|
|
|
|
|
|
Turns All Year Trip Reports
(1) Viewing these pages constitutes your acceptance of the Terms of Use.
(2) Disclaimer: the accuracy of information here is unknown, use at your own risk.
(3) Trip Report monthly boards: only actual trip report starts a new thread.
(4) Keep it civil and constructive - that is the norm here. |
|
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: November 14, 2002, Grand Park, Mt. Rainier NP (Read 1356 times)
|
Charles
Administrator
Offline
Posts: 1087
|
Road 73 was easily drivable past 4500', where we parked on a thin veneer of snow/ice. We hiked the trail to Grand Park, and along the way there was virtually no snow under the trees and only about 1" of refrozen, rain-soaked snow in forest openings below about 5000', casting doubt about the wisdom of carrying our skis in. As we climbed up to the Grand Park plateau, however, the snow deepened in the forest openings, and we found about 6" of snow evenly overlying the meadows of Grand Park (5500-5800'). There was a crust about 2" down which generally supported us, so the XC skiing turned out to be great despite the thinness of the "snowpack". In a few places the snow became sticky in the afternoon due to the sunshine.
We got a good view of Rainier when we first reached the plateau, but then clouds and a snow squall moved in. This proved to be fairly short-lived, though, and Rainier came back out in all of its glory for the rest of the afternoon. We skied to the southern tip of Grand Park, then returned the 2 miles to the northern tip and the trail via a meandering course, exploring the east edge of the plateau and getting a (very) few turns along the way. We were able to ski a few hundred feet down off the plateau, until the trail went into the trees and there was no snow.
Robie, thanks for the inspiration to do this as a fall trip. The big question: does this qualify as a countable ski trip? There are some photos from this trip here.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: 11/24/02, 05:36 PM by admin »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Robie
Member
Offline
Posts: 1131
|
IMHO You betcha ! Especially if you navigated back down the trail on skis at all. Great info. Charles. I think in our haste for steep downhill thrills we have left behind some soulful tours. As you know there are some smallish slopes off to either side of Grand park.I thought about going with ya but I was given a crew at work and had to show up there. I've watched James Hammaker and Dorothea just have a hoot on that return trail. 
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"I bought my rope at Walmart ,my gloves at costco but paid dearly for my dynafits"
Apparant Moderator of what sucks
|
|
|
Mad_Dog
Member
Offline
Posts: 614
|
You qualify for November turns! With this snowless, bleak streak we are having, any turns on snow are qualifying turns. Just enjoy!!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
There is nothing worse than refusing to learn: this is where old age begins.
Jeanette
|
|
|
peaceriver
5Member
Offline
Posts: 37
|
I felt my skis make a turn or two ... even three in a row I think !!! so I'm calling it a sucess and a fun trip. The trail and woods back certainly looked liked nice sking with a bit more of the cold white stuff. Robie thanks for giving Charles the idea. I look forward to a spring trip up in there.
Getting up there even with such a low snowpack and having a good ski certainly makes one think of the other possibilities with this window of good road access and the many trails and route possibilities
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
paul_smith
5Member
Offline
Posts: 15
|
Charles I imagine that this trip would pale in comparision to our epic jaunt on the Muir snowfield  Reading the TR's it seems like folks had some nice turns this past weekend, I was restricted to town with other activities. At least there's some new snow.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you to our sponsors!
|
Contact turns-all-year.com
Turns All Year Trip Reports ©2001-2010 Turns All Year LLC. All Rights Reserved
The opinions expressed in posts are those of the poster and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Trip Reports administrators or Turns All Year LLC
|
Turns All Year Trip Reports | Powered by SMF 1.0.6.
© 2001-2005, Lewis Media. All Rights Reserved.
|
Page created in 0.154 seconds with 19 queries.
|
