December 6, 2025 Patrol Report;

[B C]

A crack squad of seasoned patrollers, team Alpha Bravo 6-7 (AR67, in honor of the atmospheric river and the December 6-7 weekend) found snow conditions too marginal to set poles so the day was spent setting up Nisqually House and getting the Nordic vehicles lined up for action.

Friday night was quite windy and there were multiple trees down on 706.  Power was out at Nisqually House when I arrived at 1945.  T. Jacobi reported it had gone out just previous to my arrival.  We made good use of the emergency lanterns and went up to Longmire to locate the Nordic vehicles. Longmire was on generator power and it was a dark and stormy night indeed. We found one vehicle easily but no sight of the second.  Loaded up some of the bins of Nordic gear in the garage and returned to Nisqually House.  Power came back on around 2100 and we went to bed shortly thereafter.

Saturday the road did not open to the public although overnight snowfall was pretty minimal.  We returned to Longmire, checked in with Ed and found the other Nordic vehicle parked behind the EOC. Ed showed us how to fuel the vehicles.  We decided to venture up to Paradise to check out conditions and delivered a rescue sled up to the Old Station.  It was snowing and windy at Paradise with low visibility and the snow was deemed insufficient to set poles, especially with the expected upcoming atmospheric river and unfortunate likely melt. No real snow on the ground until Narada Falls.  Had to use some hot tea to unfreeze the door handle of the Old Station. Temp was right around 32 degrees but the wind chill made it colder.

We returned to Longmire, checked on the garage again now that it was daylight and removed a few  more bins, leaving the first aid supplies there for the time being.  Both vehicles were filled with gas and we returned to Nisqually House to finish unpacking.  An inventory of the SAR cache box was done. It was determined that the official first aid kits, the ones in the giant black "fanny packs," were missing/not to be found in any of the Nordic bins.  The gas fireplace was coaxed into action and the baseboard heating in the living room returned to action. Apparently the power outage Friday  night had tripped the breaker.

The two park vehicles we have this year are a Dodge pickup truck with a crew cab and a short bed in the back. It is a former LE vehicle and has some cool bells and whistles, such as a "cage" in half of the rear seat for the patroller who needs/wants some extra personal space.  It also has a console in between the front seats with buttons for extra lights and sirens and there are shotgun holders for those official Nordic Patrol shotguns. It is short on room for gear and skis but it does have 4 wheel drive.  The other vehicle is a Ford Expedition SUV. The back seats can be put down flat and has enough room for skis inside, but this limits the number of passengers.  Keys for both are at Nisqually House.  Mysteriously/miraculously/thanks to Ed's lobbying, the car keys have park keys attached, so we can access buildings, the gate, etc. 

Regarding fueling, you no longer need the credit card or the license plate number.  There is a white box just below the card reader that is locked with a padlock. One of the park keys on the car key fob will unlock this. Inside are two "keys" on wires.  You insert the left key into the appropriate slot above when prompted. There is also a "PIN" number that you need to enter first.  The PIN number is known to Ed and can be found written on the patrol report (see attached).  

Nisqually House needs TP, paper towels and batteries, so if you are coming down to volunteer and feel like picking some up on the way, they will be used!

See you on the mountain.

Brian Carpenter

Priority Action Items:  

1. Locate/figure out what happened to the patrol first aid kits.

2. Set poles as soon as feasible.