Home > Trip Reports > Feb 10, 2018, Paradise

Feb 10, 2018, Paradise

2/10/18
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2392
6
Posted by Robie on 2/10/18 11:49pm
Conditons as reported in the 2 preceding  paradise FEb 10th reports, except that rain runnels dissapeared somewhat the higher we went up the Paradise glacier valley. My partner Jeff was breaking in his new knees so we stuck to gentler slopes after a very nice sunny lunch viewpoint. Also big crowd.

Why is the park Snocat plowing so much ?

Note , I'm unable to reply to any of the Feb trip reports. All other reply buttons show up across the forum for me but no reply button to Feb trip reports ???
Big crowds... yeah.  The lower Paradise area had crowds like that of a music festival in summer.  The crowds on the way to/from Muir were similar to a grocery store at 6 pm on a Friday.  Pretty wild. 

I hoped that the Paradise regulars would have insight into all the berm-plowing. Someone really loves driving that snowcat.

My reply button is working now! Thanks to Micah!

I asked the ski patrol about the snowcat  activity but they did nt know. There's always a lot of cynical answers but Ive never heard a reason from the Park itself.

The Park announced it would be plowing the initial part of PVR & around the Inn from time to time because of ongoing work on the Inn. Plowing the initial part also allows for easier snow removal from the parking lot.

Last year they started occasionally roughly grading the road down to 4th Xing, much to Vogtski's chagrin--almost impossible for skinny skis when iced up. But it does provide some access for people without snowshoes or skis. Similarly they started grading the road to Myrtle Falls.  Give people somewhere to go besides the parking lot.  I just wished they would use their groomer when they did that.  I presume they can do this when road plowing duties are below predicted and personnel are available. Also makes for easier plowing in the spring--IIRC, their goal is to have the PVR plowed but closed to vehicles by April 3rd. PVR is the first road to be cleared, initially just to 4th Xing; then it is closed for a month or two and plowed as necessary when it snows and not opened to vehicles until the Stevens Canyon road is opened. This allows 4th Xing parking lot to be used for helicopter operations.

Other snow management changes include plowing the downslope roadsides with the snowcat to facilitate snow removal from the road to Paradise and for safety.

author=Andrew Carey link=topic=39661.msg159767#msg159767 date=1518394541]
...Last year they started occasionally roughly grading the road down to 4th Xing, much to Vogtski's chagrin--almost impossible for skinny skis when iced up. But it does provide some access for people without snowshoes or skis. Similarly they started grading the road to Myrtle Falls. Give people somewhere to go besides the parking lot...


NPS uses the Pisten-Bully blade on the winter trails to Fourth Crossing and Myrtle Falls; they just don't pull anything to 'groom' them. They can do this because the Wilderness boundary is gerrymandered to exclude the Paradise water supply. I was told the primary goal was pedestrian access, with additional 'benefit' of earlier meltout & easier Spring plowing.

The frozen cleat marks in the sunken tracks to 4th Crossing can be downright dangerous on XC gear and I'm sure many novices have joined the Never Again Club. Too bad, if unplowed, Paradise Valley road could offer scenic short cross-country trips for beginners into June some years, even all gentle downhill with a pickup at Reflection Wye.  Back when RMI paid a dollar a pound for freight backpacked to Muir, and before helicopters became the "minimum tool", this was the last XC venue in the State for decades. Reflection Lake road has been plowed much earlier in recent years, but closed to public vehicles as well.

I think running the snowcat up to Mrytle Falls (Edith Basin) in winter is dangerous and should be discontinued.  I have seen 4' crown fractures from the east side of Alta Vista almost up to the base of Pan Point that filled half of Edith Basin, left 30'-deep debris at the curve of the Valley Road and triggered sympathetic slides across the paved trail up the initial hill below the falls, just a few hundred yards from the plowed lot. It seems unwise to lead totally unprepared visitors to the top of the tempting, but dangerous tubing and lee avy slope so close to Paradise, let alone expose the equipment operator after a heavy snowfall. Edith Creek / Mrytle Falls has been the site of several fatal accidents involving melt tunnels and out of bounds tubing. The icy footbridge can be pretty scary in low snow years.

MRNP has extended the plowing of Paradise Valley Road considerably, way past 4th Xing and around the hairpin, out of sight. And they actually used the groomer attachment to make a very nice surface from 4th Xing up; didn't see how they did below :-)  Are they lookilng for an early opening of the Stevens Canyon-PVR complex?  NWS says we are do for colder-than-normal weather with above average precipitation (snow).

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14053
feb-10-2018-paradise
Robie
2018-02-11 07:49:36