May 7-10, 2015, Rainier, Muir x3 + Turtle CORN!
5/7/15
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3492
5
May 7, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Muir, Muir Snowfield Western Edge, and Nisqually Chute
May 8, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Muir, Cathedral Gap, and Cowlitz Glacier (+ watched a DC ski descent at 4:30pm)
May 9, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Hazard, The Turtle and Wilson Glacier
May 10, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Muir, Cowlitz Cleaver, and Cowlitz Glacier
Previous report:
Four-shot panorama from Nisqually Moraine, looking up at the Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers plus ski tracks in Nisqually Chute. (click for double-size version)
Four-shot panorama of my lone ski track on the upper Cowlitz Glacier. (click for double-size version)
May 7: Muir Snowfield Western Edge and Nisqually Chute
Thought about trying to ski powder someplace north-facing this day, but decided it would be easier to find fresh corn and proto-corn on south aspects than to chase fleeting powder which would be rapidly turning to mank in the bright May sunshine. The advantage of still being able to skin from the car at Paradise was also a significant factor, as there's not long left this year to skin from the car anywhere on the West Coast, versus a long approach hike to any possible powder on the north side of Rainier or Mount Baker. Thought I had a ski partner for the day, but ended up solo and got an intentionally late start to maximize the hours of sunshine falling on the new snow, skinning up from Paradise around 12:30pm on a couple inches of nearly-consolidated new snow atop the old sun crust.
Put in my own skintrack directly up the Muir Snowfield from 7500 ft, staying on smooth new snow far left of the stampede path of boot and snowshoe and skin tracks all hugging the ridge along the eastern edge, once again nice to enjoy a bit of trail-breaking pleasure in soft new snow. A few thin high clouds produced solar halos at times, and looking over at Nisqually Cleaver, I was surprised at the amount of waterfall ice visible on the cliff face, more than I can ever recently recall seeing (although I don't carefully track water ice conditions on Rainier). Several large pillars of water ice, the largest well over 100 ft tall, had formed on the various cliff bands during the recent stretch of sunny weather with freezing levels staying below 10000 ft. Pretty dangerous spot to try some ice climbing though, as it's notoriously prone to rockfall!
View of waterfall ice on the Nisqually Cleaver from about 9500 ft on the Muir Snowfield, with elevations and a white line marked for scale. (click for double-size version)
Arrived at Muir just after 3:30pm, and after chatting with folks there for a bit, I decided to continue up to Muir Rocks for some solitude, skinning to the highest snow and then hiking the last few yards to Point 10188. Walked around and sat and photographed for an hour up there, absorbed in thoughts and feeling melancholy, thinking a lot about friends lost in avalanches in the mountains over the last year, one of whom I'd last hung out with atop this very spot and whose unattained 30th birthday was in only 3 days, another even younger and still resting in the glaciers on the other side of the Mountain, the anniversary of that tragic accident only 3 weeks away. A pair of small birds circled about and landed a few times near me on the rocks, my only companions up there this day.
With the birds I'll share this lonely view . . .
Finally skied down at almost 5pm, the initial steep SW aspect on Muir Rocks was nicely corn-like, then angled all the way across the upper Muir Snowfield to its very westernmost edge, right near the crevasses of the Nisqually Glacier. Followed this western edge the whole way atop the large cliffs above Nisqually Glacier, this area was windblown with much less new snow, and its slight westerly slope was catching maximum sunshine now, producing excellent true corn conditions.
Three-shot panorama of my ski track in smooth corn along the western edge of the Muir Snowfield. (click for double-size version)
Despite skiing from Camp Muir almost 230 times now, this was a brand new line for me that I had never skied in its entirety before, a very pleasant surprise to discover something new in this most familiar of ski locations for me. And a very scenic line too, worth several stops at cliff-top viewpoints to take photos of the heavily-crevassed glacier below.
