October 20, 2012, Muir Blizzard

after a night of heavy drinking, got a late start with Paul (a TAY lurker) to the Paradise parking lot, with the aim of pushing through the blizzard to have a few brews and sleep in the hut. arriving at the parking lot, i discovered i had left my shells at home. Felt like Rick Perry. Decided to go for it in my windstopper tights and a value village soft shell. not as bad as one might think! Parking lot had a few inches of new. Hiked up to above pan point in strong winds, cold temps, knee-deep drifts, and low visibility. With cold hands, increasing winds, decreasing visibility, and waning light, we tentatively decided to keep pushing on. Then I heard a shout, and we met Gerhart - a solo TAYer, while he was on his way down. Said he turned around below camp muir, with icy conditions, and even more savage winds than we were struggling in. He said his glasses were fogged/iced, and then the wind and cold caused his eyelids to almost freeze shut. And white-out induced vertigo. Solid effort! Taking his word for it, we turned around. Got some skins-on turns, and was able to skin all the way back to the car from below pan point. Snow was sticking below Longmire. Feels like summer just ended the other day...