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01-03-2008, 07:24 AM
JEFFREY P. MAYOR AND CRAIG HILL
jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com craig.hill@thenewstribune.com
Published: January 3rd
Some might look to the 2008 season at Mount Rainier National Park as a return to normalcy. Who could argue that assessment following two tumultuous seasons marked by a major construction project at the park’s most popular destination and flooding that left physical scars parkwide?
If all goes according to plan, 2008 will be highlighted by the opening of Paradise’s remodeled inn and new visitor center, the ability to drive around the park, and the completion of some flood recovery projects.
“To have all that behind us will be a real big accomplishment. To be able to concentrate on visitor services will be nice,” said park superintendent Dave Uberuaga.
“But we need to help re-engage people,” he said. “When you break a habit, people maybe move on to other things. I really want to re-energize people about the incredible opportunities here and experience the grand place that it is.”
But Uberuaga sees this season as a first step in fulfilling a new role for the park.
“What I did learn over the last two years is the positive influence Mount Rainier can have on its communities. I recognize that we can do more with that influence,” he said. “We have to help educate the young and engage them in the park.”
He hopes to use the development of the park as a laboratory to study climate change in the Northwest and to assess and reduce the park’s carbon footprint.
“I hope to have a message that this is something we all can do and have a positive impact,” said Uberagua. “It doesn’t take a three-day hike at Mount Rainier to change somebody. It’s maybe just changing their social thinking.”
PARADISE INN
All signs point to the inn reopening on May 16.
Closed since the end of the 2005 season, the inn has undergone a $20.3 million renovation. Workers have solidified the foundation, strengthened fireplaces, straightened walls and built new handicap-accessible rooms.
This is the first major structural renovation since the inn opened in 1917.
“We’re still on schedule to be finished the first of April. Then we and the concessionaire have until May 16 to get it ready. They’re already taking reservations, so the clock’s ticking,” said project manager Eric Walkinshaw.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said David Wilde, managing director for Mount Rainier Guest Services, which runs the inn. “We have certain areas we need to build ourselves, like the new cafe. All the furniture has to be placed in the guest rooms and public areas. There’s a tremendous amount of work we’ll have to do in the eight short weeks we have.”
Now that the seismic strengthening has been completed, work crews are concentrating on the lobby area, gift shop, restaurant and kitchen this winter.
“We’re beyond the surprises now. We’ve exposed all we’re going to expose,” Walkinshaw said. “In fact, if you come up, you could see some final products,”
Even as crews continue working, Wilde has begun hiring staff for the season. He said a lot of former staffers have expressed an interest in returning. “I’m expecting 40 to 50 percent of the staff will be people who have worked with us in the past,” he said.
The closure has been costly to the concession company. Wilde estimated losses at $8 million in gross revenues.
When asked if he can see the light at the end of the tunnel, Wilde laughed. “Maybe a pinpoint. We have a lot of our work to do when the contractor finishes.”
Jeffrey P. Mayor, The News Tribune
PARADISE VISITOR CENTER
Park officials hope to open the new visitor center at Paradise after Labor Day, but everything might not be in place.
The new 20,000-square-foot, $21.1 million Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center will replace the old saucer-shaped structure.
“We’re going to try and get the visitor center up and running by the middle of September. It will have the movie, the gift shop and bookstore, restrooms. The second floor just won’t have any exhibits,” said Walkinshaw.
“I would hope we’re not without a visitor center for more than a week or two,” he added.
The current plan is to close the existing center after Labor Day. The old ranger station and guide house would be used for visitor points until the new center opens.
Even as construction continues, development of the new exhibits is already under way.
“Some of the mountain animals will be used,” said the park’s Patti Wold. “But we’re basically starting from scratch. The exhibits will focus on the Paradise area, and some of the cultural history.”
A film crew was in the park last summer shooting for a new film that will be shown at the center.
The only exhibits making the move from the current center are a few of the stuffed animals, including the mountain goat. “The exhibits in there are so old and out of date,” Wold said.
Once the new center is operational, attention will turn to tearing down the current building. Walkinshaw hopes to have salvaged any items and materials before winter so park officials won’t have to heat the building.
