Mountain Snowpack Begins to Build Again

The recent storms have brought almost 40" of fresh snow to the mountain and more is expected in the near future. While this bodes well for the upcoming climbing season, the inclement weather does nothing to help with the road reconstruction effort underway. Still, the forecasted reopen dates remain in effect: April 1st for the opening to Longmire and May 1st for the opening of the road to Paradise. Unfortunately, with road reconstruction in full swing, there really isn't public access to Paradise... Even if you have the energy and determination to ski or hike the road. More on Access

Over the weekend rangers climbed to Camp Muir to inspect conditions and dig out facilities. I've included several photos here from this trip to whet your appetite.

While things are quiet here at the Park, this might be a good time to get a jump on things and purchase your 2007 climbing pass and cut down on the time you will spend during registration. Complete the Climbing Pass Purchase Form and fax it to 360.569.3131.

Increased Funding for the NPS and Safety

Mount Rainier's 15 minutes of fame has been greatly extended over the past few months. It seems that every week there are more stories about the park. These days, those stories are positive and involve funding. The San Fransisco Chronicle diverged momentarily from the affairs of Mayor Gavin Newsom to discuss the proposed increases to the National Park Service's budget. The News Tribune honed in on Mt. Rainier's own version of the good news. Along the way, one newspaper reporter inquired if the climbing program would be getting more climbing rangers...

The last few weeks have brought very little snowfall and considerably warmer temps to the mountain. Recently, I have noted a number of "roof-a-lanches" around Longmire. What's a roof-a-lanche, you ask? That's when the 2-3 feet of snow sitting on your roof finally decides to give way. If you're in the building, it feels and sounds as though the earth is giving out below you. If you're outside the building and under the slide, you're probably in a considerable amount of trouble. I've heard that people have been seriously injured from these slides, which is easy to believe.

So there you have it! Here is some favorable information about your national parks, a safety tip, and a few more posts to the Flood Photos blog.

Access, Openings, and the U.S. Army

Opportunity knocks with the park virtually closed. Over the past three weeks, I attended an emergency medical course with the U.S. Army at Ft. Lewis. Beyond the obvious benefit of training, it was a privilege to spend time with our soldiers. The training also explains why there have been few updates to the blog...

I continue to get questions about the best way to access the mountain (i.e. Paradise). For all practical purposes, getting to Paradise is almost impossible. Why? Because there is NO public access allowed along the road corridor above Longmire. That means if you have a trip to Paradise planned for later this winter or early spring, scale back your access expectations and consider other locations.

Access to White River isn't that bad, if you have a snow machine. One party rode into the campground, parked, and then snowshoed up to the Inter Glacier. To the right, a snowboarder breaks trail through Glacier Basin (image by Don Boutry). Perhaps some climbers will follow suit? And while we're discussing access to White River and Sunrise... the current thought is that the projected road openings will go as planned next spring. This is welcome news considering the delayed openings on HWY 123; it was totally severed and may not be fully repaired and re-opened until next fall!

Last week, NPS rangers discovered more facility damage to a few of the fire lookouts. Here is Fremont Lookout from the air. Note that the roof is missing. Similar damage was found at Gobblers Knob (the roof blew off and a wall collasped) but Tolmie and Shriner (the other lookouts in the park) survived OK.

The current talk points to an April 1st road re-opening to Longmire. That would make access to the Westside Road easier and more reliable. As for Paradise, they are cautiously predicting May 1st...

As for repairs, they just paved the road at Sunshine Point. Meanwhile, the road crew is installing more culverts at Kautz Creek. Another engineering obstacle remains at milepost 5, where the uphill lane is slumping towards the river. It may not look like much in this photo, but the embankment below is severely eroded by the Nisqually River.

You may have noticed that I am now managing the photos on Flickr and have finally started posting images in the flood folder. But using blogger for this purpose isn't that easy, so we'll see how much I can do with it...

More press, access and public events

Over in the Seattle P.I., there was a discussion about fast and light climbing techniques... The P.I. also commented on what it's like in the park now that the roads are closed. When you read that article, consider this statement: "it will be April before there is a road to Paradise." But more importantly, everyone seems to have picked up on the News Tribune report that most of Mt. Rainier's road repairs will be funded. As promised, Congressman Norm Dicks pulled through rather quickly by locating funds from the Dept. of Transportation and the Dept. of the Interior. Keep in mind, this money will largely go to road and facility repairs, not necessarily trail systems!

Access to the mountain is still quite challenging, unless you really like hard approaches. For example, getting to the Westside Road is difficult because the Nisqually to Longmire road is only open to the public (sorry no vehicles) on Sundays from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. What this means is either you have to complete your trip in under 7 hours, or take 7 days! And with that said, the road above Longmire is totally closed to any sort of pedestrian traffic. Even if you made it to Longmire in under 7 hours, you still can't hike, climb, ski, board, walk, thumb, or skip along the road to Paradise.

