July 8, 2001, Camp Muir, Mt. Rainier NP

7 of us started up through the bare meadows on this warm, sunny day; 3 were headed to Camp Muir, and 4 to the Nisqually Chutes (see Ron's report above). I started with the contingent going to the chutes, but ended up at Camp Muir. Looking down the chute (only one had continuous snow) from the entrance, the top few hundred feet had too much rock exposure for me; the previous time I skied with Ron's group, I broke a rib, and I didn't want a repeat (or worse) performance. I was on my most technologically-advanced skis, Tuas from around 1990, which were "short and wide" when I bought them but have amazingly become "long and narrow" in the years since, and they didn't seem like the best choice for that run. Bailing from the chute run, I climbed up towards Muir, and met the last of the 3 Muir-direct contingent descending at 9500ft, having the time of his life on great snow. It was the first time he had ever been to 10,000ft, anywhere, and his first backcountry trip with so many continuous turns. I finished climbing to Muir and descended. The first 2000ft were excellent - fast, consistent, and quite smooth in the region to the west (skier's right) of the climber's boot tracks. From about 8000ft to Pebble Creek the increasingly wet surface layer became a bit "grabby", but was still well consolidated. From Pebble Creek to the Pan face trail there were 2 carries between snowpatches, and I just hiked the section. Below Pan Pt, however, it was possible to ski continuous snow most of the way back to the car, to along side of Alta Vista, wherein the opportunity arose to repeatedly answer the eternal question, "Did you make it all the way?".

Charles