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November 4, 2015, Paradise

11/4/15
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
8562
16
Posted by silaswild on 11/4/15 11:18am
Busy day at Longmire waiting for the gate to open at 945.  Beautiful bluebird skies with no wind up to 8000', clouds started building below us at midday. Our group headed over to the Paradise glacier while many others stayed left and up to Muir.  We were able to thread a nice line thanks to the Birds recent local knowledge. At 6400' some of us headed down to fourth crossing in whiteout fog while the others did one more lap up the east side of paradise glacier to the big crevasse at 7800' before following our tracks down afterward.  A variety of snow conditions from dusted ice to 4" powder were found.  The past days foot or two of fresh snow is forming nice base and the next day's higher freezing level should settle it well before the precipitation at lower levels next week.  Game on!!

Winter rules now apply, gate closes at 5.  Frank found us a nice $10 steak dinner at Elbe Bar and Grill!  Highly recommended for the food and local entertainment.
I skied the Muir Snowfield from a few hundred feet below Camp Muir. Very thick cloud was rising and threatening to take away some hard earned early season vertical. The wind cake up high was very consistent  and skied quite well. The mid section until we skied into the near whiteout was perfect. I was happy to bump into Amar who provided excellent navigation through the tricky mix of rocky soup. Hope everybody got down safe. Car to car again and much better than last Tuesday.

Not much to add...



Thanks for the info!  How much new snow is there higher up since a week ago and how deep is the snow at Paradise?  Did you dig a pit?

Above the clouds :)

https://vimeo.com/144731020

Awesome photo, Norseman!

It was indeed a great day up there. Some kind fellow lent me a pair of pants because I, like and idiot, left my shell layers at home. Forgot you name kind sir, but I will bring your pants by today. Also I think this was the first time I ever saw split boarders out number skiers. 

Fine Winter trip: sunshine, powder and some whiteout navigation! Yes, a lot of boarders.  I was one of very few tele...


Dear early-season backcountry go-getters,

I'm new to the PNW coming from the northern Rockies. What sites do people use for weather and snow reports both Rainier and in the Cascades/North Cascades?

Looking forward to meeting the community out here. I'm in Seattle and would be happy to carpool to/from Paradise.

Let it snow,
Kate

Amar Analkar's site is a great resource with webcams, real-time weather readouts, and the Mt. Rainier Recreational Forecast.  When it comes up for the winter Northwest Avalanche Center has mountain weather and avalanche forecasts and links to all their weather stations.

It's best to use the NWS zone forecasts for general mountain info. I'd recommend checking out some of the NWAC "going deep" sessions---last year they had a whole evening of how to use various websites to gather information. If you want to geek out, the UW weather model page offers all of the details: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/

author=kceronsky link=topic=34707.msg142858#msg142858 date=1446760002]
I'm new to the PNW coming from the northern Rockies. What sites do people use for weather and snow reports both Rainier and in the Cascades/North Cascades?


Best Rainier one-stop shopping:
http://www.skimountaineer.com/MtnWebCams/Rainier-MtnWebCams.html?telemetry=true

Best NW X-ray vision:
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/weather/radar.shtml

Best Paradise starting gate guess:
https://twitter.com/mountrainiernps

Best backup plan    ;)
http://www.skimtta.com/
http://www.coppercreekinn.com/coppercreek/restaurant.html
http://www.ashfordcreekpottery.com/index.html
http://www.danielklennert.com/

Welcome to TAY!

Also take a look at Lowell Skoogs site, Northwest Weather, Snow and Avalanche Info.


http://www.alpenglow.org/links/nwsnow.html

A big thanks to all of you who had working batteries in your GPS units!

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1144371#Post1144371

author=kceronsky link=topic=34707.msg142858#msg142858 date=1446760002]
What sites do people use for weather and snow reports both Rainier and in the Cascades/North Cascades?

Many of these sites are right here on TAY's Weather Links  :)

It was great to see the ski community out in full force Wednesday! Super fun day!  We were on the big one from the 2nd to the 5th all days being great in their own way.  Monday and Tuesday were quiet days with great weather and snow conditions above Pan. We skied the Beehive area above Muir both days with Monday being somewhat less wind affected than Tuesday.  Both days smooth untracked packed pow prevailed from Muir to the car. Wednesday we looked for some new territory and skied the upper Paradise on untracked but slightly wind affected snow and then continued to thread our way down to the Paradise valley via one of the many un-named chutes.  The weather was still holding so we skinned up the toe of the Paradise on the typical climbers right side to the big crack at about 7800'.  Good snow (far less wind affected) and sunshine was had on the descent. The exit from the Paradise valley to 4th Cross was definitely like being inside a ping pong ball. We all though it was a blast! Good snow all the way to 4th.  Thursday we skied Mazama bowl. We made several laps starting with a lower angle lap below Slushkins chair  then hitting the higher angle entries above the chair.  Deep wet cascade pow with low vis to boot was enjoyed. The Park service is mysteriously still plowing the now closed road to 4th crossing making for boot walking back up to the Paradise lot. I left the picture taking to those better equipped and skilled.

Freebirds excellent short video 
https://vimeo.com/144731020

Month 60 in the books!

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