Mt Rainier: Paradise Area

A very blustery day at Mt Rainier, with lots of blowing snow, scoured slopes, large drifts, and firm wind slabs. We still found soft snow in sheltered areas in the middle elevation band. Given the E-SE wind direction, wind stripping and loading are occurring on atypical aspects and features. Fortunately, visual clues helped up determine local wind patterns and avoid wind-loaded slopes. 

We only observed cracking on small wind-loaded test slopes. We did not, however, venture into larger wind-loaded terrain.

Wind: This east wind event is wreaking havoc on the snowpack. Scoured slopes, large drifts, intense blowing snow, textured surfaces, and firm slabs were all observed in the middle elevation band. Talking to other travelers who ventured higher on the mountain, it sounded worse in the upper elevations. We stuck to small and lower-angled terrain. However, small test slopes still managed to crack and fail despite modest slope angles and being well supported. Given the E-SE wind direction, many common cornice lines were eroded and depicted the reverse loading patterns from this event. The observed avalanche, right along a very common travel route, speaks to the more unique nature of these current wind slabs. 

Storm Snow: In sheltered terrain, hand pits, tilt tests, and hand shears continued to highlight a weakness at the base of the most recent snow (2/14 interface). In general we found about 12-15in (30-40cm) of snow from the last storm. This brings the total to 30-36in (80-90cm) over the Early February Crust. While we could see weaker snow just above the EFC, it did not fail in our limited snowpack tests (NW 5900ft).