April 4, 2015, paradise
4/4/15
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2495
3
After Amar's report from 4/2, I expected a TAY herd munching on the powder on the NE facing slope above the cowlitz. But there was only one other party, who only took one run. Granted the powder didn't extend to the valley floor, but it was good for 500 feet from the col between cowlitz rocks and the paradise glacier. I would imagine that others could find powder there tomorrow. Plenty of fresh lines left....but yo it is a long slog up the [s]paradise valley[/s] (edited to clarify, "long flat hell leading from the top of mazama ridge to the bottom of the paradise glacier where once the paradise ice caves existed" ) to get there.
author=androolus link=topic=34042.msg140527#msg140527 date=1428207735]
After Amar's report from 4/2, I expected a TAY herd munching on the powder on the NE facing slope above the cowlitz.
....but yo it is a long slog up the paradise valley to get there.
That's the main reason I felt OK about posting a glowing TR about skiing powder there. It has a significant barrier to entry that will keep the herds away, especially so on this weekend with both Chinook Pass and North Cascades Highway opening. The promise of easy roadside tracks was sure to lure away the majority of the local backcountry crowd this weekend.
And probably a large fraction of local skiers have already given up on this horrible season which offers no snow anywhere at all, and switched to other much better activities like mountain biking.
author=androolus link=topic=34042.msg140527#msg140527 date=1428207735]
Plenty of fresh lines left....but yo it is a long slog up the paradise valley to get there.
'Paradise Valley' is the historic name of the ice age lakebed below and just east of the hotel, that is traversed by the summer Valley Road past Fourth Crossing. It seems to me that name should be restricted to the Paradise River drainage. I've also heard others use this name to refer to the upper Stevens Creek, former 'Ice Caves' area as Paradise Valley and I fear it could sow the seeds of confusion.
There are a couple other glaciers on Rainier that do not feed the stream with the same name. Tahoma Glacier becomes the South Puyallup River, while Tahoma Creek's source is the disappearing South Tahoma Glacier.
Gary, I agree we all should be careful about the names up there. If there is an accident, response effectiveness would be increased if there are common, universally used names. Unfortunately there do not appear to be many names on topo maps and Mt. Rainier NP officials use names that I can not even begin to imagine where they are talking about; it seems almost everyone that is lost is lost on Stevens Ridge but I doubt that. I encounter many, many people in the bc in Paradise environs that have no clue about what the name of their geographic location might be. Too bad; not good.
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