Ten-shot panorama from the western edge of the Muir Snowfield, looking over the cliffs onto the Nisqually Glacier. (click for double-size version)
Five-shot panorama from lower down along the western edge of the Muir Snowfield, spanning the full width. (click for double-size version)
Followed that western edge all the way to the entrance of Nisqually Chute at 8300 ft, something which I had never even considered skiing on this day. I had skied Nisqually Chute 9 times in 2015, but not since early March despite over a dozen more ski trips to Muir and above since then, as conditions have always been better or safer or less-tracked elsewhere, mainly on the Cowlitz Glacier. But the Chute looked good today, almost untracked with only 2 tracks visible in the new snow which had completely erased last weekend's numerous tracks. It was mostly smooth with a liberal sprinkling of fallen snow balls, as long as one stayed away from the massive pile of older wet-sluff debris filling the entire gut of the Chute.
Three-shot vertical panorama of my ski track in smooth proto-corn down the Nisqually Chute. (click for double-size version)
Dropped in to find nice smooth creamy sun-softened snow, definitely not corn yet, but perhaps proto-corn, with excellent stability and no sluffing even in full sunshine and very late afternoon. Even the sprinkling of fallen snow balls was not an issue, as they were fully soft and matched the consistency of the snow they had fallen on with no effect on the skiing quality, not like hard frozen chicken-heads to weave through.
Really excellent turns, consistent and not sticky at all, even all the way onto the flats at the bottom. A pair of skiers from Utah and Colorado followed me shortly down the Chute, having dropped in from the side without going to Muir, and they were planning to try to ski Fuhrer Finger the next couple days, so I provided as much beta as I could after waiting for them at the bottom.
Four-shot panorama from Nisqually Moraine, looking up at the Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers plus ski tracks in Nisqually Chute. (click for double-size version)
An unexpectedly great day, unusual for me to head out with no particular plan, but very sweet to have it work out so nicely, exploring some new ski terrain in a familiar place followed by an impromptu ski descent down a classic line in really fine snow conditions.
Sunset view of Mount Rainier reflected in a pond at a hillside dairy on 110th Ave E south of Graham.
May 8: Cathedral Gap and Cowlitz Glacier (+ watched a DC ski descent at 4:30pm)
Headed back to Rainier the next day, once again expecting to have ski partners but ending up solo, and again choosing the late-start plan, starting well after noon. As I skinned towards the top of Pan Point, I came across the entire group of climbing rangers, practicing crevasse rescue at the large cornice with a group of AMGA guides.
Luckily my skin track up the Snowfield from yesterday was still in place and undamaged, with a few other skiers having used it but no postholers or snowshoers (that had been happening all too often to my skintracks up there despite my intentional efforts to place them along areas unappealing to those on foot). Despite not having to break trail, I was a bit slower than the previous day, and once again arrived at Muir just after 3:30pm.
Two-shot panorama looking up my skintrack from the previous day up Muir Snowfield. (click for double-size version)
The guide services were busy setting up their large WeatherPort tents for the summer season on the edge of the Cowlitz Glacier, with a big group of guides digging out the giant flat platforms, while another pair of guides from Alpine Ascents were heading across the Cowlitz with very heavy packs and very heavy garden-style shovels to start setting up the Ingraham Flats camp. I was intent on skiing from at least Cathedral Gap at 10750 ft, as that steep south-facing slope was sure to be corned, so I set out breaking a skintrack across the glacier, passed them, and continued on to the Gap. I chatted with them for awhile once they arrived and took a break at the Gap, turned out that one of them was Craig Van Hoy, a famous guide with over 400 Rainier summits among many other mountaineering achievements.
Five-shot panorama from just below Cathedral Gap, looking across the upper Cowlitz Glacier with Camp Muir at center. (click for double-size version)
Looking down from Cathedral Gap at the WeatherPorts under construction at Camp Muir, 448 mm zoomed telephoto view.
