Photo courtesy of Watts/Korsmo JV The construction team that was selected to build the Paradise Visitors Center, at an elevation of 5,400 feet, was the only one that proposed to work through the winter.

Twenty feet of snow, avalanches, floods, hungry bears and 10,000 daily visitors were among the challenges overcome by John Korsmo Construction and Watts Constructors to complete the Paradise Visitors Center in Mount Rainier National Park.

The team was the only company to propose working through the harsh winters, and by doing so it cut the schedule by eight months. For each of the hundreds of snowy days, the team of subcontractors and carpenters met outside the park in Ashford to caravan behind snow plows up the mountain to the job site to ensure the team arrived together safely.

The project is a combination of poured-in-place concrete and concrete masonry units, accented with window wall systems to take advantage of the natural light and views of the mountain.

An open-air truss system was constructed for a classroom where visitors learn about the outdoors, the early settlers who conquered the mountain, and those that were conquered by Mother Nature. A gift shop, restaurants and theater are all components of this structure, which was built to be used by the 1.5 million visitors that enter the park annually.