Then, hopefully, the contractor can take the building down in the spring.
Jeffrey P. Mayor, The News Tribune
SNOW PLAY AREA
If your family loves tubing in the snow, last year was a bummer.
Not only did the Stevens Pass Tube City shut down because of a lack of profitably, but also the popular Rainier tube runs were unreachable because of flood damage.
While Stevens Pass won’t make a comeback in ’08, Rainier will.
The Rainier Snowplay Area at Paradise is open this winter for the second time in the last four years. In addition to last winter, a lack of snow kept the area closed in the winter of 2004-05.
When the snow play area is open, its two groomed 300-foot runs are popular. About 100 people hit the hills each day on the weekends.
Unlike the Summit at Snoqualmie tubing area, there are no lifts.
The runs are open all week but groomed and monitored only Fridays through Sundays. Bring your own tube or sled; there are no rentals in the park. No hard toboggans or sleds with runners are allowed. And sledding is allowed only on the designated runs.
For more information, visit nps.gov/mora/recreation/winter.htm.
Craig Hill, The News Tribune
WONDERLAND TRAIL
The trail hit hardest by the 2006 floods was the Wonderland Trail. More than 15 sections of the 93-mile trail that loops around the mountain sustained damage.
The hardest-hit areas were in the Stevens Canyon and Carbon Glacier sections of the park. Landslides made long sections of the trail impassable in both areas. The Carbon Glacier section was rerouted on another trail, and the Stevens Canyon portion left hikers to walk along the road.
The park flew in three steel bridges in August to repair the trail, leaving hikers only a sliver of summer to try a hike that takes most about two weeks.
The Wonderland Trail is the Northwest’s iconic hiking challenge in much the same way Mount Rainier is the region’s most coveted peak for climbers.
This year, barring another monster storm, the trail is expected to be in much better shape and entirely accessible without having to walk on the road.
Craig Hill, The News Tribune
DRIVING AROUND THE PARK
Visitors who prefer to explore the park from a vehicle will find that much easier in 2008.
With flood damage repaired, visitors will be able to make the drive from the Nisqually entrance around to the northeast corner of the park.
“Most of our visitors are going straight up to Paradise and back. Others are going up to Sunrise and back. But there are others who choose to drive around the park and make that their experience,” said Walkinshaw.
“In our surveys, we’ve learned it’s important to people to visit the park in their vehicles.”
Said David Wilde, managing director of Mount Rainier Guest Services: “There’s a lot of people who like to make that trip around the mountain because it’s easy to do in a day.”
The only expected slowdown will be work on Highway 123, north of Stevens Canyon intersection. Crews will mill the road and then repave. Walkinshaw said drivers can expect 20-minute delays.
He also said having the roads open this season will make it easier on the staff. “That was horrid having to go all the way around to White River. We’ll save a lot of gas,” he said.
Jeffrey P. Mayor, The News Tribune
CARBON RIVER ROAD DEBATE
This year is expected to be one of the most important on record for the northwest corner of the park.
In the coming weeks, park officials will start collecting public input on what to do with the flood-ravaged Carbon River Road. Then the park will decide whether it should rebuild the road or leave it closed.
Last year the road was open only to hikers and mountain bikers. The road ends at the Ipsut Creek Campground and the trailhead for the popular Carbon Glacier Trail. The road closure turns the seven-mile hike into a 17-mile trip.
“I’d hate to see the road lost,” Everett Waltrip of Bonney Lake said earlier this year. “Not everybody is ambulatory enough to hike or mountain bike up the road to what is a pleasant and easy hike.”
Others would rather see the road kept closed than see the park continue to spend money on a road that has long been prone to washouts.
Uberuaga says he’d like to have the road open, but “it may not be sustainable.”
The road corridor is home to bull trout, marbled murrelets and northern spotted owls, all of which are listed as threatened species.
As the debate on its future heats up this year, park officials hope the public doesn’t get caught up in the idea that the road will either completely reopen or close. The solution very likely could lie somewhere in between.
Officials will consider opening part of the road or starting a shuttle service.
Whatever happens, Uberuaga says, public access to the northwest corner of the park will be maintained.