We were all surprised to see a pair of skiers descending the Disappointment Cleaver route, especially so late in the day now at 4:30pm and with the nose of the Cleaver looking so out of condition for skiing, very rough snow covered in windblown dirt and ash. There were a pair of ski tracks visible on the sunlit upper Cleaver, with 2 skiers resting just below.
Looking up from Cathedral Gap at skiers on Disappointment Cleaver, 448 mm zoomed telephoto view.
A short time later, we saw the 2 skiers continuing onto the steep shadowed face farther down, a very sketchy spot in marginal conditions or if the snow refreezes upon shadowing, as the nose of the DC is 40-45° steep and the runout goes over large cliffs onto a heavily crevassed portion of the Ingraham Glacier. I've skied the DC several times from the summit, but never in conditions that looked as marginal and scary as what we were watching. I couldn't tell if their ski tracks extended all the way up the Cleaver and on towards the summit, if anyone has info it would be appreciated.
The skiers went out of sight behind some nearby seracs which blocked the view of the lower DC and Ingraham Flats, and although I wanted to chat with them, it was getting much too late for me to wait at Cathedral Gap, as I needed to ski the Cowlitz before the sun went off it. Skied down just before 5pm, on very nice corn snow on the steep south face, and continuing smooth corn and proto-corn on the flatter terrain below. No tracks at all on the Cowlitz Glacier except mine.
Four-shot panorama of my lone ski track on the upper Cowlitz Glacier. (click for double-size version)
The traverse near 9200 ft below Anvil Rock was already in shadow and refreezing significantly, but that didn't really matter much. Continued onto the Paradise Glacier and was shocked to discover very rough snow, lots of wind deposit and sastrugi, such a sharp contrast to the smooth conditions on the Muir Snowfield and Cowlitz Glacier. Very unusual to see the normally-smooth Paradise Glacier looking so rough, so that ruled out skiing any farther down that.
Rough wind-affected snow on the uppermost Paradise Glacier, with Little Tahoma in the distance beyond crevasses on the Cowlitz.
Instead continued the angling traverse westward to reach the broad ridge along the eastern edge of the Muir Snowfield near 8600 ft, and was relieved to find excellent smooth corn, the firnspiegel glinting in the slanting light of late afternoon.
Two-shot panorama of my ski track and others in corn along the ridge east of the Muir Snowfield. (click for double-size version)
Snow conditions remained good all the way down past Pebble Creek and even down Panorama Point, I skied along and near the summer trail route which had almost no tracks yet, to avoid the bumpy stampede path down Pan Face.
Two-shot panorama of my ski track descending from the trail junction sign down the west face of Panorama Point. (click for double-size version)
An easy cruise down the refreezing snow of the bootpack brought me back to Paradise just after 5:30pm, where our old friend the silver-phase red fox was making the rounds of the parking lot eating various fallen items as tourists gawked and photographed.
May 8, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Muir, Cathedral Gap, and Cowlitz Glacier (+ watched a DC ski descent at 4:30pm)
May 9, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Hazard, The Turtle and Wilson Glacier
May 10, 2015, Mount Rainier, Camp Muir, Cowlitz Cleaver, and Cowlitz Glacier
Previous report:
Four-shot panorama from Nisqually Moraine, looking up at the Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers plus ski tracks in Nisqually Chute. (click for double-size version)
Four-shot panorama of my lone ski track on the upper Cowlitz Glacier. (click for double-size version)
May 7: Muir Snowfield Western Edge and Nisqually Chute
Thought about trying to ski powder someplace north-facing this day, but decided it would be easier to find fresh corn and proto-corn on south aspects than to chase fleeting powder which would be rapidly turning to mank in the bright May sunshine. The advantage of still being able to skin from the car at Paradise was also a significant factor, as there's not long left this year to skin from the car anywhere on the West Coast, versus a long approach hike to any possible powder on the north side of Rainier or Mount Baker. Thought I had a ski partner for the day, but ended up solo and got an intentionally late start to maximize the hours of sunshine falling on the new snow, skinning up from Paradise around 12:30pm on a couple inches of nearly-consolidated new snow atop the old sun crust.
