Home > Trip Reports > April 1-2, 2015, Rainier, Mazama and Cowlitz POWDER!

April 1-2, 2015, Rainier, Mazama and Cowlitz POWDER!

4/1/15
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
7837
7
Posted by Amar Andalkar on 4/3/15 9:18am
As many of you know, I used to write a lot of trip reports on TAY. But somehow I haven't posted a trip report here in exactly 11 months now, since a memorable jaunt up


In this most anomalous and unusual of Cascade snow seasons, the start of spring has finally brought a long-awaited return to normal winter-like weather conditions for the first time in 2015, with the first sustained cool-and-wet pattern of the year arriving during the last week of March and continuing into April. About 10" of new snow (low-density powder!) fell at Paradise on Mount Rainier during the final 8 hours of March, with lighter snowfall continuing into April 1 and snow levels dropping below 2000 ft by the tail end. A steady decrease in both temperature and winds throughout the intense snowfall (see telemetry data below) ensured a very stable right-side-up density profile, while a nice transition from sunshine and warm temperatures over 50 °F on March 30 to rain to wet snow around 33 °F earlier in the day on March 31 followed by continued cooling ensured an excellent bond of the new snow to the previous days' suncrust.

I didn't have a ski partner lined up for April 1 since it was a Wednesday, but I was prepared to ski solo given the expected stability (I solo a lot out of necessity in corn snow conditions with low avalanche hazard, but very rarely solo in powder conditions). Luckily late on Tuesday evening, I convinced Radka to join me over a Gmail chat, so no need to solo. Given the 10" of new, I expected the Longmire gate to open about an hour late around 10am on April 1, so we planned to arrive at that time. The park's morning Twitter update also stated 10am and lo and behold, the gate opened right then! Only 2 other cars in the Paradise parking lot, Vogtski as usual and a pair of snowshoers in a pickup. Really shocked to see it so empty on such a big powder day, even midweek.



It was partly sunny at times looking south, but with a solid cloud deck overhead obscuring everything above 6500 ft and also occasional light snow. Given that weather, we planned to take laps on Mazama Ridge and all skied down Paradise Valley Road to 4th Crossing before transitioning to skins. Thankfully the snowshoers continued down the road instead of following our skintrack, which we hoped to reuse for several laps.



I broke trail up to the top of Mazama Ridge in excellent wintry powder conditions with no sign that anyone had ever been there before, it felt great to break trail again in deep cold powder after several months without doing so. Pole tests confirmed the expected snow profile, with a couple inches of wet snow atop the solid crust topped by 8-12" of lighter and lighter snow, with no wind affect except in very isolated spots atop the Mazama ridgeline.

Given the lack of any sign of other people thus far, we were shocked to arrive atop Mazama Ridge and find a skintrack already there! A deep trench in fact, clearly the work of at least several skiers. I guessed that it had to be a guided group, and it was, a small RMI ski seminar led by my friends Seth & Solveig Waterfall, which had been camped on the ridge the previous 3 nights.



They were out early making laps in the new powder in the east-facing Mazama back bowl, and a nice chat with them confirmed my conjectures about snow profiles and excellent stability throughout that area. We quickly changed our plans from lapping the west-facing Mazama slope and decided to ski the bowl instead, especially with a skintrack in place (at least in the upper part of the bowl) and only a handful of tracks from the guided group on a couple of aspects.



Over the next few hours we took 5 laps in the bowl, with the highest starting around 6100 ft just east of Stevens-Van Trump Memorial and continuing down the gullies to around 5300 ft, well below where the RMI group had stopped and skinned upward from. There the slope rolls over steeply into the Stevens Creek drainage, and the snowpack became too thin for safety with large open creek holes through the 5-6 ft deep snowpack. Normally those gullies would be filled 15-20 ft deep by April with no trace of a creek, but that's just the way it is this year.





Occasional sun breaks were starting to build a thin sun crust on the longest SE-facing lines by mid-afternoon, so we stuck to the shorter NE aspects for the last 2 laps, which still held excellent powder all day.



