March 17, 2005, St Pattys on the Muir Snowfield

Day 36
St Patty's Day on The Muir Snowfield, Mt Rainier
3-17-05
Via the Winter Descent/Ascent route
Highpoint: 9,000'
Paradise parking lot: 5,450'
=> 3,550 VF skiing
Snow: Paltry 49'' with 9'' new at the stake at Paradise

Ron and I were itching to use our new guns.  We had a couple weeks left until California and neither of us had broken the plastic on 'End of the Season' sale snowboards.  I had a new 68 Canyon (the Workhorse - a great wide-board for Snoqualmie Pass untracked and winter powder fun - all for a whopping $196) and Ron sported a crisp 66 Custom, made to suit his style perfectly.   But where to go to try the new rigs without destroying them - that was the question.

The Winter of Our Discontent continues in the PNW and top to bottom skiing at the Pass has come and gone it seems, so low routes are out (March 17th birthday descent - still technically 'winter' - and it's over!?!  Ehh gads what a poor snow year) winter gate enforcement blocks other options.  We fall back on our short list of choices for a spring descent: Adams, Shuksan, Glacier or Baker.  Each for different reasons fall by the wayside until we are left with Adams.  So Adams it is.  On March 16th, at least, that was the plan.  

We were all set to go to the Gentle Giant when work took a crapper on my 'out-at-5pm'plans and I need to run product over the mountains to a storage unit 4 hours away. Mother Nature had a surprise of her own as it started to snow as I left Seattle and found the Pass closed upon my return.  

I tried to sleep in the cab of the work truck - all of my gear in a snowboard bag next to me - waiting for the traffic ahead of me to start to move.  I had been on the side of the road since 10 pm with miles of traffic ahead and behind, idling; thankfully I had my jacket and gear for a bivouac.  I hoped those around me were so fortunate.  I turned off the engine and drifted off to sleep.  At 12:30 am the trucks around me begin to move.  Shaking the sleep out of my eyes and we're away - off to Kent!

At 2:30 am I leave my office, the box truck safely returned and my snowboard bag now happily in the back of the Ranger I had used to drive over from Yakima.  It was a crappy little 4-banger but it had a topper and that elevated it to sleeping quarters right nicely.  The 1 1/2; hour trip down to Longmire was super appreciated - a Volcano so close!?! The giddiness turns to white knuckles as nearing the entrance to MRNP the rain changes to snow.  

The night on Snoqualmie Pass was no local fluke - winter has briefly returned to the PNW.  Snowline had dropped to 2,000' - a harbinger of good snows up high.  Unfortunately I did not have my big rig, with its comfortable studded snow tires, and the last 3 miles from the entrance gate of MRNP to Longmire on the two lane road climbing from 2,500' => Longmire in the Bald Ranger was no fun at all.  By the time it ended Longmire had about 6'' on the ground and at 4:30 am none if that was plowed.   I skidded my way into the Longmire Lodge parking lot and shut her down for the night, crawling into my bivy sack for 2 1/2; wonderful hours of sleep.

At 7 am the brilliant white of new snow woke me and I listened to the lodge employee shovel the sidewalk.  I dress quickly and as I raise the canopy, Ron pulls up in the studded snow tired rock star 4wd Element - ahhh, luxury for the ride to Paradise.

Breakfast at the Longmire Lodge was a marked departure from our usual 6 am routine on Snoqualmie.  We assembled at a table by the window and enjoyed an empty room, even until 9 am.  The other guests where still snug in their beds it seems.  Ron and I savor a fine spread with all the fixings and we spaced our hour+ long meal with bottomless coffee, $1 telephone calls to the outside world on the lodge's payphone, the Seattle Times and Mount Rainier National Park paraphernalia.  Soon the Gift Shoppe would be open (10 am) and still the gate wouldn't budge.

We couldn't stand it any longer.  I suggested we pack and we entertained ourselves for 15 minutes while that chore was completed.  Around three other parties also waited, and the feel of a very low-key tailgate party ensued.  It was, after all, St Patrick's Day even though it was a Thursday.  Ron and I were just glad to have the good fortune of not working.  A grumpy old man, who we bonded to instantly, chatted us up and brought out the Frisbee for a little toss.

And we waited.

