Home > Trip Reports > Nov 23, 2008, Muir Snowfield

Nov 23, 2008, Muir Snowfield

11/23/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
5757
9
Posted by Alaskier on 11/23/08 2:31pm
The Wife (ATbetty) and I left Kirkland at 7AM, thinking we would be one of the few to take advantage of the recently re-opened road to Paradise.  OK, clearly we live in our own little world.  When we arrived the the Paradise parking lot, it was already full of folks strapping on their skins, and heading up.  Lines of skiers were visible far up the route.  Obviously ski season is fast approaching, and people appear to be full on stoked.

We booted up to Pebble creek, but many others were skinning far below that.  We both have new boards, and so I was waiting for actual snow....the kind without rocks in it.  There was a fair bit of new from the lot, and by Pebble Creek, there was  around 6-8 inches of new.

It stayed cold and clear all day, with very little wind until the afternoon, and the snow was very dry and light.  We didn't get up to near Camp Muir until pretty late in the day, and turned around at about 9800.  Good thing too, cuz it was just about dark when we got back to the car.

The snow was phenomenal.  Really top notch.  There was a bit of drifting, so there were some hard patches, but the Pow was really superior stuff.  One note, the temp's stayed down well today, so I would expect tomorrow (weather permitting) should be pretty good as well.

Saw a lot of great turns from all the other folks, and added our own humble tracks.  Also saw several Kite boarders.  Sorry we didn't hang out to watch them go.  Bet it was cool. 

What a great day!?  This also marks my wife's first complete TAY!  Congrats to her for sticking it out.
Hey- It was great meeting you guys up there. This is Marc. I was the guy with the splitboard. Thanks again for the hand-warmers. I hope I get a chance to return the favor sometime, or at least buy you beer afterward.  I also included another post from yesterday with some photos attached to my flickr account. If you ever ski at Crystal, my band will be up there playing at the Snorting Elk Bar on Feb 13-14 & March 20-21 weekends.  Cheers-

Congratulations on a full year! 

It was more like the Muir Powderfield yesterday!  Sure were lots of good skiers and boarders up there.  We managed to find a nice swath of untouched pow since we were behind the big pack of folks headed for Camp Muir.  It was really nice skinning from the parking lot too!  I had to stop to pay my respects to the JVC on the way out, the demo is in progress.

Congrats on the 1st TAY,  Keep it goin!

author=marc link=topic=11298.msg46758#msg46758 date=1227545658]
Hey- It was great meeting you guys up there. This is Marc. I was the guy with the splitboard. Thanks again for the hand-warmers. I hope I get a chance to return the favor sometime, or at least buy you beer afterward.  I also included another post from yesterday with some photos attached to my flickr account. If you ever ski at Crystal, my band will be up there playing at the Snorting Elk Bar on Feb 13-14 & March 20-21 weekends.  Cheers-


Hi Marc,

Pleasure to meet you as well.  Glad the hand warmers helped.  My wife buys them in bulk.  What a great day that was!  Perfect snow, good company, great turns.  Ah.....back to work now.

I've found fall is the best time for getting powder on the muir snowfields. It really isn't as common as one would think.

BTW, you weren't the only one to get powder. I climbed to a few hundred feet below the top of shuksan and found powder all the way down the sulphide!!! I couldn't believe my luck. Funny thing is, after all that work, I had wondered if the muir snowfields would have snow, for much less the entrance fees (work). You've answered that!!!

Great stuff.

author=Jason_H. link=topic=11298.msg46775#msg46775 date=1227559749]
I've found fall is the best time for getting powder on the muir snowfields. It really isn't as common as one would think.

BTW, you weren't the only one to get powder. I climbed to a few hundred feet below the top of shuksan and found powder all the way down the sulphide!!! I couldn't believe my luck. Funny thing is, after all that work, I had wondered if the muir snowfields would have snow, for much less the entrance fees (work). You've answered that!!!

Great stuff.


I've been meaning to get up on the north side of Shuksan.  I've looked at it many times from Mt. Baker.  Now I'm sure i need to get up there.  Damn.....so many slopes, and this damn job just keeps getting in the way!  I need a bail out package from the fed, in order to subsidize my lifestyle choices.

How many more Rainier photos can we take? How about three...

Never have I seen so many people on the Muir Snowfield. Or maybe I have been lucky in the past and timed it just right. Seemed like I saw at least 125 skiers and only 6 snowshoers the entire day?

We left the lot at 9 a.m. and called 9k our high point. Had lunch and skied down to Pebble Creek and beyond.
Fun creamy turns all the way down with minimal frosty spots.

Hit the death cookie fest below pebble creek as we took line after line that sent us to 6500' with only a few carryovers.

Foxes in the lot?

I saw that fox-critter in the Paradise lot Monday around sunset and was wondering what he was.  Crazy looking bugger.

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nov-23-2008-muir-snowfield
Alaskier
2008-11-23 22:31:19