On the way out, the west side of Mazama Ridge still held decent snow especially by staying on areas which had gotten the least sun. By the time we started the last short skin up the road from 4th Crossing to Paradise, it was snowing HARD, and about 1/4" of new snow accumulated on our hats and packs during the 10 minute skin back. Fresh pow for the next day!



We arrived to an empty parking lot a bit after 5pm, and were out the Longmire gate comfortably before its 6pm closure. About 4000 vert for the day, almost entirely in high-quality powder, outstanding!



The forecast for the next day, April 2, was somewhat uncertain, with only an inch or two of new snow expected overnight. Either partly sunny (NWAC forecast) or mostly cloudy (NWS Rainier forecast) or variably cloudy (UW model) conditions were predicted the next day, although freezing levels were expected to stay cool in the 3000 ft range in all forecasts. After getting home to Seattle around 9pm, I wasn't sure if I'd ski the next day since it was unlikely to be nearly as good a powder day as I had just had. But once again, luck and serendipity intervened. My friend Cori had been posting on FB looking for a ski partner for the next day, with no luck, and I saw that after I got home. When I texted her after 10pm, luckily she decided to look at her phone despite being in bed already. I quickly convinced her that Paradise might be good the next day, especially if we stayed on NE aspects which had gotten the least sun, and so ski plans were set.

The next day dawned partly sunny, and the Mountain was out in full glory during most of the drive down there, with only a smattering of clouds hugging the lower flanks. With only 2" more new snow overnight, I was guessing that the gate should open by 9am, and the park's morning Twitter update also stated that. We arrived at Longmire at 9:20am to find the gate still closed, and no idea why it wasn't open yet. Once again though, luck was on our side: waiting in the Longmire lot were 2 couples, more friends and TAY regulars, who had been planning to ski the Tatoosh that day to find north-facing snow. Given the difficulty of Tatoosh access due to lack of snow coverage on the road getting there, and the clear skies above now allowing easy travel past treeline, I convinced them to join us instead on a mission to seek out the best NE-facing slopes in the Paradise vicinity. I was glad to have more friends along for camaraderie, safety, and to help break trail on the lengthy route to our destination.



The gate finally opened at 9:45am, and we followed a pair of vehicles full of climbing rangers up to the Paradise lot. They were planning to ski Paradise Glacier dropping in from Muir Snowfield, but we were headed just a bit farther east. I was shocked to see that since yesterday evening, the Paradise Valley Road had suddenly been "groomed" earlier this morning -- but no corduroy here, just nasty rough snowcat tracks 20 ft wide across the whole road, ruining the beautiful smooth ski/skin track we had ascended in the snowstorm 17 hours earlier.



Anyway, we made quick work of the descent to 4th Crossing and the ascent up Mazama Ridge via yesterday's skintracks to Stevens-Van Trump Memorial. Then we set out across pristine untracked snow, breaking trail towards the lower end of the Paradise Glacier.


Three-shot panorama of the Mountain and Paradise Glacier (in bright sunlight) from near Stevens-Van Trump Memorial. (click for double-size version)


With FreeBird and DOD leading the charge, we soon topped out at our first highpoint near 7300 ft at half-past noon.





And then, it was finally time to ski powder! Beautiful, foot-deep, light, sunny, sparkly, wintry POWDER!





Cori and I skied a less-steep and more NE-facing line, while the other 4 took a steeper but more easterly line, and we regrouped at 6000 ft in warm springlike sunshine.



Anything that was getting direct sun (SW, south, SE) was quickly getting baked into dense mank by the higher solar angles of spring, despite temps still in the 20s °F. However, anything sufficiently east or NE-facing to get only very oblique solar radiation was still remaining nice powder.

We headed up for a second run, this time topping out at a different high point farther north at 7650 ft.



Then we dropped in for another outstanding run of deep east and NE-facing powder, maybe even 15-18" deep in spots.




Three-shot panorama of the Cowlitz Glacier, with our first set of powder tracks at far left, and the group skiing the second run in the center distance. (click for double-size version)


We regrouped once again at 6200 ft, still in warm springlike sunshine at 3pm. Avalanches were repeatedly roaring down the steep sunlit slopes of the huge glacial amphitheater surrounding us, as they had been since we'd first arrived in the area almost 3 hours earlier. But as expected, stability remained excellent on anything not getting intense sun, as did the quality of the powder even in late afternoon.



