January 14, 2018, Paradise
1/14/18
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2018
3
Beautiful day, everyone was there. There was a giraffe. Ski crampons nice on the way up. Skied just after 2. Firm up top, corn-ish in the middle, becoming schmoo down low.
Little bit of recent-looking loose activity in Edith Creek Basin and over on Mazama ridge this afternoon. Crowns and buried crowns visible on the far side of the Nisqually valley and down on rolls of the glacier itself. Nothing moved for us.
Ski-wise, we abandoned plans for slightly-steeper in favor of mainline Muir on the carveable firm.
Edit: Avalanches are pretty.
Little bit of recent-looking loose activity in Edith Creek Basin and over on Mazama ridge this afternoon. Crowns and buried crowns visible on the far side of the Nisqually valley and down on rolls of the glacier itself. Nothing moved for us.
Ski-wise, we abandoned plans for slightly-steeper in favor of mainline Muir on the carveable firm.
Edit: Avalanches are pretty.
Beautiful day up there today! If anyone is heading up tomorrow, my friend lost her phone just NE of Pan Point. Specific coordinates from find-my-phone are:
46°48' 17.48" N
121°43' 37.49" W
If you happen to find it - please DM me. Thanks!
46°48' 17.48" N
121°43' 37.49" W
If you happen to find it - please DM me. Thanks!
Was up on Mazama Ridge yesterday. Super firm crust mostly, but annoyingly breakable is sunnier spots. Dug a hole just south of Mazama Bowl and lost count of the number of, lets call them "imperial stout", crusts. The surface gleamed beautifully in the sun. Depending on how the next cycle starts it could be good or good for sliding. Cruised up from there to Golden Gate. Mazama Bowl looked kinda okayish but sounded awful. Not much in the way of tracks until we got to GG. Plenty of unskied on the way down to Edith Creek.
The frozen stuff skied fine while the softer stuff needed some more authority on our parts. Then there was that treed section that we won't talk about anymore.
Could not believe the teeming masses headed to Muir. A couple groups on Mazama but not all that many. Lots of families sledding across the trail in Edith Creek and one kid took out a skier on the path. Nice. Parking lot on exit was stuffed and parking all the way down along the road for a bit. Glad people are out, I just need to go back to exploring new areas more.
The frozen stuff skied fine while the softer stuff needed some more authority on our parts. Then there was that treed section that we won't talk about anymore.
Could not believe the teeming masses headed to Muir. A couple groups on Mazama but not all that many. Lots of families sledding across the trail in Edith Creek and one kid took out a skier on the path. Nice. Parking lot on exit was stuffed and parking all the way down along the road for a bit. Glad people are out, I just need to go back to exploring new areas more.
We found great skiing by going out along Mazama Ridge and up on the Paradise Glacier. Firm, smooth, carveable surface above 8,300 ft. The lower 1000 ft was perfect soft snow on a firm base that skied well late into the afternoon due to the low angle sun and light winds which kept the temperatures down.
The ski down from Mazama Ridge back to the road at the end of the day was another story...
The ski down from Mazama Ridge back to the road at the end of the day was another story...
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