September 19, 2004, Muir Snowfield, Mt. Rainier

Great pics Kam!  ;)  
Nice meeting/seeing several TAY folks up there yesterday!  
Awesome September freshies!  Pretty well tracked-up by now  ;)

--Chris

Nice shots Kam. Good seeing everyone on the hill. One thing I was wondering is where was the Skipster on such a fine day?

jj-
two words: Campylobacter jejuni.  You wouldn't have wanted me there, trust me.

What I want to know is what's with all the snow and visibility?  You didn't have to descend with a GPS?  
I mean, clear and deep is fine if you're into that kind of thing.  Me? I prefer fall skiing on Muir a little more crappish:
http://www.leang.com/kam/mountains/tr/mnt_rainier/muir_snowfield/##oct_12_03

http://www.leang.com/kam/mountains/tr/mnt_rainier/muir_snowfield/##october

Now those were trips!  It makes you appreciate them being over, quite unlike what it looks like you faced yesterday.  I guess it takes all kinds...

Just like I said, I knew there would be plenty of snow to play on!  Who would've ever thought it was September and let alone technically still Summer.  It felt more like fall.  2000+ vertical of fresh tracks.  Can't beat that for this time of year. ;D

Who says we have to wait till the lifts open?  Nice selection of pics, Kam!  Definitely a more memorable day on the traditional Muir Freshie Field!! ;)

nice mute grab

To all:
What a fantastic day! Who woulda thunk a gimp like me would make it to Camp Muir and ski 3000ft of freshies on two bum knees, only weeks after surgery? :)  Thank you everyone who was there! Please reply so I can figure out the TAY handles of everyone...

Silas, Ron, Jeanette...wow, missed you guys up in the sunshine at 9000ft.  It was a good day indeed (picture big smiles with racoon eyes).

See many of you on Mt. Hood soon!
~Lara

It was definitley an awsome day - could everyone who took photos yesterday on the trip to muir e-mail them to me?  I'll put them up on my webspace so everyone can download them.

spcmanspiff at gmail.com

thanks
-Eli

What a fun day: probably the first time I've ever spent as much time grinning and shaking hands on a tour as actually skiing. Conditions on the Muir were good enough so that I scooted back up for another helping, then followed various tracks through light-to-moderate snowfall and clouds down through the rock gardens below Pebble Creek to about 7000 feet (the final bits looked really ugly, but there was no one around to notice).  Not bad for September.

From my perspective, the only mystery involved the ever-elusive Ron Jarvis posse, which arrived around 9:00 to great fanfare and enthusiastic greetings, then was never seen again.  Usually when this happens it turns out that they were all out rampaging around on some secret slope which Ron alone knows how to find.  This time....I dunno.  Did they ever actually leave the parking lot?  Any witnesses?

Wow. Am I reading the wrong weather forecast? The forecast from NWS looked like there'd be very marginial visibility high on a volcano. How did you guys know you'd have good vis?

Jeffey

I can't speak for anyone else, but I merely took my best wild guess, camped out in the parking lot under the stars, woke to a spectacular sunrise, and (two cups of coffee later) started climbing.  Altogether I skied about 3000 feet in great visibility, plus another 1500 in moderate whiteout.  I think it helps to be willing to suffer immensely if you guess wrong.

the only mystery involved the ever-elusive Ron Jarvis posse, which arrived around 9:00 to great fanfare and enthusiastic greetings, then was never seen again.  Usually when this happens it turns out that they were all out rampaging around on some secret slope which Ron alone knows how to find.  This time....I dunno.  Did they ever actually leave the parking lot?  Any witnesses?

Yep, we snuck up there, 8) worked on our tans, and grabbed the freshies on a "secret" untracked (no boot tracks) slope and had a ball.  Nice to at least see everyone in the parking lot. Gosh that was one of the easiest September skis yet, made for good ego skiing.   ;D

How do you say it's a great start to the season if you ski all year?  Great to be up there, great to meet the faces behind the names.  I look forward to seeing al the pics.

Re. the weather--Like the mountain, sometimes we just make our own.  Ya hadda be there.
8)

for those interested, i've posted more photos.  please click here.  enjoy -kam

Thanks, Kam, Great pics.
Mark, you know we wouldn't hoard any secret stashes.

Sunday was my first outing with folks through TAY. What an introduction…what spectacular conditions, …what a great group!!
I am psyched to find this network of passionate skiers/riders.  

Eli, Lara, Greg, and Peter, I have photos to send your way,
&
I like the talk of going to Hood soon too...

Thanks again for such a blast!
~Matthew

What a fortuitous day to have been placed on my calendar. During September and October, I never know what the conditions will be like, just which day I’ll get to go ski. Jeff Renner called in a chit with the gods, apparently, because we had 8 inches of new snow to use last Sunday. Now, this wasn’t pow, but it beat the shit out of having the shit beat out of us by Muir’s infamous late season sun cups.

Lara P., Peter, Matthew and myself carpooled to Paradise, and were joined by Pro Guiding, friends Dodge and David. As well, we picked up a few TAY contingents,
Bill and Eli. (Eli got a great baptism to NW skiing, as he had just moved here from Connecticut the previous Sunday!) We arrived to a very high ceiling, with the sun threatening to shine. Alas, by the time we reached the Muir snout, we were in the typical all-encompassing shroud of fog we’re all familiar with. This stayed with us until about 5 minutes from Campo Muir; then, a sucker hole opened up. This being my first successful venture to that fine outpost, my group and I savored the sun prior to the descent. Along came Cam, Jimjar, SnoSlut, and a veritable plethora of the TAY tribe. However, this was a day of the more the merrier, as we all knew that 3000 ft. of newly lain vert awaited us. I’m guessing it’s not always easy to lay continuous tracks back to the snout during September, but we all did. As we skied down off the snowfield, the “Shroud Of Muir” re-enveloped the descent trail, and by the time we reached lower Pan Pt., it was dropping steady slushies from the heavens. Parking lot meant a downright slop-pour, as the omnipresent grins of the fortunate few to have outsuckered the suckerhole doffed the stinkies and donned the drys. There was unanimity in the feeling of luck we all had experienced this gracious September day. Let’s hope October brings equally excellent goods. Perhaps the rest of you will join us!

My pix weren't as nice as others, and I'm a technidiot, so can't figure out WTF to do to get them here. Others seem to tell the story, though. See you next month.

I found a Black Diamond liner glove on the route up to the Muir Snowfield, on 9/19/04 contact me if you lost one.