Then it was time to skin back up to the saddle for another run, using our lovely skintrack in the sunshine.





After a brief discussion, we decided to continue back up to the same 7650 ft spot and repeat our previous run, even though we knew that with it approaching 4pm already, we were unlikely to make it back to Longmire before the 6pm gate closing if we took that run. I assured the others that it was no big deal, as long as we were late enough that the LEs had already left Paradise, there would be no hassle getting out.


Two-shot panorama of the Mountain and Paradise Glacier, with our skintrack at center, ski tracks (presumably of the climbing rangers) at left, and Little Tahoma at right. (click for double-size version)


Ski conditions remained excellent and unchanged from the previous run, despite much of the slope now having gone into shadow.


Halfway down the 3rd run, looking down at our tracks from the previous run.

As we skinned back up to the saddle, the weather window that had surrounded us in an oasis of sunshine all day began to close. The clouds moved in overhead, and soon it was snowing again!



By the time we got back to the 7100 ft saddle after 5pm, it was pretty much a complete whiteout. In addition, the SW-facing snow on the route back home had been well sun-baked all day, and the surface had now frozen into fairly bad breakable crust. Slow and cautious skiing was needed until we reached the safety of the basin below, where it was flat enough that we could just point it straight down our skintrack, and the snow conditions were better off the skintrack too (flat areas receive much less solar radiation than sunward sloping areas, so they did not crust this day). We all agreed it was a small price to pay for the goodness we had enjoyed all day.

We finally dropped out of the cloud deck and whiteout near 6200 ft, so much nicer to be able to see. The ski down the west side of Mazama Ridge was mediocre given the sun affect, but at least it was low enough to have not frozen yet into breakable crust. We were relieved to arrive at 4th Crossing at 6pm, with only an easy short skin left back to the cars.



As expected, we had no issue getting out of the Longmire gate at 7pm, the clerk at the Longmire Inn desk was happy to let us out with no hassle. We were too late to eat at Copper Creek Inn, so we continued on to Bruno's in Eatonville to enjoy a fine and filling meal. Total vert for the day was about 6200 ft by my map-based mental calculation, although GPS watches reported significantly higher totals.

What an awesome way to start off April! Two days of excellent powder and fine company, thanks to all my ski partners for making it even better than the snow conditions alone would have indicated.


MOUNT RAINIER RECREATIONAL FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
409 AM PDT WED APR 1 2015

SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER TROUGH WILL BRING SHOWERS AND COOL WEATHER WEDNESDAY. SHOWERS WILL DIMINISH THURSDAY AS WEAK HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE AREA. A FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL AFFECT THE AREA ON FRIDAY. AN UPPER LOW WILL MAINTAIN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

..WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM PDT EARLY THIS MORNING...

WEDNESDAY...BREEZY. RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE MORNING...THEN RAIN SHOWERS...SNOW SHOWERS AND A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 2 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2500 FEET.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT...RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE EVENING... THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATION AROUND 1 INCH. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION 2 TO 3 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3500 FEET.
FRIDAY...RAIN AND SNOW. LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.

TEMPERATURE AND WIND FORECASTS FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS.

                       WED    WED    THU    THU    FRI
                            NIGHT         NIGHT

SUMMIT   (14411 FT)    -11    -10     -5     -4     -5
                     NW 35  NW 25  NW 25   W 30  SW 40

CAMP MUIR(10188 FT)      7      9     10     12     13
                     NW 25  NW 20  NW 15   W 20  SW 25

PARADISE  (5420 FT)     39     24     35     26     34
                      W 15  NW 10   W 10  SW 10   S 15

LONGMIRE  (2700 FT)     48     32     44     30     43
                      W  5   CALM   CALM   CALM   S  5

++ TEMPERATURES AND WIND FOR THE SUMMIT AND CAMP MUIR ARE AVERAGE
   CONDITIONS EXPECTED IN THE FREE AIR AT THOSE ELEVATIONS.
++ TEMPERATURES FOR PARADISE AND LONGMIRE ARE THE EXPECTED HIGHS AND
   LOWS. WIND IS THE AVERAGE WIND EXPECTED DURING THAT PERIOD.

