Weekend Update 1/31-2/1

[Don Shingler]

Don Shingler <don.sh...@gmail.com>

Sun, Feb 1, 8:40 PM (12 hours ago)

Resending without any photos attached, as my other reports are not going thru the Google Groups server.

We had all the weather this weekend. 

Saturday-

Colin, Dan, Natalia and Ray and I split into 2 teams.

Team 1- Dan, Natalia and Don. Headed into Edith under not so good conditions to check all the open creeks and roped off areas. After some adjustments we headed to a south facing slope and did some pit tests. Our pit matched the low avalanche conditions that NWAC described. It took a lot of work to get anything to move. But was obvious there is a lot of water in the snowpack. 

Later in the morning the sun broke out and it became warm and sunny while we headed up toward pan face. Met up with Everett mountain rescue (Portlan d Mtn Rescue and Tacoma Mountain Rescue were also on the mountain) who was doing a similar pit test with similar results. 

We waited around Pan talking to people headed both up and down and lots of good conversations happened with the public. There was just enough snow to skin up Pan Face, but not really enough to ski back down. And the report was that the conditions above Pan were just an ice sheet. 

Eventually we skied down in sunny conditions, doing our best not to get taken out by all the hidden sharks just beneath the surface. Even with the conditions, it was a great ski down. 

Team 2- Colin and Ray, started at Narada and reset poles up to the road, then over Inspiration Saddle. The trail from Narada to the road, because of low snow conditions, is basically the summer trail nearer the river, and will need to be reset if we get additional snow. 

Middle of the day they came up to Paradise and headed out to Edith to do some additional PSAR. 

Saturday night was just Natalia and Don, until Suzanna decided to come by and visit us for dinner. And of course Natalia cooked up a great dinner. 

Sunday-

Sunday was a very different story. 

Day patrollers Ray and Hugh arrived in the morning to join Natalia and myself heading up to Longmire. Heavy rain overnight made the drive difficult, and appreciated them still coming. At the EOC, we learned the gate was probably not going to open all day due to the snow that had fallen up toward paradise. We waited around for awhile to learn more and was told admin traffic would also not open above Narada. And we already knew the conditions at Narada were pretty crappy so chose not to do that. 

The four of us grabbed some coffee and walked over to the Trail of Shadows, as Natalia did not know about it. It was a very educational walk/hike. With a decent amount of interactions with people that were looking for something to do because of the gate closure. Many were directed to Rampart Ridge if they wanted more. 

Eventually we walked back to EOC and spoke to Ed to see if there was anything else he needed. There was nothing so we called it an early day and headed back to the house to clean and head out. So it was a shorter day. 

House/Vehicle Update-

Hand soap was picked up. I forgot to grab the hand towels, so they are still at Longmire. 

Ed fixed the headlight

The truck has a check engine light on but do not worry about it. Ed knows and it has been checked. 

All vehicles have correct chains now