Thunder on the Mountain

Backpacker Magazine has an excellent article in the January issue about the 2006 floods at Mount Rainier and their long-term implications. The article focuses mainly on the flood damage and its relation to climate change, but also in several places mentions our volunteer efforts in rebuilding.

The magazine has a section on their website for Mount Rainier, but to read the article, you'll need to pick up the magazine in the store or at your library. Here's an exerpt:

Paul Kennard, Rainier's geomorphologist, or river specialist, speaks with a scientist's detatched calm about the guillotine suspended over Mt. Rainier National Park. He sees debris flows more frequently now--about four a year for the past five years--and says conditions are ripe for a cataclysmic flood. But his biggest worry isn't a flood so much as what researchers don't yet understand: namely, how bad the storms may get, and how soon they'll arrive.