Put in my own skintrack directly up the Muir Snowfield from 7500 ft, staying on smooth new snow far left of the stampede path of boot and snowshoe and skin tracks all hugging the ridge along the eastern edge, once again nice to enjoy a bit of trail-breaking pleasure in soft new snow. A few thin high clouds produced solar halos at times, and looking over at Nisqually Cleaver, I was surprised at the amount of waterfall ice visible on the cliff face, more than I can ever recently recall seeing (although I don't carefully track water ice conditions on Rainier). Several large pillars of water ice, the largest well over 100 ft tall, had formed on the various cliff bands during the recent stretch of sunny weather with freezing levels staying below 10000 ft. Pretty dangerous spot to try some ice climbing though, as it's notoriously prone to rockfall!
View of waterfall ice on the Nisqually Cleaver from about 9500 ft on the Muir Snowfield, with elevations and a white line marked for scale. (click for double-size version)
Arrived at Muir just after 3:30pm, and after chatting with folks there for a bit, I decided to continue up to Muir Rocks for some solitude, skinning to the highest snow and then hiking the last few yards to Point 10188. Walked around and sat and photographed for an hour up there, absorbed in thoughts and feeling melancholy, thinking a lot about friends lost in avalanches in the mountains over the last year, one of whom I'd last hung out with atop this very spot and whose unattained 30th birthday was in only 3 days, another even younger and still resting in the glaciers on the other side of the Mountain, the anniversary of that tragic accident only 3 weeks away. A pair of small birds circled about and landed a few times near me on the rocks, my only companions up there this day.
With the birds I'll share this lonely view . . .
Finally skied down at almost 5pm, the initial steep SW aspect on Muir Rocks was nicely corn-like, then angled all the way across the upper Muir Snowfield to its very westernmost edge, right near the crevasses of the Nisqually Glacier. Followed this western edge the whole way atop the large cliffs above Nisqually Glacier, this area was windblown with much less new snow, and its slight westerly slope was catching maximum sunshine now, producing excellent true corn conditions.
Three-shot panorama of my ski track in smooth corn along the western edge of the Muir Snowfield. (click for double-size version)
Despite skiing from Camp Muir almost 230 times now, this was a brand new line for me that I had never skied in its entirety before, a very pleasant surprise to discover something new in this most familiar of ski locations for me. And a very scenic line too, worth several stops at cliff-top viewpoints to take photos of the heavily-crevassed glacier below.
Ten-shot panorama from the western edge of the Muir Snowfield, looking over the cliffs onto the Nisqually Glacier. (click for double-size version)
Five-shot panorama from lower down along the western edge of the Muir Snowfield, spanning the full width. (click for double-size version)
Followed that western edge all the way to the entrance of Nisqually Chute at 8300 ft, something which I had never even considered skiing on this day. I had skied Nisqually Chute 9 times in 2015, but not since early March despite over a dozen more ski trips to Muir and above since then, as conditions have always been better or safer or less-tracked elsewhere, mainly on the Cowlitz Glacier. But the Chute looked good today, almost untracked with only 2 tracks visible in the new snow which had completely erased last weekend's numerous tracks. It was mostly smooth with a liberal sprinkling of fallen snow balls, as long as one stayed away from the massive pile of older wet-sluff debris filling the entire gut of the Chute.
Three-shot vertical panorama of my ski track in smooth proto-corn down the Nisqually Chute. (click for double-size version)
Dropped in to find nice smooth creamy sun-softened snow, definitely not corn yet, but perhaps proto-corn, with excellent stability and no sluffing even in full sunshine and very late afternoon. Even the sprinkling of fallen snow balls was not an issue, as they were fully soft and matched the consistency of the snow they had fallen on with no effect on the skiing quality, not like hard frozen chicken-heads to weave through.
