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.
Comments
Thank you! NWAC is a great place to start also has great safety videos as well as WTA.
Posted by:
Lisa Elliott on Feb 28, 2020 06:17 AM