roads, and I mean access, when there is a SAR operation in the summer.

Shutting the road to Paradise for SAR activity started after Margarets death. It is so unfortunate but I believe they are using this incident to their perverted advantage.

Who actually believes that having no civilians skiing, snowshoeing etc, could not be a benefit by having more eyes in the terrain?

I think, based on news reports and other articles, that Margaret's (the LEO) death had a pround impact on the park with repurcussions up and down the line, compounded by other deaths (snowshoers) and lost people. I don't agree that the response to these incidents is warranted or well thought out. The link suggests that one sequela to the death is an inflated LEO staff and requirements for extraordinarey supervision. And that it might be confounded with some inherent bias against winter recreation. The death of the LEO seemingly was unrelated to anything in the park. The perp had already killed some of his acquaintances and was fleeing, evidently assuming he could drive across the park and elude police. It was an unfortunate and unpredictable and extemely unusual incident. I agree with you that closing the park for SAR may not be the best way to find lost people, especially when they are lost during a storm.

MRNP seems to be classifying Winter as a terrorist under federal guidelines of some sort...

... and the public as accomplices.

Well excluding the public during SAR operation would have the advantage of not adding new tracks in the snow to the area being searched... So if searches spotted tracks other than the known search parties -- that's where they should look. If the public is given free range -- tracks could be anyones.

More eyes could be helpful -- except those eyes don't have anyway to communicate with SAR -- cell coverage is very sketchy at Paradise with Verizon and none for other carriers -- and they aren't going to hand out the shortwave radios to random people.

Tracks on the snow aren't the same issue in the summer.

Fresh snow occurs in late spring and early fall. I have been on several rescues in those time periods with several feet of new snow and the public is NOT barred from the search area.
Stop drinking the kool-aid Randy…..

Also snowed three inches last night and in fear of more snow, then rain, then….OMG…avalanches….the road will remain closed….Shocker.

The gate not openning today shouldn't be a suprise -- it is consistent with the published flowchart -- winter storm warnings mean keeping the gate closed.

Keeping the public out during the SAR operation last week might have had more to do with that LE Rangers had their hand full coordinating the SAR operation. The correct choice in my book.

I've volunteered at the park many times over the years and participated in a number of SAR operations. While volunteering, I have a park service radio and monitor the LE radio chatter (and call in my own reports) Even on a day with little or no new snow, the LE rangers are kept pretty busy just keeping park visitors on the road. It's amazing how many people spin out, run into snowbanks and have various problems just driving the road. The amount of boneheaded behavoir by the general public is pretty amazing. The bulk of the park visitors in the winter are folks coming up to use the sledding hill -- or just to walk around a bit and for many see snow for the first time. This isn't "Kool-aid", this is direct personal experience.

If the park was only open to experienced winter travelers like you and me -- they could have a different gate policy, but the park needs to serve *ALL* of the public, not just people with AWD that know how to drive on snow covered roads and are equipped to spend the night safely if they get "snowed in".

I suspect that in a decade or so as congress keeps whittling away at the NPS budget the Longmire gate will be locked in November and stay that way until May and these threads will seem quaint.

Tell me why they don't shut down the roads, and I mean access, when there is a SAR operation in the summer.

Fresh snow occurs in late spring and early fall. I have been on several rescues in those time periods with several feet of new snow and the public is NOT barred from the search area.
Stop drinking the kool-aid Randy…..

The reason that the roads and access to Paradise aren't shut down during SAR operations in summer, late spring, and early fall appears to be simple: the Paradise Inn is open and there are dozens to hundreds of guests staying there, who require 24/7 access. Therefore the road stays open 24/7 including during SARs and whatever, as closing it would require closing Paradise Inn and evacuating the guests. They do sometimes (rarely) close the road to Sunrise during summer SAR operations on the north side of the mountain, when they need the Sunrise parking lot for helicopter staging purposes, and they can do so since there is no Sunrise Inn.

