Cowlitz Rocks (7450ft), Mt. Rainier area - 4/9/2005 Charlie, John, Oli, Jo, Claes and I headed out for an early spring snow shoe outing to Cowlitz Rocks (actual out/back route in red on JPG map). We experienced all types of weather on this very picturesque and enjoyable outing. Drive: To Paradise parking lot in Mt. Rainier National Park. Our route led down the road beyond Paradise parking lot. The road has now been plowed up the mountain to within 200 - 300 feet of the Paradise parking lot. You can clearly see the ""old"" snow (about 3 ft) with the ""new"" 3 ft layer of snow on top. We shoveled a staircase up the 5 ft deep snowbank just prior to the Paradise River crossing and headed due east to Mazama Ridge. Once on the ridge, head NE to the head of the Stevens Creek cirque, then north passing point 6252 on your right, then past point 6766 on your right and then NNE to Cowlitz Rocks, staying between the Paradise and Williwakas glaciers. The scenery from Mazama Ridge to Cowlitz Rocks is pretty incredible right now. Huge untracked snow bowls fall away on your right leading down to the steep dropoffs into Stevens Canyon and rise to your left up the east flank of Mazama Ridge. Defining the skyline on your left is the summit mound of Rainier and the various cleavers on the SE side of the mountain. Rising straight ahead are the craggy rocks of Little Tahoma Peak with the ice tumble of the Ingraham glacier at its base. The final climb up to Cowlitz Rocks summit is a steep walkup. However, and this applies to many points along this route, the summit and ridge cornices are VERY pronounced , and the climbing ranger warned us that they are unconsolidated and likely to break off even further back than they normally would. The cornice on top of Cowlitz is very large, and it's a good 200 - 300 ft drop off the back onto a steep snow field. Good way to lose 500 ft of altitude quickly. We stayed well back from the cornice. We had lunch on top of Cowlitz rocks and watched the weather turn from warm sunshine to a windy, cloudy, snowy day. The weather change took about 15 minutes. I went from my two light top layers and nylon pants / longies to wearing nearly everything in my pack in that 15 minute transition. I was one fleece layer and a balaclava away from having all my packed gear on my body. Visibility went from 20 miles to 50 feet in that same time period. The other thing we noticed - the cornice ridge on Cowlitz that was so clearly visible on our ascent was literally undetectable after the weather came it. We knew right where it was, were looking right at it, and could NOT see it from 15 feet away! Packing up we headed down into the relative shelter of the Stevens Creek valley to retrace our ascent - being careful to maintain visual contact among the members of the party. The visibility increased as we descended, and when we got back to the car we were treated to re-emergence of sunshine and the play of sun and cloud shadow on the new snow covering the Tatoosh Range. Spectacular. We left the car at 9:00, made the summit of Cowlitz Rocks at noon and returned to the car at 3:00. Total miles - about 7. Total elevation gain - about 2000 ft.

Decided to seek out snow where it is most likely to hide this year. But it is well hidden up high on Mt Rainier. Crossing the bridge over the Nisqually River and looking up there is NO SNOW. The friend I went with skied down to the bridge last March from the Nisqually Chute. Devoid of snow way up the ravine. We decided to head to the location of the former Ice Caves which we knew from past experience are gone but it makes a nice tour with some turns. Concerned about the potential high clouds keeping it too crusty were turned aside by reality. Nice conditions but I'm definitely out of telemark shape so did some kick turns on steeper terrain. Used ski-crampons to get up to the slopes below Pan Point to Golden Gates. The high clouds added to the interesting lighting. The mountain was out in the morning (we hit the Longmire gate at just around 9am but it may have been opened early). A lenticular covered it in the afternoon. GREAT DAY. Mellow temperatures and a bit of a breeze. Looking down from the vicinity of the ""ice caves"" toward Mt St Helens and Mt Adams. (note to editor: the last few times, pressing ""submit report now"" gets a very slow or NO response????)

We skied to the Paradise Glacier via Edith Creek on Sunday. We know snow is on the scarce side, but expected to see more than just a foot or two at that elevation. Amazing.

Hurray for blue skies! Started our excursion from the Paradise parking lot on this absolutely gorgeous sunny February Sunday. Headed down the road beyond Paradise and up to Mazama Ridge, where we took a left and onward to Paradise Glacier. We were both not sure what it would look like when we saw it because of the snowcover, etc. We kept plugging away with the help of our topo and compass (and also following tracks that seemed to know where they were going!) and finally settled on a rocky hilltop for lunch since we were looking forward to a rest and I was certainly starving! (I'd been looking forward to lunch before we left the parking lot!) I was slightly bummed that this huge wall of snow was obstructing our view of Rainier but we still had an awesome view of the Cascade range. After making a point to really study my Paradise area topo map, I realized we had been snowshoeing along side the massive glacier for quite awhile! (That was the huge obstructing wall of snow!) Ok, so we felt a little silly, but we at least got to our destination - and beyond! On our way back, we explored the rolling hills in an attempt to get back via Panorama Point. We were certain we found the way there, but opted to go the rest of the way back the way we originally came because low clouds suddenly encompassed the area but there was more clearing via the lower route. Colder temps came along with the clouds, too. We probably would have been fine, but there was no reason to take any chances on winding up all socked in. We can always go back again to get to Pan Point. It was a good day at Rainier! Great views all the way.