Tried skinning up to Panorama Point, but the visibility was so poor it was bordering on whiteout conditions, so I decided to come down and got a single lap in from Glacier Vista.

I took the way up near Alta Vista and came down the west side of the ridge. Unfortunately I went down a bit too low and it was a bit of a pain in the butt to get back to the Paradise parking lot, but I saved myself from going down the gully between Alta Vista and Glacier View (the potential for getting buried due to avy conditions was high there in my mind).

The last 100’ down to the parking lot was nasty chundery conditions because of all of the folks who were booting the first quarter mile and riding sleds down the hill (which technically isn’t allowed in the park right now since the hill is not open due to COVID-19 :/..).

I accidentally fell into a 4"~6" hole near the parking lot as I failed to spot it with my foggy goggles ;D.

About 75 or so cars were stuck at Paradise due to a crash that’s happened down the road near Narada Falls, so it’s something to keep in mind when going downhill (it may take longer than expected due to inclement road conditions). It took about 2 hours for them to sand/plow the roads and clear the crash and several folks were driving down super slow: 5~10mph is really slow if you have chains on (check the manual that came with your chains to see what speeds they're rated for, as all chains support speeds faster than 5~10mph).

PS A big shout-out/thanks to all of the rangers/staff that were up at Longmire/Paradise yesterday. 2 rangers in particular were trying to help me track down a tire pump since one of my tires was a bit under-inflated; I got down safely to Ashford and refilled the tire, making the rest of the way safely home.

Snow Conditions

I didn’t see anything that resembled avalanche conditions, but the visibility was poor and enough snow had fallen that any debris which had fallen in days prior was covered by fresh wet/dry pow.

That being said, the base/rain crust is very solid along the trail with some expected postholing around trees and other less compacted areas.

Summary

Did the Nisqually Vista Loop and then went up the Deadhorse Creek Trail up to the Skyline & Glacier Vista trails finally turning around at 6500 feet of elevation. This came to a total of about 4.7 miles and 1430 feet of vertical gain.

A couple of notes for those wanting to ski/ride down the Glacier Vista/Deadhorse route:

• The metal trail signs marking the various Glacier/Skyline/Morraine trail intersections on the ridge below Glacier Vista are almost-but-not-quite buried. The next snow will probably leave them invisibly lurking just inside the powder. Be very careful down the middle section of the ridge until there's been a fair bit more snow.
• There are still some sizable exposed rock gardens on some of the rolls of the ridge.
• Between where the Deadhorse & Skyline trails split and the bridge that crosses back across Deadhorse Creek there are some fairly sizable sinkholes down to the creek. At the bridge itself, the uphill side is filled in with snow but the downhill side has an 8+ foot drop down to the creek. Be careful riding through this section.

Road/Trailhead

The road up to Paradise was dry the whole way with the exception of two patches of ice where there was water across the road (at the Van Trump Creek crossing and shortly after the Nisqually bridge). On the way down there was a decent amount of snow that had slid onto the down-bound lane about halfway down the long straightaway before the Nisqually Bridge.

The main Paradise lot was full at about 9:45am when we arrived and the overflow lot was already about a quarter full by then. When we left around 2:30pm there were only a handful of spots in the overflow lot. The entire drive down there was a constant stream of cars still coming up.

Bathrooms at Longmire & Paradise are open.

Trail

At this point there are several feet of snow base in most places that are not heavily wind-affected. The snow throughout the route was mostly sun-affected crust on top of partly consolidated snow. Only in well shaded groves was there anything resembling fluff.

The Nisqually Vista is a mellow lollipop loop through mostly treed terrain with the namesake vista at it's apex and a couple nice views of the mountain from the more meadowy portions. The snow here was better than anywhere else today and from the start of the loop portion there were no other people - it was a nice escape from the crowd at Paradise. Today there was a well defined track to follow. In fresher snow, look for bare metal blazes on some of the trees - they are subtle to spot sometimes but there seem to be some throughout the loop.

The Deadhorse Creek Trail all the way up to Glacier Vista was alternating sections of crust and corn snow. There were a handful of people on the lower portion of the trail and then once nearing the Skyline junction it was non-stop crowd the rest of the way up. I don't think I was ever more than 50 feet from another party. The "trail" here is a free-for-all at this time of year, so there were at least 4 well-trodden boot tracks between the Skyline and Deadhorse trails and a bunch of crossovers between them.

Dad and I snowshoed most of this trail yesterday. I definitely suggest snowshoes or skis if you have them available. Many people commented that they were jealous of our snowshoes! Snow is mashed potato consistency, so lots of sliding going on. “Trail” is super easy to keep a safe distance on since there are multiple ways to go through the snow. We saw a marmot running around and a bear hanging out on the side of the road in the snow to cool off. Lots of tourists on vacation, so maybe try for a weekday if you want a bit more isolation.

The road from Longmire to Paradise opened today at 9:00 am, skies were blue, and the mountain was calling.  

The road and parking lot were snow-free today.  I snowshoed past the sledding area following the orange sign marked "TRAIL" towards Panorama Point and Glacier View.  The snow was tending towards Cascade Concrete, but the trekking was still AWESOME. 

Views were incredible in every direction.  Looking south we could see the Tatoosh Range, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams.  Looking north we saw a quick view of the shoulder of Rainier before the clouds totally enclosed it. 

At the base of the trail that leads steeply towards Panorama Point, we veered off to the west following tracks that took us up to what would have been a view of the Nisqually Glacier if the clouds weren't hiding it.  There were quite a few snowshoers and a number of snowboarders and skiers, all seemed happy to seize this beautiful day on this mountain.  There are lots of avalanche danger regions in this area so be sure to know the danger level and the locations of the primary avalanche danger areas.  There is a link to a map (on page 2) at the bottom of this report that highlights avalanche zones in the Paradise area. 

I recently attended a 2.5 hr workshop presented by the Northwest Avalance Center, www.nwac.us. I found the information to be really helpful today in understanding how to determine where risks are highest by considering avalanche terrain, unstable snow, and triggers.  We also learned about the resources that are available online to better understand risks.  I highly recommend this to anyone who is snowshoeing in the northwest.

First time snowshoeing at Rainier did not disappoint! Glacier vista was beautiful, and I plan to do it again and go all the way up to Panorama.