EXTENDED FORECAST...

FRIDAY NIGHT...WINDY. RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
SATURDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
SATURDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3500 FEET.
SUNDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 3000 FEET.
MONDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2500 FEET.
MONDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 4500 FEET.
TUESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 4500 FEET.



NWAC telemetry for the days of these trips and the previous 2 days:

Northwest Avalanche Center                                                Northwest Avalanche Center
Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington                            Camp Muir, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington

Total snow sensor readings unsteady                                       Wind gages unheated and may rime

MM/DD  Hour  Temp    RH  Wind  Wind  Wind  Hour Total 24 Hr Total Solar    MM/DD   Hour   Temp     RH   Wind   Wind   Wind   Wind  Solar
         PST     F     %   Avg   Max   Dir Prec. Prec.  Snow  Snow  W/m2             PST      F      %    Min    Avg    Max    Dir   W/m2
             5400' 5400' 5380' 5380' 5380' 5400' 5400' 5400' 5400' 5380'                 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110'
------------------------------------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  3 30   500    35    98     1     5   300     0     0     0    64     0     3 30    500     30     26     33     47     64    270      0
  3 30   600    36    97     4     7   281     0     0     0    59     0     3 30    600     31     27     32     47     63    271      0
  3 30   700    37    96     3     6   261     0     0     0    58    15     3 30    700     31     26     19     40     67    271      0
  3 30   800    38    91     1     5   246     0     0     0    64   113     3 30    800     31     33     22     38     52    277      0
  3 30   900    42    73     3     6   247     0     0     0    63   421     3 30    900     30     37     26     44     63    271      0
  3 30  1000    44    66     4     8   243     0     0     0    63   648     3 30   1000     30     42     39     53     64    276      0
  3 30  1100    46    56     6     9   256     0     0     0    64   687     3 30   1100     30     44     40     50     60    272      0
  3 30  1200    50    48     9    14   262     0     0     0    63   810     3 30   1200     29     51     40     51     60    273      0
  3 30  1300    53    45    10    15   269     0     0     0    63   921     3 30   1300     28     54     46     56     68    266      0
  3 30  1400    53    37    10    16   250     0     0    -0    63   828     3 30   1400     28     54     42     52     59    272      0
  3 30  1500    55    39    10    16   249     0     0    -0    64   740     3 30   1500     27     53     42     52     60    272      0
  3 30  1600    53    42    11    15   268     0     0    -0    62   565     3 30   1600     26     65     37     51     61    266      0
  3 30  1700    52    41    10    18   269     0     0    -0    62   349     3 30   1700     25     65     44     53     61    273      0
  3 30  1800    46    60     9    16   266     0     0     0    79   154     3 30   1800     24     63     46     56     65    262      0
  3 30  1900    42    79     8    13   271     0     0    -0    63    10     3 30   1900     23     56     50     60     68    268      0
  3 30  2000    40    80     5     8   268     0     0     0    63     0     3 30   2000     22     56     55     68     74    264      0
  3 30  2100    38    93     6    14   265     0     0     0    58     0     3 30   2100     19     76     56     66     79    269      0
  3 30  2200    40    69    11    19   275     0     0     0    64     0     3 30   2200     18     99     53     73     91    270      0
  3 30  2300    39    76    11    18   273     0     0     0    58     0     3 30   2300     19     98     57     71     84    266      0
  3 31     0    37    85     9    17   270     0     0     0    65     0     3 31      0     19     98     56     65     75    247      0
  3 31   100    33    97    10    18   265   .05   .05     0    63     0     3 31    100     19     98     40     56     69    258      0
  3 31   200    33    98    13    21   275   .06   .11    -0    63     0     3 31    200     18     98     50     58     67    252      0
  3 31   300    33    99    16    25   266   .04   .15     0    62     0     3 31    300     16     97     33     51     66    255      0
  3 31   400    31   100    18    32   267   .04   .19    -0    63     0     3 31    400     13     96     24     49     65    253      0
------------------------------------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  3 31   500    29    99    16    25   261     0     0     0    79     0     3 31    500     12     92     34     53     77    269      0
  3 31   600    27    98    17    29   246     0     0     0    58     1     3 31    600     12     65     23     48     64    270      0
  3 31   700    27    98    18    29   255     0     0     0    64    43     3 31    700     12     31     32     52     69    274      0
  3 31   800    26    98    18    29   257   .01   .01     0    64   119     3 31    800     12     40     13     29     48    269      0
  3 31   900    28    95    16    28   258     0   .01     0    64   284     3 31    900     10     79      6     19     42    272      0
  3 31  1000    28    95    13    24   251   .01   .02     1    63   339     3 31   1000     12     73      0     12     44    256      0
