February 21, Camp Muir

With the clear skies and uncertain snow conditions, we decided that we could do worse than join a few hundred of our best friends up at Paradise. The lot was dry when we arrived, so we assumed that there would be no car shenanigans going on while we were on the mountain. The mountain was busy! We usually get a little quiet by heading pu via Edith Creek, rejoining the fray below pan point, but it was all quite active. The climb to Pan Point was interesting - people were having all varieties of trouble, including the snowshoeing guy with the board on his pack who came tumbling and sliding down past us (he walked away from his fall  :)). It turned out that booting was pretty easy at this point, though.

Nary a cloud in the sky, so we took it easy and enjoyed the day, finally leaving the our perch on the rocks above Camp Muir at about 3:30. The trip down was easier and more fun that predicted - there was plenty of smooth firm "packed powder/styrofoam" for linked turns over near the rocks, and only a few areas where we couldn't avoid either ice or boot holes or funky wind features. Even the semi-breakable crust in the Edith Creek area skied quite well, providing just enough support that we all left dents, not holes, in the crust.

Eric - if you happen to see this, the new molding on the liners seemed to go quite well. There are still a few pressure points, but they felt better as the day progressed. I may come by to see if we can get a little more toeroom, but it was definitely a big improvement.

Surely one of the other few nundred oflks who were up there can post a photo or two (mine are still in the camera, with little hope of making it out for days).