Spring Weather

Small pockets of sunshine followed by waves of snowy/rainy weather have been passing over the park the last couple of weeks. Winter conditions still persist on the mountain: climbers are still choosing to climb the Ingraham Direct instead of the Disappointment Cleaver, eighteen feet of snow still remains at Paradise, and the snow plows are still hard at work clearing the roads.

Please continue to check back to the Access and Roads thread for the most up to date information regarding White River and Stevens Canyon opening dates.

With Memorial Day Weekend just around the corner, the climbing season is getting into full swing. The Climbing Information Center will be open daily from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm starting Friday, May 27th. Come on up and enjoy the start of the season!

May Day

Nice weather on the weekends in April, and forecasted for the beginning of May too, has brought lots of climbers and skiers out to the mountain. There have been teams ascending Gib Ledges, Fuhrer's Finger, and the Ingraham Direct within the last two weeks. The upper mountain looks filled-in this season - lots of snow accumulation up high. Make sure you and your party can assess avalanche danger. Both the weather and avalanche danger can change rapidly (within hours) this time of year. Check the weather and avalanche resources link here.

Beginning this Sunday, May 1st, the Longmire Gate will be left open, and the road to Paradise will be open to the public 24 hours/day. If snow or other weather conditions require it, the gate may be closed down again temporarily for safety reasons.

Powder to Corn

As the sun shines more frequently, and the freezing level rises, the snow around the mountain changes. It consolidates, mushes together, and begins to melt away. Spring skiing conditions are on the way! With better weather patterns in the forecast, now is a great time to have solitude on the standard climbing routes.

Also, please note: the overnight parking location at Paradise has changed: it is now exclusively in the lower parking lot. Please do not park by the Paradise Inn (snow removal operations are taking place).

... and, due to a recent accident, a word of warning: Skiers, snowboarders, and snowshoers should use extreme caution when engaging in snowsports in the Paradise area. High snowbanks, created by road plowing operations, coupled with unseasonably high snowdepths, present a falling hazard above plowed roads and parking lots. Make sure you have scoped out your intended route before engaging in snowsports around the Paradise area. Parents should ensure children are kept away from all snowbanks above roads.

Steph Abegg's Website

Seattle climber and photographer Steph Abegg has made a map of Mount Rainier with major routes drawn on it, each route shown in a different color. It is intended to be used for planning, rather than as a field map, and makes a nice poster for your wall. Click on the map to see it in a larger view:

Steph has also taken SAR, fatality, and climbing data provided on www.mountrainierclimbing.us and produced an array of graphs and analyses.


If you would like to make a poster of the map or look at her graphs and data, Steph can be reached via her webpage: http://sites.google.com/site/stephabegg/

Alta Vista Snow Pit

Howdy Everyone!

This week's snow pit is from the east side of Alta Vista and features the massive amount of new snow that we received during last week's storm cycle.

As you can see from the pit graph, there is small sun crust at the surface (that made for bad skiing) and below that is a 105 cm layer of cold, new snow. This layer has settled about 5" and continues to stabilize. Below this layer there are a number of complex ice crust layers that were observed just below the surface in the Feb. 9th snow pit near The Castle in the Tatoosh Range. These layers remain a source of instability and are acting as release surfaces for the deep slab avalanches that have been occurring in Washington.

Stability tests from the Alta Vista snow pit did not indicate deep instability. The compression, extended column, and the Rutschblock tests had failures either near the surface or did not fail. However, as noted by NWAC, even as the snowpack stabilizes there are still persistent weak layers, and localized areas throughout the region are experiencing large, slab releases.

The forecast is showing another series of fronts that are expected to cross the Northwest through the end of the weekend, bringing significant new snow accumulation. Cautious route finding is encouraged if traveling in the backcountry.

Climate Prediction (March April May)

Just was looking at the NWS climate prediction center's March-May forecast. Here is my summary: Looks like cooler than usual for the period, but average precipitation. This could be good for climbing and skiing on Mt. Rainier this spring!

Moderate la nina conditions continue in the tropical pacific ocean. Sea surface temperatures (ssts) in the equatorial pacific ocean are below average from around 160e to the south american coast, with ssts between 1 and 2 degrees c below normal in some areas. This very large area of anomalously cool ssts has significant impact on the large scale atmospheric circulation throughout the tropical pacific region, which, in turn, is expected to considerably influence the mean atmospheric circulation patterns over north america.

The temperature outlook for march, april, and may 2011 reflects typical spring la nina condition and favors below average temperatures from washington and oregon eastward across the northern rockies to the western great lakes region. The chances for above average mean temperatures are enhanced from the interior southwest and southern rockies to the central gulf coast states.

Here's the page in full:

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/90day/fxus05.html

Snow!

Howdy Everybody! The road crew, after a huge three day effort, plowed their way up to Paradise today! We were able to get the weather and record that 41" of new snow has fallen in the past three days, with a snow water equivalent of 2.82"...so it's drier than normal. Snow stability assessments made early this week observed a 3 to 4 foot crown fracture on southern aspects just below the Barn Flats area. Stability tests near the Canyon Rim lookout on wind ward slopes produced moderate failures about 30 to 45 cm below the surface with Q2 shears. However, these observations were made early in the week before temperatures rose considerably. While the new snow is settling, continued strong westerly winds and additional new snow are keeping the instability high. Hopefully, the road to Paradise will soon be open to the public, and for all those chomping at the bit, cautious backcountry travel is highly advised!