I'm posting these to Sports (not much skiing represented) plus Landscape since enjoying that is half the reason we go here.
Spring/summer skiing on Mt. Rainier is a must do for me every year. Once the winter snow melts and refreezes many times it firms up to form "corn" snow, which is very easy to ski, and has minimal avalanche danger. This Monday these conditions came together with a good forecast so I made the long drive south to meet up with my partner Eric at Paradise.
I'm not in great shape for a big day like this, so I went light/simple as possible with only my iPhone for a camera.
Me climbing at about 8000 ft., Mt. Adams in center, Hood to the right
A nice breeze kept us cool on the climb, which can be a problem for me on a warm day. We took a long break on some rocks at the top of our line, then dropped into the Paradise Glacier for a few hundred feet before angling over to the Cowlitz.
Eric on the money shot into the Cowlitz Glacier
We often ski the sidewalls of the valley for steeper slopes
My favorite shot of the day. Don't worry, his sun hoody only came off his head for a few minutes of skiing.
The views over to the icefalls are why I love this place.
At the bottom of the run you still have one more big steep climb up to the exit of the Paradise valley. This seems to keep the riff-raff out - we had this whole area of the mountain to ourselves on this beautiful day.
Great action shots Jim! I didn't even know Paradise is open through the winter season. At least Rainier doesn't have to worry about this year's light snowpack...
Jim Dockery wrote:
Thanks for the comments guys. Sam, there's still pretty good snow up there, but it is melting fast, more like late June in a normal year.
It's that bad huh? Guess I should get a new air purifier because the smoke is probably going to be a lot worse this year...
Thanks again for all the additional comments friends. Summer skiing is long over for me, now the wait for winter snow. The long term forecast isn't good for this year, will have to wait and see. I'm glad I got in my best years before global warming really set in