Really excellent turns, consistent and not sticky at all, even all the way onto the flats at the bottom. A pair of skiers from Utah and Colorado followed me shortly down the Chute, having dropped in from the side without going to Muir, and they were planning to try to ski Fuhrer Finger the next couple days, so I provided as much beta as I could after waiting for them at the bottom.
Four-shot panorama from Nisqually Moraine, looking up at the Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers plus ski tracks in Nisqually Chute. (click for double-size version)
An unexpectedly great day, unusual for me to head out with no particular plan, but very sweet to have it work out so nicely, exploring some new ski terrain in a familiar place followed by an impromptu ski descent down a classic line in really fine snow conditions.
Sunset view of Mount Rainier reflected in a pond at a hillside dairy on 110th Ave E south of Graham.
May 8: Cathedral Gap and Cowlitz Glacier (+ watched a DC ski descent at 4:30pm)
Headed back to Rainier the next day, once again expecting to have ski partners but ending up solo, and again choosing the late-start plan, starting well after noon. As I skinned towards the top of Pan Point, I came across the entire group of climbing rangers, practicing crevasse rescue at the large cornice with a group of AMGA guides.
Luckily my skin track up the Snowfield from yesterday was still in place and undamaged, with a few other skiers having used it but no postholers or snowshoers (that had been happening all too often to my skintracks up there despite my intentional efforts to place them along areas unappealing to those on foot). Despite not having to break trail, I was a bit slower than the previous day, and once again arrived at Muir just after 3:30pm.
Two-shot panorama looking up my skintrack from the previous day up Muir Snowfield. (click for double-size version)
The guide services were busy setting up their large WeatherPort tents for the summer season on the edge of the Cowlitz Glacier, with a big group of guides digging out the giant flat platforms, while another pair of guides from Alpine Ascents were heading across the Cowlitz with very heavy packs and very heavy garden-style shovels to start setting up the Ingraham Flats camp. I was intent on skiing from at least Cathedral Gap at 10750 ft, as that steep south-facing slope was sure to be corned, so I set out breaking a skintrack across the glacier, passed them, and continued on to the Gap. I chatted with them for awhile once they arrived and took a break at the Gap, turned out that one of them was Craig Van Hoy, a famous guide with over 400 Rainier summits among many other mountaineering achievements.
Five-shot panorama from just below Cathedral Gap, looking across the upper Cowlitz Glacier with Camp Muir at center. (click for double-size version)
Looking down from Cathedral Gap at the WeatherPorts under construction at Camp Muir, 448 mm zoomed telephoto view.
We were all surprised to see a pair of skiers descending the Disappointment Cleaver route, especially so late in the day now at 4:30pm and with the nose of the Cleaver looking so out of condition for skiing, very rough snow covered in windblown dirt and ash. There were a pair of ski tracks visible on the sunlit upper Cleaver, with 2 skiers resting just below.
Looking up from Cathedral Gap at skiers on Disappointment Cleaver, 448 mm zoomed telephoto view.
A short time later, we saw the 2 skiers continuing onto the steep shadowed face farther down, a very sketchy spot in marginal conditions or if the snow refreezes upon shadowing, as the nose of the DC is 40-45° steep and the runout goes over large cliffs onto a heavily crevassed portion of the Ingraham Glacier. I've skied the DC several times from the summit, but never in conditions that looked as marginal and scary as what we were watching. I couldn't tell if their ski tracks extended all the way up the Cleaver and on towards the summit, if anyone has info it would be appreciated.
The skiers went out of sight behind some nearby seracs which blocked the view of the lower DC and Ingraham Flats, and although I wanted to chat with them, it was getting much too late for me to wait at Cathedral Gap, as I needed to ski the Cowlitz before the sun went off it. Skied down just before 5pm, on very nice corn snow on the steep south face, and continuing smooth corn and proto-corn on the flatter terrain below. No tracks at all on the Cowlitz Glacier except mine.
