August 23, 2012, Mt. Rainier, Muir Snowfield

I'm pretty new to trying my hand at this late summer skiing thing, and in-so-far the Muir Snowfield has been my default for summer turns. The snowfield is still ski-able, though it was suncupped and dirty the whole way from Camp Muir to Pebble Creek, and some of the areas of sun cup troughs up near muir were 2-3 feet deep and were pretty gnarly to deal with, especially after the hike up. There are a few smoother sections where I was able to get some nice turns in though, where the suncups were only lightly present. The snow itself was tricky too, slushy on top of ice, mixed with dirt and p-tex-eating rocks (most of which are avoidable, since they seem to travel in packs), though it changed from section to section just as much as the suncups did. 
Due to the clouds that day I kept close to the wanded bootpack and glissades on my way down as not to get lost in the haze. I wasn't able to explore too broadly across the snowfield for better patches of snow.
I didn't personally see any crevasses open yet immediately below Camp Muir (I've heard that can happen some years), though just over and above the camp there were a good few open wide, and there were plenty to be seen a few hundred yards to the west of the bootpack towards the Nisqually glacier.
Overall it was worth it to head up, for me. I enjoyed the ski down, even though it proved to be challenging due to how rough it was. Turning around before Muir might have been a good idea due to how big the suncups had become (more like sun-bathtubs filled with suncups) but I'm stubborn and decided that it was my goal, giant suncups or not.


Paradise is mostly free of snow, minus a few patches here and there.


The view from just before the panorama point switchbacks


Just above pebble creek is where the snow starts


Suncups for miles, literally.