Craig Hill, The News Tribune
from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/244286.html
jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com craig.hill@thenewstribune.com
Published: January 3rd
Some might look to the 2008 season at Mount Rainier National Park as a return to normalcy. Who could argue that assessment following two tumultuous seasons marked by a major construction project at the park’s most popular destination and flooding that left physical scars parkwide?
If all goes according to plan, 2008 will be highlighted by the opening of Paradise’s remodeled inn and new visitor center, the ability to drive around the park, and the completion of some flood recovery projects.
“To have all that behind us will be a real big accomplishment. To be able to concentrate on visitor services will be nice,” said park superintendent Dave Uberuaga.
“But we need to help re-engage people,” he said. “When you break a habit, people maybe move on to other things. I really want to re-energize people about the incredible opportunities here and experience the grand place that it is.”
But Uberuaga sees this season as a first step in fulfilling a new role for the park.
“What I did learn over the last two years is the positive influence Mount Rainier can have on its communities. I recognize that we can do more with that influence,” he said. “We have to help educate the young and engage them in the park.”
He hopes to use the development of the park as a laboratory to study climate change in the Northwest and to assess and reduce the park’s carbon footprint.
“I hope to have a message that this is something we all can do and have a positive impact,” said Uberagua. “It doesn’t take a three-day hike at Mount Rainier to change somebody. It’s maybe just changing their social thinking.”
PARADISE INN
All signs point to the inn reopening on May 16.
Closed since the end of the 2005 season, the inn has undergone a $20.3 million renovation. Workers have solidified the foundation, strengthened fireplaces, straightened walls and built new handicap-accessible rooms.
This is the first major structural renovation since the inn opened in 1917.
“We’re still on schedule to be finished the first of April. Then we and the concessionaire have until May 16 to get it ready. They’re already taking reservations, so the clock’s ticking,” said project manager Eric Walkinshaw.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said David Wilde, managing director for Mount Rainier Guest Services, which runs the inn. “We have certain areas we need to build ourselves, like the new cafe. All the furniture has to be placed in the guest rooms and public areas. There’s a tremendous amount of work we’ll have to do in the eight short weeks we have.”
Now that the seismic strengthening has been completed, work crews are concentrating on the lobby area, gift shop, restaurant and kitchen this winter.
“We’re beyond the surprises now. We’ve exposed all we’re going to expose,” Walkinshaw said. “In fact, if you come up, you could see some final products,”
Even as crews continue working, Wilde has begun hiring staff for the season. He said a lot of former staffers have expressed an interest in returning. “I’m expecting 40 to 50 percent of the staff will be people who have worked with us in the past,” he said.
The closure has been costly to the concession company. Wilde estimated losses at $8 million in gross revenues.
When asked if he can see the light at the end of the tunnel, Wilde laughed. “Maybe a pinpoint. We have a lot of our work to do when the contractor finishes.”
Jeffrey P. Mayor, The News Tribune
PARADISE VISITOR CENTER
Park officials hope to open the new visitor center at Paradise after Labor Day, but everything might not be in place.
The new 20,000-square-foot, $21.1 million Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center will replace the old saucer-shaped structure.
“We’re going to try and get the visitor center up and running by the middle of September. It will have the movie, the gift shop and bookstore, restrooms. The second floor just won’t have any exhibits,” said Walkinshaw.
“I would hope we’re not without a visitor center for more than a week or two,” he added.
The current plan is to close the existing center after Labor Day. The old ranger station and guide house would be used for visitor points until the new center opens.
Even as construction continues, development of the new exhibits is already under way.
“Some of the mountain animals will be used,” said the park’s Patti Wold. “But we’re basically starting from scratch. The exhibits will focus on the Paradise area, and some of the cultural history.”
A film crew was in the park last summer shooting for a new film that will be shown at the center.
The only exhibits making the move from the current center are a few of the stuffed animals, including the mountain goat. “The exhibits in there are so old and out of date,” Wold said.
Once the new center is operational, attention will turn to tearing down the current building. Walkinshaw hopes to have salvaged any items and materials before winter so park officials won’t have to heat the building.
Then, hopefully, the contractor can take the building down in the spring.
