April 27, 2003, Unicorn, Tatoosh MRNP
4/27/03
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2811
3
Stevens Canyon road is cleard, but closed until 5/23. The snow banks are still about 6' high. We walked down past the first Reflection lake and headed up to traverse on the north side of the ridge leading to the Unicorn Gl. About 4~8" new snow on wet crust except the main gully leading up to the Unicorn gap. The shady north face had up to a foot of dense, but soft and dry new snow. The summit ridge to SE had big cornices lined up ready to dump on to the east facing slopes. The open east slopes had about 6" new layer which tended to slab off on steep sections, and overall a little suncrusted. The skiing there was marginal quality, needing a few more Spring cycles. The best skiing was down on the main gully. It will be much easier trip once the road opens in May; I think there will be plenty of snow left up high. -K,P,P,T,M,J
Thanks, Kenji, good info.
Thank you. Do you have pretty solid information about the May 1 opening date...the MRNP web page said something about est. May 23 for Steven's Canyon.
We asked a ranger at the gate, and were told May 23 is the opening date for Stevens Canyon. I don't know who is correct. From Unicorn, the road looked prety much clear further down, but appeared to have snow piles coming down in several places. Maybe they need to clear again, or let it melt out for a few more weeks...
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