  3 31  1100    29    95    14    20   251     0   .02     0    32   648     3 31   1100     10     80      0     21     39    269      0
  3 31  1200    29    92    13    22   250   .01   .03     1   300   509     3 31   1200     10     84      5     22     41    255      0
  3 31  1300    30    93    13    27   263   .02   .05     1    61   315     3 31   1300     11     72      5     18     40    255      0
  3 31  1400    31    94    13    22   253     0   .05     1    62   403     3 31   1400     12     62      5     16     35    256      0
  3 31  1500    28    97    13    21   255   .02   .07     0    56   337     3 31   1500      9     95      4     12     25    259      0
  3 31  1600    29    97    10    23   257   .07   .14    48    81   142     3 31   1600     10     70      1      7     21    265      0
  3 31  1700    27    98    11    21   250   .03   .17     3    34   126     3 31   1700      9     93      3      8     18    262      0
  3 31  1800    26    97     7    11   251   .07   .24     5    62    18     3 31   1800      9     94      3     16     33    244      0
  3 31  1900    26    98     6    11   257   .09   .33     7    70     2     3 31   1900      8     82      0     16     34    274      0
  3 31  2000    26    98     5    10   260   .08   .41     8    66     0     3 31   2000      7     87      3     13     29    278      0
  3 31  2100    25    97     6    11   257   .08   .49     9    72     0     3 31   2100      7     93      6     22     47    276      0
  3 31  2200    25    97     6    10   256   .04   .53     9    73     0     3 31   2200      6     87     11     20     38    285      0
  3 31  2300    25    97     6    11   264   .06   .59    10    69     0     3 31   2300      7     80      8     16     32    306      0
   4 1     0    24    97     6    13   263   .06   .65    10    76     0      4 1      0      7     57     11     21     29     12      0
   4 1   100    24    97     6    13   259     0   .65     9    74     0      4 1    100      6     67     10     24     34     11      0
   4 1   200    24    97     6    11   260   .01   .66    10    36     0      4 1    200      6     48     13     26     35      5      0
   4 1   300    23    97     6    10   259   .01   .67    10    36     0      4 1    300      5     61     19     30     36      4      0
   4 1   400    23    97     5    10   255     0   .67    10   300     0      4 1    400      6     52      8     13     20    296      0
------------------------------------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------------------------
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   4 1  1500    29    95    10    14   260     0   .06     6    70   237      4 1   1500     13     89      0      0      0    248      0
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   4 1  1700    28    96     6    11   262   .01   .07     6    72   122      4 1   1700     12     79      0      0      0     14      0
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   4 1  1900    26    98     6     9   262   .02   .11     7    68     8      4 1   1900      8     80      0      0      0     65      0
   4 1  2000    26    97     5     9   260   .01   .12     7    73     0      4 1   2000     10     49      0      0      0     13      0
   4 1  2100    26    97     4     8   267     0   .12     7    72     0      4 1   2100     10     39      0      0      0     24      0
   4 1  2200    26    97     4     6   257     0   .12     7    68     0      4 1   2200     10     46      0      0      0    307      0
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   4 2   100    24    97     0     1   245   .01   .15     7    74     0      4 2    100      9     24      0      0      0    355      0
   4 2   200    25    97     0     3   309     0   .15     6   300     0      4 2    200      8     23      0      0      0      7      0
   4 2   300    23    96     0     2   320   .01   .16     6    68     0      4 2    300      8     29      0      0      0     13      0
   4 2   400    22    95     1     2   350   .03   .19     7    73     0      4 2    400      8     45      0      0      0    356      0
------------------------------------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------------------------
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   4 2   900    30    93     0     4   146     0     0     7    72   254      4 2    900     11     15      0      4     11    288      0
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   4 2  1900    28    98     5     9   263     0   .01     0    71    10      4 2   1900     11     20      0      1      5    327      0
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   4 2  2100    27    96     0     4   291     0   .01     0    71     0      4 2   2100     13     52      0     19     33    274      0
   4 2  2200    26    96     0     0   286     0   .01     0   295     0      4 2   2200     11     62     21     27     34    277      0
   4 2  2300    26    96     0     2   293     0   .01     0    71     0      4 2   2300     12     57     23     30     36    278      0
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   4 3   200    24    93     2     5    17     0   .01     0    71     0      4 3    200     12     61     21     28     34    282      0
   4 3   300    24    93     2     4   323     0   .01     0    71     0      4 3    300     11     54     20     28     38    277      0
   4 3   400    24    94     2     5   321     0   .01     0    71     0      4 3    400     10     56     22     33     39    274      0
------------------------------------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------------------------
[/size]