Jeffrey P. Mayor, The News Tribune
SNOW PLAY AREA
If your family loves tubing in the snow, last year was a bummer.
Not only did the Stevens Pass Tube City shut down because of a lack of profitably, but also the popular Rainier tube runs were unreachable because of flood damage.
While Stevens Pass won’t make a comeback in ’08, Rainier will.
The Rainier Snowplay Area at Paradise is open this winter for the second time in the last four years. In addition to last winter, a lack of snow kept the area closed in the winter of 2004-05.
When the snow play area is open, its two groomed 300-foot runs are popular. About 100 people hit the hills each day on the weekends.
Unlike the Summit at Snoqualmie tubing area, there are no lifts.
The runs are open all week but groomed and monitored only Fridays through Sundays. Bring your own tube or sled; there are no rentals in the park. No hard toboggans or sleds with runners are allowed. And sledding is allowed only on the designated runs.
For more information, visit nps.gov/mora/recreation/winter.htm.
Craig Hill, The News Tribune
WONDERLAND TRAIL
The trail hit hardest by the 2006 floods was the Wonderland Trail. More than 15 sections of the 93-mile trail that loops around the mountain sustained damage.
The hardest-hit areas were in the Stevens Canyon and Carbon Glacier sections of the park. Landslides made long sections of the trail impassable in both areas. The Carbon Glacier section was rerouted on another trail, and the Stevens Canyon portion left hikers to walk along the road.
The park flew in three steel bridges in August to repair the trail, leaving hikers only a sliver of summer to try a hike that takes most about two weeks.
The Wonderland Trail is the Northwest’s iconic hiking challenge in much the same way Mount Rainier is the region’s most coveted peak for climbers.
This year, barring another monster storm, the trail is expected to be in much better shape and entirely accessible without having to walk on the road.
Craig Hill, The News Tribune
DRIVING AROUND THE PARK
Visitors who prefer to explore the park from a vehicle will find that much easier in 2008.
With flood damage repaired, visitors will be able to make the drive from the Nisqually entrance around to the northeast corner of the park.
“Most of our visitors are going straight up to Paradise and back. Others are going up to Sunrise and back. But there are others who choose to drive around the park and make that their experience,” said Walkinshaw.
“In our surveys, we’ve learned it’s important to people to visit the park in their vehicles.”
Said David Wilde, managing director of Mount Rainier Guest Services: “There’s a lot of people who like to make that trip around the mountain because it’s easy to do in a day.”
The only expected slowdown will be work on Highway 123, north of Stevens Canyon intersection. Crews will mill the road and then repave. Walkinshaw said drivers can expect 20-minute delays.
He also said having the roads open this season will make it easier on the staff. “That was horrid having to go all the way around to White River. We’ll save a lot of gas,” he said.
Jeffrey P. Mayor, The News Tribune
CARBON RIVER ROAD DEBATE
This year is expected to be one of the most important on record for the northwest corner of the park.
In the coming weeks, park officials will start collecting public input on what to do with the flood-ravaged Carbon River Road. Then the park will decide whether it should rebuild the road or leave it closed.
Last year the road was open only to hikers and mountain bikers. The road ends at the Ipsut Creek Campground and the trailhead for the popular Carbon Glacier Trail. The road closure turns the seven-mile hike into a 17-mile trip.
“I’d hate to see the road lost,” Everett Waltrip of Bonney Lake said earlier this year. “Not everybody is ambulatory enough to hike or mountain bike up the road to what is a pleasant and easy hike.”
Others would rather see the road kept closed than see the park continue to spend money on a road that has long been prone to washouts.
Uberuaga says he’d like to have the road open, but “it may not be sustainable.”
The road corridor is home to bull trout, marbled murrelets and northern spotted owls, all of which are listed as threatened species.
As the debate on its future heats up this year, park officials hope the public doesn’t get caught up in the idea that the road will either completely reopen or close. The solution very likely could lie somewhere in between.
Officials will consider opening part of the road or starting a shuttle service.
Whatever happens, Uberuaga says, public access to the northwest corner of the park will be maintained.
Craig Hill, The News Tribune
from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/244286.html