With the Nisqually Road now reopen, visitors to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park will be able to check out the progress made on the demolition of the old visitor center.

Eric Walkinshaw/Mount Rainier National Park
This is what the old visitor center at Paradise looked like Friday afternoon, five days after the demolition began.

Crews have been using a 4,500-pound wrecking since Monday to knock the building down. Rain and snow have slowed the work, which the contractor thought might take a week.

While there are no plans for work to be done over the weekend, a ranger will be at the site to answer questions for people who are interested, said park spokeswoman Lee Taylor.

Visitors to the park should note that there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground at Paradise and parts of the road from Longmire might be ice- or snow-covered.

If you can’t make it up the mountain this weekend, check out the Web cam, which is finally working again.

The path has been cleared for improvements at the Summit at Snoqualmie, according to a statement released recently by the ski area.

The U.S. Forest Service announced the approval of the ski area’s Master Development Plan Nov. 13.

"Our goal has always been to continue to improve our resort while striking a balance between what best benefits both people and the alpine environment," said Trevor Kostanich, director of planning and development for The Summit, in a prepared statement.
"Ten years and countless hours of collaboration and hard work by the Forest Service, consultants, local conservation groups and The Summit, as well as comments by the public, have lead to this decision. This truly is an exciting time for us and our guests."

The ski area plans to erecting six new chairlifts, three new surface lifts, upgrading many existing lifts, lighting 25 new trails for night skiing, additional parking and a new mountain-top restaurant at Summit East.

As part of the agreement, The Summit will donate about 390 acres of land to the forest service for conservation. Another 100 acres near Alpental will be donated and added to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.

"We are thrilled to have the go-ahead to implement many of these improvements and additions in the next several years," said Summit GM Dan Brewster in a prepared statement. "This decision, along with this season's new Silver Fir Express Chair, will help usher in an era of
remarkable improvements to our resort."

The view through the web cam at Crystal Mountain is starting to look nice again, but according to the ski area's website there is only 3 inches of snow on the ground.

International Mountain Guides' Mike Hamill climbed the highest peak on each continent in 11 months according to a recent post on the IMG website.

Here are some of the details courtesy of IMG:

Mike Hamill didn't start 2008 planning to do the Seven Summits, but the stars lined up and it happened. Along with the Seven Summits, Mike also guided a successful October ascent of Cho Oyu to round out his busy year. Congrats to Mike!

Here are the Seven Summits dates:

* Vinson (Antarctica): Dec. 1, 2007
* Aconcagua (South America): Jan. 20th and Feb. 15
* Everest (Asia): May 24th
* Denali (North America): July 10th
* Kilimanjaro (Africa): August 12th
* Kosciuszko (Australia): October 13th
* Elbrus (Europe): November 1st

Hamill's IMG Bio:

Mike began guiding eight years ago and is very passionate about his work. He is a year round professional guide and has traveled and climbed on six continents. When not guiding on Mt. Rainier, where he has over 40 summits, his expeditions include 3 to Everest, 5 to Cho Oyu, 8 to Denali, 16 to Aconcagua, 2 to Vinson, 2 to Ecuador, Kilimanjaro, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Russia, France, and Switzerland among other places. Many clients have remarked that Mike's love for the mountains is contagious. He is a former Division 1 collegiate ski racer and Junior Olympian, has a B.S. from St. Lawrence University, and is a Wilderness First Responder. Mike cut his teeth on the steep Ice and Rock of the Northeast, primarily in the Adirondacks of NY and the White Mountains of NH, where he grew up. When not guiding Mike is usually climbing, ski mountaineering, biking, surfing, and fly fishing his way around the globe.