It seems like this answer should have been obvious. If another incident like the search for the fugitive gunman happened in summer instead of winter, it is likely that the Paradise road would be closed and Paradise Inn guests would be evacuated for public safety reasons if it were deemed safe to do so, especially if the search extended beyond a single day. But clearly they can't do that for normal SAR operations.

I'm pissed off too about the increasing road closures the past several years and wish the trend of decreased access would reverse, but it's no reason to rant at others here on TAY like Randy who try to provide reasonable explanations and try to see things from the park staff's perspective.

I suspect that in a decade or so as congress keeps whittling away at the NPS budget the Longmire gate will be locked in November and stay that way until May and these threads will seem quaint.

It seems that the key to preventing that disastrous outcome is increasing and ongoing pressure on the park management from tourism $ dependent business owners in Eatonville, Elbe, and Ashford. Such pressure already is likely to be the reason that the road is open as often as it is this winter, and appears to be why last year's Monday-Tuesday closure was not reinstated this year.

Well, here's a surprise: the road opened at noon today, despite the earlier announcement that it would not!

Invalid consumer key/secret in configuration: 12:11 PM - 4 Jan 2015

The gate to Paradise at Longmire is open. ALL vehicles must carry tire chains; today 2WD vehicles must use them from Longmire up. -SJM

Invalid consumer key/secret in configuration: 6:55 AM - 4 Jan 2015

Due to the winter storm and flood warnings, increasing snow/rain and  avalanche hazard, the road to Paradise will remain closed today. -tks

Wonder what caused them to change their mind . . .

Webcams show only a handful of cars in the Paradise lot as of 1pm.

I don't mean to come across as pissed at Randy. I am pissed that the public in general has accepted and is accepting of what has happened over the years.

I don't mean to be one of those " I have lived here for forty years" types. But I have....literally.

When first seeing the flowchart three years ago I thought great, finally a guideline to go by.

Todays closure was based on future warnings for late afternoon all across the board.....


Road just opened 20 minutes ago. Hows that flowchart working? Nothing makes sense now...


Have trouble posting….

Spent Friday in the Tatoosh.  Stayed the night at Whittaker's and ate at the Highlander  Spent Saturday in the Paradise Environs.  Both days the gate opened late despite receiving a half an inch and stating on the 7am Twitter post that they would be open at 9 AM. Again, "staffing" given as the reason.  My partner and I had a ongoing discussion throughout the day on Saturday as to whether or not we should stay another night and ski on Sunday.  We came to the conclusion that gate would most likely not open or open too late to make it worth the effort.  I wonder how Whittaker's and the Highlander are feeling about the gate openings right about now.  Both lost our business on Saturday due the park's seemingly arbitrary gate policy.

...
It seems that the key to preventing that disastrous outcome is increasing and ongoing pressure on the park management from tourism $ dependent business owners in Eatonville, Elbe, and Ashford. Such pressure already is likely to be the reason that the road is open as often as it is this winter, and appears to be why last year's Monday-Tuesday closure was not reinstated this year.

It is amazing to think that our park managers would be more concerned about the profits of a few business people in some rural towns than the congressional representatives  of the much larger number of citizens who enjoy their national parks.  I would bet that one concerted effort by organizations like the National Parks and Conservation Association (which does lobby heavily for the Parks) and the Seattle Mountaineers to write a cogent and factual letters to DOI Sec. Sally Jewell, Sen. Cantwell, Sen. Murray, and various congress people would be more effective than the owner of Copper Creek complaining to the Park.  A reasonably large volume of calls and emails by individuals citizens would reinforce that of the organizations.  Letters from one, two, or three people may be ignored as coming from cranks.  I've personally discussed some park acces issues with Congr. Reichart; but of course he is a Republican and was one the appropriations committee but the Republicans had all agreed to spending caps and he felt that limited Congress' ability to provide additional funds. 

