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April 4, 2016, Paradise Gacier plus plus tour

4/4/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3712
7
Posted by Robie on 4/2/16 1:44pm
Dave and I left Paradise parking lot at 915 am  Skinned up, then cramponed up Pan Point with the herd in the whiteout.  I'm usually loath to do it in a white out but the forecast was calling for clearing. At this point we were not sure of our final destination nor could even see one. The thick clouds ruled out the Nisqually chute for us but it ended up being done by others. We with we now being Gordy , Dave and I  ate lunch at 8500 facing the Paradise glacier from some rocks which gave us a wind break from the scudding clouds. Soon enough we were getting visual breaks toward Cowlitz rocks which helped us make our decision. Off we went through one foot high wind sculpted waves soon turning towards smooth sailing and very good turns down the Paradise Glacier.  Once at the Cowlitz rock saddle we opted to don skins ,climb Cowlitz rocks and proceed southeast  along the ridge to  where Cowlitz rocks hangs over the Williwakas Glacier. This is a very nice steep fall line slope down to the Williwakas flats. Not as good quality as the Paradise glacier snow  due to South west aspect but very doable. Continuing on without skins to Stevens ridge where there is a variety of nice shots down to Stevens creek The quality here was slightly better on a south east facing slope. Knowing that  plowing had started on the paradise valley road we opted for a skinning across a snow bridge over the Stevens creek then  up to the Golden gate vicinity and skiing down one of our fav lines there  known to us as the Snag line which skied pretty good. We then decided with just a little effort we could get one more steep shot.  We skinned up west to Angels landing also known as Edith basin saddle where we turned south to the what I believe is the highest point at the Northwest corner of Edith basin not counting Pan Point . We picked a entry spot ,then I sliced in under a small cornice skiing the 40 degree southeast aspect. On my initial ski cut I set off a 6" deep 15' wide hisser that ran down 500' .  We adjusted our turns to avoid the  mess and had a pretty good ski down and out Edith basin to the parking Lot. A very very good tour skiing steep lines with very little skin effort after the initial 3000' . Watch that wet snow!
Map of tour
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychULEghTYXZlZE1hcBiAgIDQnq6cCQw

Nice job - looks like a great little tour

This is awesome - thanks for pointing out the possibilities.

There were quite a few people skiing on the Paradise Glacier on Sunday and compared to Muir snowfield (at least to the top part; I didn't ski much past the turnoff by the Anvil rock) the snow was much smoother.  The typical bergschrund below Anvil is open but other than that no open crevasses or sags yet.




Thanks, believe me it was our pleasure.
One could also extend this by skiing from Camp Muir or the top of the Anvil rock slope. Due to sloppy snow conditions we opted for a shorter run down south from Stevens ridge. Much nicer slopes just east of our line there with minimum effort.

Thanks for posting this Robie! Thanks to "life," I haven't been out in three years, but finally headed up to Muir Sunday and think I spied some of your tracks as I pondered heading in the Paradise direction myself. Was definitely thinking of you as I eyed Cowlitz Rocks. 

Hope to run into you or even better join you again sometime in the future! ~Holly


One last comment if one is not familiar with this terrain it's helpful to do the Paradise glacier  from bottom up.  Of particular note is the crevasse on the Paradise glacier itself and depending on snow depths the cliff bands on the cowlitz rocks slopes at southern end . The picture below is Cowlitz rocks above the Williwakas gl.

Nice tour, nice TR, Robie!  Some might be interested to know that the Williwakas Glacier, like the mapped lower lobe of Paradise Glacier, no longer exists.  Both were examples of named Rainier glaciers that did not drain to the stream of the same name.  Tahoma Glacier is another in that category.

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april-4-2016-paradise-gacier-plus-plus-tour
Robie
2016-04-02 20:44:27