Home > Trip Reports > November 1, 2009, Mt. Rainier, Muir Snowfield

November 1, 2009, Mt. Rainier, Muir Snowfield

11/1/09
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
6019
11
Posted by Charlie Hagedorn on 11/1/09 3:44pm
Beautiful day, lots of people out. ~1-2" of new from Paradise upward added powdery zamboni shavings to the edgeable skating rink. Many folks (myself included) turned around at Moon Rocks, as most everything above appeared to be (and sounded like) blue ice. Best turns in the big snowfield above Pebble Creek. Usual wind deposition zones were the key to mostly-scratch-free turns down from Moon Rocks.

Second photo is of an unknown skier taking the boldest line of the day off the Pebble Creek windlip - he finished the turn nicely.
The unknown skier is my son Peter who does like the bold lines.
Photo attached of him skiing in the drift below the small cornice on the Nisqually side. The other photo shows the skating conditions at Moon Rocks.
Beautiful day though and it was possible to link turns in soft snow almost all the way from Moon Rocks to Pebble Creek.
Youtube of the first skiers to head across to a little soft snow:

http://www.youtube.com/user/freightrainer#p/a



That youtube clip of "savvy" skiers is our group.

Beautiful day up there with some "interesting" moments on those ice patches.

Nice 3rd pic, trumpetsailor.  That was our group enjoying the scenery on the way down.

The wind deposits and weather helped save an otherwise too icy day.

Lots of ice, but there were some nice patches too.  Those of us that made it all the way up didn't gain any better turns, but got lots of practice skinning up ice. I saw a bunch of people bite it on the ice (myself included).  My skinning technique is now greatly improved!

author=Clarence link=topic=14339.msg60025#msg60025 date=1257185673]
Lots of ice, but there were some nice patches too.  Those of us that made it all the way up didn't gain any better turns, but got lots of practice skinning up ice. I saw a bunch of people bite it on the ice (myself included).  My skinning technique is now greatly improved!


Yep, that was some hard ice. See what it did to my ski crampon.

Yes, very icy day. Here's a couple more pics...

author=PNWBrit link=topic=14339.msg60018#msg60018 date=1257179431]
That youtube clip of "savvy" skiers is our group.

Beautiful day up there with some "interesting" moments on those ice patches.


Yup that looks like us.
Fun day, long walk.

Concur that conditions were pretty good skiers left from about 9200 feet down to near Pebble Creek.  There were huge patches of hard ice mixed in with nice snow patches-  never skied back east, but I imagine an east coast skier would have felt right at home on Sunday.  No wind to speak of and the sun was out in full force which is always a plus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DTtyaND1oM

author=Scotsman link=topic=14339.msg60026#msg60026 date=1257187787]
Yep, that was some hard ice. See what it did to my ski crampon.


I appreciate the graph paper used for scale and perspective...

I think he was just trying to prove that he really was at the office.

What are these "ski crampons" that you mercans speak of so often? ;D

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november-1-2009-mt-rainier-muir-snowfield
Charlie Hagedorn
2009-11-01 23:44:27