Mt. Rainier does need a large amount of money to address serious threats to infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges.  But I wonder how much pressure our elected reps get (I and other members of our locan non-profit to ensure access and sustainability of the our community had some effect--but the question we were most asked was who are you?  how many people do you represent? and why should we listen to your suggestions?  Still we were heard and some changes were made.

People have to speak up, demand to be heard, and provide cogent arguments.  Backcountry recreationists, especially skiers, don't often do that.  Hikers have the WTA which offers partnerships to the fed agencies and work for fudning too.

It seems, however, to be de rigeur to defer to the business community now in matters of public interest.

...
It seems, however, to be de rigeur to defer to the business community now in matters of public interest.

Hey Andy,  which textbook on American history have you been reading?    Mine asserts that we have the finest government that money can buy.   This isn't a new phenomena in american politics -- it's been around since before the revolution.    Mt Rainier enjoyed more funding in earlier decades because of "Scoop" Jackson -- "The Senator from Boeing" -- You know the guy that the Jackson Visitor Center is named for.

Murray and Cantwell have other priorities and less influence than Jackson.

Randy, there is not enough space in a message block to list even part of the history I've read.  Just finished the Revolution of 1800 that TJ led by stimulating public sentiment through letters, pamphelets, and news journals; it changed the direction from oligarchy/monarrchy to democracy--massive pulbic demonstrations.  Remember that Mt. Rainier was established after a 10-year campaign that included the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce but the real energy came from the outdoor recreations and conservation groups like the Sierra Club, National Geographic Society, etc. continually battling Repub Congr Joe Cannon.  NPS Director Stephen Mather used charisma, determination, and leadership the like of which hasn't been seen since in making parks accessible to the public while preserving the natural values.  The CCC under Roosevelt did wondrous things with primitive tools.  Scoop was great; when I was in charge of outdoor recreation on US Air Force lands, his staff sent me the massive report he had done on the present and  future demands for outdoor recreation; the Republicans prevented publishing and disseminating the report to the public.  In the 60s and 70s we had citizen fueled civil rights, anti-militarism, and environmental movement that were highly successful.  Congressman Dicks, not only was a boeing advocate, and a military advocate, but was a strong environmental advocate who obtained massive funding for the National Forests and National Parks in WA; I went of a couple of field trips with him on watershed rehabiitation in the Olympics (and met with his staff); similarly Congr. DeFazio in OR is great on environmental issues (I've been on field trips with him).

Unfortunately now, we have reached a near pinnacle in militarism and oligarchy.  Patty Murray is the Senator for the soldiers (even if they don't seem to realize it); she even wants a veteran conservation corps to do the kind of work the CCCs did.  Congress can fiind no end to the ways for spending money on the military--even coming up with a $95,000/year raise for retired generals.  The public seems to agree.  So while I will have access to the park for the time I want, you and other younger people and their heirs probably won't (but they will have more sophisticated iPad minis and maybe enjoy them even more).

Some successes: Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Mulitple Use Sustained Yield Act, National Forest Management Act, Wilderness Act ... and others and issues like old-growth conservation (even President Clinton got involved in that!) all fueled by public demand.  Even Geo. W. Bush ran for president promising to address the backlog in park maintenance--he did, he made it worse. LOL

I can see where closing Paradise for a winter SAR would be useful in clear weather when aerial searches could quickly spot tracks of any survivors. It doesn't take much wind or snow to obscure tracks, tho, so it seems to me allowing public access might be a better policy sometimes in stormy weather.

About a decade ago there was a winter SAR for two parties of two overdue from a Muir trip. I encountered them (they had joined during the storm) by chance in a snow cave near Cowlitz Rock after their second night out. Visibility was poor and they had no idea where they were. Because two were on snowshoes and two were on foot, they were moving slowly & having trouble keeping together as darkness fell, so I used their large bundle of wands to mark the descent route to Mazama Ridge, where i met a single volunteer searcher with a radio. There was some frostbite, but all four made it out late that night to a Paradise lot with so many news trucks that it looked like a high-school football game from a distance!

Things might have turned out differently if Paradise had been closed for the SAR.