Fellow outdoor writer Craig Hill is on assignment at Paradise today and sent this image.

It should be a great weekend to go play at Mount Rainier National Park. The National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly sunny skies, with highs in the upper 30s through Monday.

Telemetry this morning puts the snowpack at 131 inches.

This morning, the park said traction tires were advised for the drive from Longmire to Paradise. All vehicles are required to carry snow chains.

Perhaps nobody will be more excited to turn the page on their calendar tonight than the staff at Mount Rainier National Park.

“I would say if there was one word to describe (how the staff is feeling) it would be ‘weary,’” said park volunteer and outreach manager Kevin Bacher. “I’ve heard so many people say, ‘I can’t wait for this winter to be over.’ ”

January has been one of the most tragic months in the 113-year history of the park, but it’s also had some incredible moments. But through the ups and downs it has been consistently emotional.

On …

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Checking the webcams at Paradise this morning, I came across this rather stunning scene, drifting snow blanketing the upper parking lot.

The Paradise area at Mount Rainier National Park has received more than 20 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours, bringing the on-the-ground total to 139 inches.

According to the park, the road from Longmire to Paradise is not expected to open before 11 a.m. today. The park’s snowplows have yet to make it to Paradise.

The road to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park opened at 8 a.m. for the first weekend since Jan. 14, when seven people became lost in severe storm conditions.

Three day hikers on snowshoes survived two frigid nights on the mountains, including two featured in today’s News Tribune, while two campers and two mountaineers still have not been found.

The search for the missing four is now considered a “extended, limited, continuous search,” but as many as eight park rangers are searching the Muir Snowfield today for signs of the people.

With the first large group …

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The National Park Service Incident Response Team organizing the search for four missing people on Mount Rainier has left the park, spokesman Kevin Bacher said this morning.

The incident command role has been turned over to Steve Winslow, a district ranger from Black Canyon National Park.

The search for two climbers and two campers more than 10 days overdue has been greatly scaled back. The park visitors were trapped in severe storm conditions on the mountain. It is so far unclear if searchers are taking advantage of good weather today to search.

Mark Vucich, 37, of San Diego and Michelle …

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UPDATED 10:29 A.M.

Mount Rainier National Park officials just announced the road to Paradise will remain closed at Longmire today.

The latest winter storm has brought 7-9 inches of new snow to Paradise, and more is expected today. The current National Weather Service forecast is calling for another 12-20 inches of snow today and tonight at Paradise.

Despite today’s closure, the park is planning for Paradise and the snowplay area to be open for the entire weekend, said Chief Ranger Chuck Young.

“The only thing that would prevent that would be if weather and snow is so extreme …

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UPDATE, Tuesday, 9:20 p.m. -

The chances of finding four missing people alive on Mount Rainier are “very minimal, minimum to none,” park spokesman Patti Wold said Tuesday.

Heavy snow and winds gusting faster than 90 mph prevented searching on Tuesday and the park decide Monday to start scaling down the search.

Missing are two campers and two climbers, both more than a week overdue. Mark Vucich, 37, of San Diego and Michelle Trojanowksi, 30 of Atlanta, planned to conclude their camping trip on the Muir snowfield on Jan. 15.

Sork Yang of Springfield, Ore., and Seol Hee Jin of …

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UPDATED 3:27 P.M.

Searchers have yet to find any sign of two groups of people stranded on Mount Rainier by the recent storms.

Park spokeswoman Patti Wold said the search crews have yet to return from the field, but they had not reported any findings.

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Two helicopters and a plane have joined 40 people on the ground as the search continues today for four people stranded on Mount Rainier for more than a week.

A break in the weather this morning has allowed a Chinook helicopter from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and a Bell 206 helicopter from …

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