September 30, 2013
Paradise parking lot today.
The Mt. Rainier climbing season came to a screeching halt last week with the arrival of a couple (yes a couple) premature winter storms and “Winter Storm Warningsâ€. We don’t normally get these winter storms in September, in fact, most years we could guide Rainier well into October. So, with the winds at Camp Muir forecasted at 90-100+mph, the freezing level called to drop to 5000ft, and several inches of rain (feet of snow) predicted, the decision to cancel our last climb of the season was a tough, but necessary decision. Thankfully all the climbers who were on that climb were incredibly understanding, with most having already rescheduled for next year.
As we officially wrap-up the season the storms are still dumping snow on the slopes of Mt. Rainier. For some additional perspective the snowplows are out at Paradise making their second and likely third laps of the parking lot.
Eventually the storms will push through and we’ll probably get more warm-up, but Mt. Rainier shut the door early this year; who are we not to listen?
Tye Chapman