October 10, 2008, Muir Snowfield
10/10/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2825
3
After chatting with Silas Friday night and finding he was headed north, Debbie & I decided that might be too much walking and opted to head south.
It turned out to be a pretty good decision.
Ice on the road up to Paradise and a brisk start to the day. We managed to stay above the low clouds. Lots of ice on the path to Alta Vista and again on the rock stairs where the snow starts to collect in drifts. Once past Pebble Creek and onto the "permanent" snow, we found a decent amount of wind-worked snow which was soon plenty deep enough to ski. Winds increased a fair bit and since they were from the ENE, we hunkered down by the McClure bulge as a turn-around point rather than traverse over to tag camp Muir.
Skiing down: The first few hundred feet elevation were wind scoured with a healthy ice layer showing here and there. This layer made booting a bugger in places when it was too thick to stomp through. The next ~1,500 ft elevation had probably an average of 6-8". It wasn't fluffy, but it was very cold and isn't about to melt out too soon if the weather remains the way it was today. It felt more like February up there. Shared the day with two boarders, two other skiers, and a small handful of climbers. Not a bad October option at all.
-Dave R
It turned out to be a pretty good decision.
Ice on the road up to Paradise and a brisk start to the day. We managed to stay above the low clouds. Lots of ice on the path to Alta Vista and again on the rock stairs where the snow starts to collect in drifts. Once past Pebble Creek and onto the "permanent" snow, we found a decent amount of wind-worked snow which was soon plenty deep enough to ski. Winds increased a fair bit and since they were from the ENE, we hunkered down by the McClure bulge as a turn-around point rather than traverse over to tag camp Muir.
Skiing down: The first few hundred feet elevation were wind scoured with a healthy ice layer showing here and there. This layer made booting a bugger in places when it was too thick to stomp through. The next ~1,500 ft elevation had probably an average of 6-8". It wasn't fluffy, but it was very cold and isn't about to melt out too soon if the weather remains the way it was today. It felt more like February up there. Shared the day with two boarders, two other skiers, and a small handful of climbers. Not a bad October option at all.
-Dave R
That there is " first tracks". Yeaaah. Good job!
Thanks Dave. Looks awesome.
Thanks for loaning Silas out to us. We coddled him along OK. He was kind of cranky - probably better you didn't spend the day with him. ;D
Good job finding the snow! There's more coming - I feel it in my knees.
Good job finding the snow! There's more coming - I feel it in my knees.
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