Four-shot panorama of my lone ski track on the upper Cowlitz Glacier. (click for double-size version)
The traverse near 9200 ft below Anvil Rock was already in shadow and refreezing significantly, but that didn't really matter much. Continued onto the Paradise Glacier and was shocked to discover very rough snow, lots of wind deposit and sastrugi, such a sharp contrast to the smooth conditions on the Muir Snowfield and Cowlitz Glacier. Very unusual to see the normally-smooth Paradise Glacier looking so rough, so that ruled out skiing any farther down that.
Rough wind-affected snow on the uppermost Paradise Glacier, with Little Tahoma in the distance beyond crevasses on the Cowlitz.
Instead continued the angling traverse westward to reach the broad ridge along the eastern edge of the Muir Snowfield near 8600 ft, and was relieved to find excellent smooth corn, the firnspiegel glinting in the slanting light of late afternoon.
Two-shot panorama of my ski track and others in corn along the ridge east of the Muir Snowfield. (click for double-size version)
Snow conditions remained good all the way down past Pebble Creek and even down Panorama Point, I skied along and near the summer trail route which had almost no tracks yet, to avoid the bumpy stampede path down Pan Face.
Two-shot panorama of my ski track descending from the trail junction sign down the west face of Panorama Point. (click for double-size version)
An easy cruise down the refreezing snow of the bootpack brought me back to Paradise just after 5:30pm, where our old friend the silver-phase red fox was making the rounds of the parking lot eating various fallen items as tourists gawked and photographed.
May 9: Turtle Trifecta
Not sure when I'll find time to write up the final 2 days here . . .
May 10: Cowlitz Cleaver and Cowlitz Glacier
Not sure when I'll find time to write up the final 2 days here . . .
May 10: Cowlitz Cleaver and Cowlitz Glacier
MOUNT RAINIER RECREATIONAL FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
400 AM PDT THU MAY 7 2015
SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE JUST OFFSHORE THURSDAY WILL MOVE SLOWLY EAST AND OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON ON SATURDAY...BRINGING A STRETCH OF SUNNY AND WARMER WEATHER TO THE AREA. FREEZING LEVELS OVER THE PARK WILL RISE STEADILY THROUGH SATURDAY. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL MOVE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY FOR SHOWERY COOLER WEATHER.
THURSDAY...BREEZY...SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 7000 FEET.
THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 8500 FEET.
FRIDAY...SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 8500 FEET.
FRIDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 9500 FEET.
SATURDAY...SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 9500 FEET.
TEMPERATURE AND WIND FORECASTS FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS.
THU THU FRI FRI SAT
NIGHT NIGHT
SUMMIT (14411 FT) 7 10 12 14 16
NE 35 NE 30 N 25 N 25 N 15
CAMP MUIR(10188 FT) 24 27 28 29 29
NE 10 NE 15 E 5 S 5 S 5
PARADISE (5420 FT) 54 37 60 42 60
N 5 N 10 W 5 NE 10 E 5
LONGMIRE (2700 FT) 63 41 67 43 69
SW 5 N 5 W 5 N 5 NE 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...
SATURDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE EVENING THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 10000 FEET.
SUNDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 9500 FEET.
SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 9500 FEET.
MONDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 10000 FEET.
MONDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 9000 FEET.
TUESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 8000 FEET.
TUESDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7500 FEET.
WEDNESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 6500 FEET.
MOUNT RAINIER RECREATIONAL FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
400 AM PDT SUN MAY 10 2015
SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER LEVEL LOW OFFSHORE WILL APPROACH WESTERN WASHINGTON SUNDAY THEN MOVE SLOWLY SOUTHEAST TOWARD SOUTHWEST OREGON SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. ONSHORE FLOW WILL BRING A COOLING TREND SUNDAY AND CLOUDS WILL INCREASE WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVER THE MOUNTAINS SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THE LOW WILL BRING AREAS OF RAIN TO WESTERN WASHINGTON ON MONDAY...WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY...MAINLY OVER THE SOUTH PART. THE LOW WILL MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS OREGON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...BRUSHING THE AREA WITH MORE SHOWERS.
SUNDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 8000 FEET.
SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 8000 FEET.
MONDAY...RAIN AND SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7000 FEET.
MONDAY NIGHT...BREEZY. RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7000 FEET.
TUESDAY...BREEZY. MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 6500 FEET.
TEMPERATURE AND WIND FORECASTS FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS.
SUN SUN MON MON TUE
NIGHT NIGHT
SUMMIT (14411 FT) 11 8 9 9 8
S 25 S 25 SE 35 E 35 SE 25
CAMP MUIR(10188 FT) 29 29 25 27 24
SE 15 SE 15 E 25 E 45 E 35
PARADISE (5420 FT) 59 36 46 31 45
E 10 NE 5 NE 10 N 10 E 15
LONGMIRE (2700 FT) 70 44 50 39 51
E 10 SW 5 W 5 SW 5 SW 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...
TUESDAY NIGHT...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7000 FEET.
WEDNESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 5500 FEET.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7000 FEET.
THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7500 FEET.
THURSDAY NIGHT...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 8000 FEET.
FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7500 FEET.
FRIDAY NIGHT...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 7500 FEET.
SATURDAY...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 6500 FEET.
Telemetry over this 4-day period:
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'
------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
5 7 500 29 81 2 4 12 0 0 0 49 3 5 7 500 21 18 3 9 22 62 0
5 7 600 31 80 2 4 20 0 0 -0 48 23 5 7 600 23 15 5 13 33 80 0
5 7 700 34 76 0 4 5 0 0 -0 48 230 5 7 700 24 13 5 16 25 80 0
5 7 800 38 65 0 2 319 0 0 -0 54 494 5 7 800 24 17 8 22 33 77 0
5 7 900 41 73 2 4 265 0 0 -0 190 696 5 7 900 25 17 16 22 29 74 0
5 7 1000 42 59 3 6 249 0 0 -0 23 867 5 7 1000 28 17 10 20 29 70 0
5 7 1100 43 71 4 7 256 0 0 -0 51 996 5 7 1100 29 15 7 17 27 75 0
5 7 1200 47 71 6 10 273 0 0 -0 51 1077 5 7 1200 30 23 3 9 19 67 0
5 7 1300 49 66 8 13 252 0 0 -0 51 1147 5 7 1300 33 12 2 5 10 242 47
5 7 1400 48 70 8 14 260 0 0 -0 66 820 5 7 1400 32 16 1 4 9 249 100
5 7 1500 52 59 10 15 259 0 0 -0 49 931 5 7 1500 30 20 2 7 12 75 130
5 7 1600 51 58 9 14 259 0 0 -0 49 799 5 7 1600 31 13 3 8 18 95 103
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
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Awesome - If I have questions about Rainier you know who I ask. You need to just set up about four large igloos on the mountain at about 10k, 90 degrees apart and live up there. You might as well just sell your place in Seattle its a waste of money. In the winter you would set up lower around 6k. Sadly there is no reception for a lap top so you could give us daily TAY reports.
Sad to hear about your friends. Just make sure you do not go too big......I would dearly miss your reports. You make this website so entertaining and have taught me how to make the worst ski season on record a great one. Like I said best corn I have ever skied.
Sad to hear about your friends. Just make sure you do not go too big......I would dearly miss your reports. You make this website so entertaining and have taught me how to make the worst ski season on record a great one. Like I said best corn I have ever skied.
Great TR, Amar! Got several insights about new places, which have not skied yet.
I watched you make those tracks down from the Gap on the 8th. It looked very good. I was digging out the weatherport platform.
2 skiers skied from the summit yesterday (15th) via the DC (but looked to have -wisely- booted down the DC proper).
2 skiers skied from the summit yesterday (15th) via the DC (but looked to have -wisely- booted down the DC proper).
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