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| View of the Emmons & Winthrop Glaciers from the top of Steamboat Prow |
The roads on the east side of the park are scheduled to open this Friday for the summer - Chinook Pass, Cayuse Pass and the road up to the White River Campground will all be open to the public. This will allow easier access for climbers and skiers to the Inter Glacier and the east side routes like the Emmons-Winthrop Glacier Route and Liberty Ridge.
White River Ranger Station and the Paradise Wilderness Information Center will open daily for the season starting this Friday as well. Climbers and skiers must register in-person at a ranger station for any climb or ski on a glacier and/or above 10,000 feet. Please see the "Permits and Fees" tab for more info.
There's a couple of things to remind potential climbers and skiers of as the holiday weekend approaches:
- Winter-like weather this last week drifted in a significant amount of new snow on leeward slopes. Recently, both climbers & skiers have been turning around near 12k due to shooting cracks and dangerous looking wind slabs. While avalanche conditions can change day to day (and even hour to hour) make sure your team can assess these hazards for themselves (there's no public avalanche forecast this time of year on Mount Rainier). Do not venture up into avalanche terrain if you're not confident that it's safe to do so - especially with terrain traps like crevasses below you!
- There's limited resources available at Camp Schurman due to record level snow deposition on the ridge near the ranger hut. The bathrooms, blue bag barrels, rescue litters and propane tanks are still buried under meters of snow. All climbers and skiers will need to carry all their human waste in blue bags all the way out to the trailhead where there's a barrel near the bathroom in the White River Camp Ground Climbers Parking Area that's labeled for Blue Bags. Consider bringing extra blue bags since there's no toilet available at Camp Schurman.
- The weather forecast looks to be deteriorating into the weekend. Both Friday & Saturday look decent and Sunday & Monday look to be cloudy with high chance of precipitation. Forecasts can be wrong, but be cautious with deteriorating conditions like this - if something goes wrong (which can happen to anyone) and a rescue is required it can be prolonged or not even possible in a storm.
While there's so much joy and wonder that can be found up high on the slopes of Mount Rainier - it can also be unforgiving. Please make sure to build in an extra margin for safety in any activity you plan on the mountain! While the excitement of this "opening weekend" of the climbing/skiing season can be contagious - we hope that all visitors stay safe and continue to visit the mountain many more times in the future!
