We had a wonderful day snowshoeing to Panorama Point today. The weather was so good, and there was even a line at the entrance before 10AM. Looks like there hasn’t been much new snow recently, roads were mostly bare, just some sections with thin ice covered. Snow on the trail was also so compact. We used snowshoes all the time but many people just used spikes or nothing. Snow softened a little bit in the afternoon, and maybe because of the heavier weight on shoes coming down, it felt more like snowshoeing.

We went up from the Edith Creek Basin, and came down from skyline trail. Again, all paths were quite clear today so path finding was no issue. The route descriptions on WTA is very accurate nevertheless, you will come to a flat area before take a left turn uphill, which is also kind of a viewpoint to the paradise valley.

Adams, Hood, and St Helens could been seen clearly today. Adams and Helens could been seen even halfway, which made me wonder if I could ever see them in summer around similar elevations. I wonder if the it was the deep snow so we were much higher than what we can be in summer.

I did the winter Skyline loop shown on the MRNP Paradise winter recreation map at the link. It follows most of the summer trails shown on Gaia with a few deviations.

This is an incredible hike, but there are a lot of caveats. The first is that I was advised by the Ranger I spoke to that it should only be done on a low (green) avalanche danger day according to nwac.us, which is pretty rare. The loop crosses two avy slopes--one on the final ascent to Panorama Point (I hiked it clockwise) and one on the northeast corner of the loop, when it descends out of 7000' to the north of the Edith Creek basin.

Caveat #2: Traction on the descents. Since the avy danger was low on the day I hiked it, I wasn't overly worried about avalanches. But the traction on the two avy slopes was challenging. The snow was so firm that it was difficult for the teeth on my snowshoes to get a grip. Descending the second avy chute, I was getting so little traction that I decided to glissade. (Safety reminder--take off your snowshoes/spikes/crampons before glissading or you could break a bone, and use an ice axe to steer and brake.) 

Caveat #3: Routefinding and ability to assess avy terrain is also required, since the winter route doesn't exactly follow the summer route. The portion between Panorama Point and the intersection with the Paradise Glacier trail is infrequently traveled, so there may be only one set of tracks to follow, if any. And of course as with all snowshoeing, the footprints you are following may or may not be correct. 

Caveat #4: Weather. Most of this route is above treeline, and whiteouts are common. Have a plan for what to do if this happens. For me this meant carrying enough emergency gear so I could safely spend the night on the mountain if needed. 

Caveat #5: The time window. Since the Longmire Gate doesn't open until 9, realistically you won't start before 10, and the Rangers advise you to get back to your car by 4 to make the gate closure at 5. I started at 1030 and got back at 330. I didn't stop for lunch on the hike, but getting set up for glissading slowed me down. As a backup I had gotten a $6 permit to camp in the Deadhorse Creek Basin in case I didn't make it back in time.

So, lots of caveats but nothing that can't be planned for. And it's worth it!

No line to get into the park at 8:30am. The gate opened at 9am with around 20 cars waiting to get in. No line at 11:30am when I was leaving and parking still available at Paradise.

Needed: Snowshoes, Layers
Helpful: Gaiters, Poles

Avalanche forecast was low and the ranger said there were no concerns below 8,000 feet. Snow pack was pretty firm.

I had to cut trail through about 10” of fresh snow and stopped before getting to panorama point. Someone passed me on skins, and went ahead and turned around and took a different path up to Muir.

LOTS of people coming up, while I was on my way down.

The road had some slick spots coming up and going down.

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Skinned up to Camp Muir with my son in mostly white out conditions with strong winds. 

This was the first weekend with required reservations, I had no problems getting one for 7am-9am when they released them at 7pm the night before. Website showed 189 available for that timeslot. We actually ended up arriving around 6:40am, so didn't end up using it.

Parking lot was already half full, with several parties getting ready to hike up. Most people skipped snowshoes, and after testing the snow right above the parking lot, we decided to as well. I was skinning up on a split board and my son was hiking up in his snowboard shoes (I carried the other board as well). 

Pretty solid boot path the whole way up Panorama face, only post-holed when we went off trail. I ended up putting on ski crampons once above the face but should have put them on earlier. My son put on crampons right above the bathroom, there's a couple of very steep faces where he was slipping in just boots.

The visibility was minimal, so GPS was mandatory, even for navigating up to Panorama Point. Make sure you bring at least 2 devices and don't forget a power bank. Despite all the cloud cover, I still got sun burned on the small part of my face that was usually facing the ground.

For clothes, I had hardshell pants and jacket above lightweight pants and sun hoody.  That blocked enough of the wind and snow that I felt toasty the whole way up. Most of the trip up was with lightweight gloves on, but the final quarter I put on some waterproof gloves (Showa Temres 282s are amazing) and my son put on some mittens.

Met quite a few parties coming down and several skiers. Most groups heading up turned around when the wind got worse but we kept going, mostly because we wanted to take refuge in the hut for lunch. The last 800 feet always feels hard, so we took it slow. 

Eventually we made it to the shelter. The ranger hut had several people walking around, but the big shelter looked abandoned until I opened the door and saw several faces looking out. There were several parties in there getting ready for a summit attempt the next morning, so we found an empty area, ate lunch, warmed up, and got ready to head back down. A short trip from the hut to the bathroom felt like being inside a blizzard, our jacket pockets ended up full of snow. We put on helmets, balaclavas, goggles, and warmer mid layers under our shells to handle that.

We carried our snowboards a little down the face where it was somewhat calmer and started skiing down. The snow was really good, but with the white out conditions, there was no fun to be had. There's nothing to fix your vision on with the blowing snow, water on the goggles, and barely visible snow below so I kept getting disoriented and crashing. We stopped and checked our location using GPS very frequently and tried to stay close to rocks as those gave me a frame of reference and we could then stay oriented. My son had an easier time since he could use me below to orient.

We had to take off our boards and boot across several rocky areas and once when we ended up too far off our trail, but we pretty quickly made our way back above panorama face. The snow here got sticker, but it was more fun since there were more landmarks and tracks to follow. Pretty soon we made it back to the snow above the parking lot which was packed with families and tourists and then to the car.

Total stats: 8.6 miles, 4600 feet, 5.5 hours up, 1.5 hour break at the hut, 1.5 hours back to the car.

This was my first time visiting this trail. I had driven up to the Visitor Center once when I hiked Eagle Peak Saddle out of Longmire, but never did any of the hikes. I can certainly see why it's popular! 

I made my way around 9am and the snow was crunchy on top. I used trek poles and snowshoes to reach the point. I didn't see a clear snowshoers path to the left (from trail description) so I went straight up the steep slope, following many touring skiers who were slowly making their own switchbacks. This was definitely the most challenging part of my day, it reminded me of some of the steeper slopes on the Worms Flow route of Mt St. Helens. 

I reached the point sooner than expected so after a quick water break I continued on another mile or so, trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of Camp Muir. I think I could see it but perhaps not. 

Did three glissades down, two small ones and the one big one descending the steep slope. After noon the people increased along with softer snow. I was surprised to see many hikers without gear I would consider essential for this trek. 

Hope to return soon to explore Cloud Camp. 

RT 5.2m/2359ft