Then, like a Coo-Coo Clock soldier, a Ranger in his Ranger Truck appears and opens the gate at the crack of 10:30 pm.  A mad rush for cars ensues and we're all on the way to the goods.  The 6'' in the lot slowly builds in altitude, and the access road actually sports a snow bank again.  The Paradise Rally snakes its way to the beautifully snowplowed and underused Paradise parking lot and thanks to all the time spent in the Longmire parking lot preparing, we're out on the Skyline trail at the alpine-start time of 11 am.

Travel is a little slow.  

In my haste to pack for Adams, which I assumed would receive 3-6'' and suffer from freeze-thaw-freeze syndrome, I had not packed my snowshoes.  This was a vital, but thankfully not disabling, error.  The Muir route was also woefully corned up and the subsurface below the new snow was bomber sun and wind pack, easy travel even with boots only, but ever so tiresome when trying to balance.  Lucky or unlucky the new snow only amounted to 9'' and I rarely posthole.  Interestingly, there was also less snow predicted the higher we climbed so, in theory, my woes should improve.

The climbers and skiers scattered out on the mountain, and quickly the weather deteriorated.  Soon we were following a single pair of skiers up the ridge, and they certainly knew where they were going, negotiating their route to find continuous snow on the rocky rib, sometimes well away from the wanded NPS route.  Their tracks certainly helped as visibility was very poor.  

Slowly, as we climbed, the sun began to make appearances in the mist.  Higher we climbed and sunnier it became.  Anvil Rock began to appear out of the mist and Muir appeared above us beckoning in the Sun.  Oh! Should we go for it?

4 pm.  When we had left the parking lot we tentatively made 4 pm our turn around time, and now upon us, my body rejoiced as it had had enough with its lack of sleep, too little water and the semi-post holing of the past 5 hours.  

Now I got to strap on the new ride!

As it seems with the Muir snowfield, the higher you go, the worse the snow, and the Canyon's first turns where not Grade A.  A shallow 4'' new blanket did its best to hide the wind-effected mess of some of the sections of the snowfield, but the sun and the winddrift turns made up for it.

The interesting turns of the upper snowfield soon gave way to more adventurous conditions as we entered the Tempest below 8,500' - wind, snow and fog enveloped the mountain seemingly like we had entered a raging ring of Saturn.  We were well above tree line and as the snow picked up and the fog grew denser, horizon lines soon disappeared.  Skiing became a joke.  Well, no, not a joke, quite serious really, and both Ron and I knew it.

We would leap frog each other until we couldn't see one another, usually only a 100 yards or less, stopping at the conveniently placed NPS wands marking the route when we could.  When I can see anything - rocks, boulders, ridgelines, etc - I found myself staring at it until I would loose my balance as the terrain changed underneath me. Vertigo took over and I would tumble into the snow.  We repeated this process on shorter and shorter cycles until 50 yard laps were all Ron and I could muster. We make a wrong turn somewhere and are aimlessly cruising left and right looking for the up track.  We couldn't go any further.  We decided to turn around and head back up.

5 pm and darkness is descending, and we're going back up. In a white out.  A few very tense moments ensue that in retrospect make me love Mountaineering more but at the time shorten my life by a decade.  

We drudge back up the 200 vertical and - HAPPY! - we manage to find the up track we skied past.  We happily skip our way back down the boot pack without putting on our boards.  Not yet.   We were too scared to loose the track again in the fog and daylight was fading fast.  After about 300 vertical we left the snowing clouds and it became clear enough to ski so we donned boards once again and continued our descent.  This was a great delight as the snow had improved markedly and speed was of the essence.  Neither of us wanted to break the headlamps out.  

The section above Panorama point proved to be the crux of the route and the Christening (or Bris?) for our new snowboards as rocks protruded all over the winter ascent/descent route.  We ski the steep chute in fairly descent snow, yet the lack of coverage wrecks havoc on my new base- but at least Mt Rainier broke her in.  

The skiing below Panorama Point is nearly euphoric.  The sun has long set yet I easily negotiate the terrain I begin to recognize.  And the snow continued to improve until just above the parking lot I'm dancing in the glades of Christmas trees that usually are buried under 10 feet of snow.  

We ski right to the car and find we're the only ones in the lot.  

What an adventurous day!