If for some reason you'd like to attempt Liberty Ridge this winter, give your party at least one extra day (really two) to navigate the Carbon River Road and Wonderland trail up to Mystic Pass. There are a number of major washouts, destroyed sections of trail, and blow downs to manage. If you're trying to get to White River Campground (Emmons Route) via HWY 410 and the White River road, things are looking pretty normal for winter access. That is, plan for an additional 11 miles of road each way because the gate is locked at the park boundary. For more information about the roads and access in Mount Rainier National Park, check out Mount Rainier Access and Roads.

I gave a program on the flood and recovery efforts last Friday in Tacoma at the Mountaineers Clubhouse. There was a packed house of Mount Rainier enthusiasts. What a great audience! It's always encouraging to see so many people interested in what's happening in the park, so thank you for showing up and asking such good questions. If you live near Seattle, there will be another event this Friday, the 26th, at the Mountaineers Clubhouse, 300 3rd Ave. West.

Mt Rainier Update

It's been far too long since I've posted... So what's going on at Mount Rainier? Lots of road repair, but very little climbing and hiking. I snapped this image of the Carbon River Road on Saturday, Jan. 13th. For the most part, hikers/skiers/climbers are limited to the main road corridors, unless they'd like to bushwack.

On Sunday, the 14th, I hiked to Camp Muir under calm, clear skies. Though the temps were well below freezing, I wore only light clothing the entire way. Camp Muir and most of the buildings were encrusted in ice and firm snow, however, and access to the Public Shelter was straightforward and easy.

The snow conditions (ski/board) below Pan Point were absolutely fantastic. Over the past week, there has been a prolonged cold snap throughout the Pacific NW, which left great backcountry skiing and climbing conditions around the region. Even in Seattle, there was snow on the ground for more than 72 hours. As for the route to Camp Muir, I needed snowshoes up Pan Point, but things firmed up nicely above 7K.

Speaking of snow, there is over 130 inches on the ground at Paradise (nearly 350 total inches this fall/winter). Not bad for an El Nino year (predicted by climatologists to be warmer and drier).

In the meantime, David Horsey of the Seattle PI decided that Mt. Rainier needed a cartoon.

Tacoma and Seattle public events

With so much interest in the flood and repairs, I've put together a set of stories and images from the event. Please join me for a presentation and Q and A session on Jan 19 in Tacoma, and Jan 26 in Seattle. I will show images and discuss the flood, its damage, the repairs, and the latests on projected road openings. I'll also address questions about:

• mountain conditions
• backpacking and hiking
• mountain climbing
• the new guide service operations

If you're a hiker, climber, skier, or Mount Rainier enthusiasts, there will be something in this for you.

Here are the details.

Tacoma
Where: Tacoma Mountaineers Clubhouse, 2302 N. 30th Street
When: 7:30 PM Janurary 19th

Seattle
Where: Seattle Mountaineers Clubhouse, 300 Third Ave West
When: 7:30 PM Janurary 26 th

Donations that benefit flood recovery effots around the region can be made to: the Student Conservation Association; the Washington Trails Association; and the Washington National Park Fund will be accepted. In addition, Mount Rainier: A Climbing Guide will be on sale. An equal portion of the proceeds from its sale will be donated to the above mentioned organizations.

Volunteering and the media

People have been hiking, biking and skiing into the park over the past few weeks. Last weekend, one ranger counted over one hundred souls trudging up the Nisqually road towards Paradise. Many inspected the flood damage near Sunshine Point and Kautz Creek; a few hiked up the Westside Road; some even made it to Longmire! As far as I can tell, no one made the summit.

Many of you have expressed a sincere desire to help with the flood recovery. There are a number of organizations mobilizing to accept donations and provide volunteer support. If you would like to donate money OR time, here are three possible ways:

Student Conservation Association: Through them, students pursue internships in resource management and protection. Many projects directly benefit trail restoration, campsites improvement, and bridge reconstruction. SCA has a web page dedicated to the Mount Rainier flood of 2006 here.

Washington Trails Association: This is one of the largest volunteer trail maintenance organizations in the country. As the name suggests, they specialize in making trails accessible to the public. Pretty cool eh?! If you hike in the Pacific Northwest, check them out.

Washington National Park Fund: "The Fund" is dedicated to preserving and protecting the national parks of Washington State. They directly support projects in the Olympic, North Cascade and Mount Rainier.

In other media, I found these tidbits: an editorial in the Seattle Times (scroll down) and the News Tribune poking some fun at me.