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Muir etc Feb 3

2/3/13
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
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Posted by myikat on 2/3/13 9:56am
What a difference a day makes. Dense fog to Pan Point and into the Nisqually mid chutes. Snow on the Muir snowfield was crisp with occasional tunable sections but some breakable crust . Checked out the Cowlitz but that was hard too so only dropped a few hundred feet as we were afraid the fog would roll in. Dropped into the chutes but got mid way down and couldn't see our skis much less tracks so booted back up and out thru a vertiginous whiteout. Sun was nice up hi but the temps never let the corn grow. Still beats a day in the cold Puget Sound marine layer but was not a great day of skiing.
Got a late start knowing that we missed "the day" on Saturday. Grey parking lot at 10am, went out towards Edith Creek and enjoyed views above the clouds all the way to Hood. Had lunch at 7000' beneath McClure Rock... no wind, bluebird, but cloud level was rising so we rode 500 feet on hard snow then stumbled back to the parking lot in a whiteout.

Still had fun.


At least you got above the cloud! What a difference a day makes. After all the fun Saturday, I KNEW that it would be the frozen nasty on Sunday - but went anyway. Lucky to not break a leg on frozen snow shoe holes in the fog.

Yeah, it was hard to motivate through the white-out but once you got above Pan Point, it was actually a really beautiful day. I thought the ski down was pretty fun too; smooth and fast. Winds were practically non-existent.

Splitboardist,

Nice picture - you have a good eye for composition.

"a vertiginous whiteout"

Dizzy  ;)

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2013-02-03 17:56:04