Nice to have you back. ;)

Wow what a surprise.  If you saw a black Honda CRV in the parking lot on Wednesday it was mine.  Oh and you know why I was there.  Same reason you were to do a little work in the White Room.  Sadly I did not get out to the gate until 6:10.  My GPS for some reason still is on standard time and when I am getting busy I lose track of time....... 

I was there when the gate opened actually at about 9:35 and the parking lot was empty at Paradise which shocked me due to the pow.  When I left the parking lot my car was the only one there and yes I was solo.  I played it conservative and did Bundies run and a few others.  I did see a couple folks down by Mazama Ridge, I believe.  Yes it was pow and yep I was solo.  I was pretty excited and was able to do about 6k of skiing.  You might have seen some of my tracks.  I wished we had hooked up.

I think you out did me by skiing Thursday, in the afternoon I experienced some cookie dough so I bagged out on Thursday.  You I believe went pretty big based on the pics.

The most epic was a week ago on the past Tuesday at believe it or not Crystal.  Oh it was hat skiing yes in my worst year skiing in 52 years in the Year I have dubbed "The Harbinger Pig".  You heard it hat skiing with two feet of new up in Silver Basin and on the King.  I am so happy that my nephew convinced me to get touring gear back in 1995 considering what is happening.  Here we were at Crystal and the lifts were not open and we are floating going big all day long getting continuous face shots.  I was with two fellas that lived up there and happy to be with them it was shady and sketchy and there was a lot of avvie stuff going on.  That day was totally epic utterly sick.  They said it was the best day they had all year despite no lifts operating. 

Avvie issues were not a worry on April 1 when you were alone that is so nice, but I still dial it back.

Having this touring stuff allows you to take years that if you were a lifty you would have stowed your gear away and instead take that sow's ear and at least spin it into a crummy purse.  It is totally cheating......you can take horrible years and milk them and still have fun.......!  Oh and I will be out tomorrow you have to milk this for all its worth. 

You are the man Amar!  Yes you are the Sultan of Rainier!!!  You are so awesome you know when it is time to head to the room, you float out of the sky and are there and hit the pow!!  I should have known you were up there working the White Room - BE BIG!

Thanks everyone for the super fun day  8)

https://vimeo.com/124082512

Way to work the aspects for powder in sunny April! I love the shot right after "Then we dropped in for another outstanding run of deep east and NE-facing powder, maybe even 15-18" deep in spots." That looks like the sort of run that stokes the dry soft snow addiction well for at least another year.

Keep the reports coming Amar - they are always first rate and educational as well.
Thanks!

Regarding blue lake mudflow...we were just as surprised to see you last year as you were of us! Don't get many visitors on the West Side. 

Reply to this TR

12509
april-1-2-2015-rainier-mazama-and-cowlitz-powder
Amar Andalkar
2015-04-03 16:18:22

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