June 16-17, 2001, Mt. Rainier

The last two weekends were for my daughter's HS graduation (yeah, Carrie!). So I visited Rainier twice this weekend (day trips). On Saturday KevinG and I climbed the Interglacier to Steamboat Prow and looked down on Schurman. The first 200vf were awful (trap crust unsoftened due to wind on that aspect), but away from the wind we found a corridor close to Mt. Ruth with good corn. Before descending we visited the summit of Ruth (BryanS and party were there), but choose not to ski Ruth due to lack of snow. The crevasses on the IG were where they always are and were not as threatening as I feared they might be (low snow pack). It helped to follow recent tracks. Of course, we were aware of the risk. BTW only one party of climbers used a rope on the IG (they may have been the smart ones amidst all us dummies and pollyannas). On Sunday I skied to Camp Muir 'by myself' (right!). There was a cloud band from the base of Pan Point to Pebble Creek, coming and going. I've skied Muir innumerable times (OK, a lot) and this may have been the best ever, at least from Muir to Pebble Creek. Lovely corn. Few other skiers both days. Hey, it's not over yet!

BrentH