May 7, 2006, Paradise/Bundy's

Well, given this was our ONLY ski day of the month (out of town next 3 weekends), Derek and I braved the weather and went for it.  Our original objective was to head up to Camp Muir for a nice training run and some historically good corn skiing this time of year.  With the 55+ mph reported sustained winds on Muir, we decided to head east and ski close to Paradise. It was snowing (not raining) the entire time, but unfortunately, those winds picked up and starting throwing sheets of ice pellets at us.  We estimate the winds were 30-40 mph on the ridge line-enough to cause us to loose our balance a few times and seriously affect the visibility.

After about 1100ft or so of touring to the ridgeline, we made a quick transition and headed down to the closed Paradise road.  We passed last month's "birthday tour" spot where I was enveloped in a nice slide-the slope was mine this time and didn't budge.  The snow underfoot during the tour and top of the ski was frozen corn (penetrable) with about 2-5" of fluff on top.  As we descended toward the road, the snow became corn on top of frozen corn-interesting combo.  Easily skied and much fun when the vis allowed.  Watch out for the high wind-rifts-crazy big when you least expect it.

Be careful when heading toward the road!!! The machines have been out and have cut/plowed the road.  We quickly skidded to a halt atop a 12-15ft sheer wall of snow.  We had to ski a bit down the road to find a safe place to exit.  Since it was still snowing, there was enough snow on the recently plowed road to skin back to the lot.  It doesn't seem quite ready to open anytime soon, though-the walls of snow are HUGE and appear a touch unstable.

So, we actually skinned back to the car where it was raining a bit since the temps has warmed.  Not too many folks around Paradise that day-gee wonder, why? Without the ice pellet wind, we would have stayed out much longer 'cause the skiing was worth it.

~L