November 3, 2013, Muir Snowfield

Decided to see what cold temps and winds dropped in the park.  New snow indeed and slick roads up to Paradise.  Gate at Longmire stayed closed till about 11:00 am+.  Rangers had chain check in several places. Got to the lot and started uphill right away.  Chris and I met several other folks along the way but ended up being the only ones continuing uphill to the upper playground. Winds were pretty big. Temps were cold and sandblasting was well underway.  Depressions in the lee held spectacular stashes while scrubbed surfaces were ideal for downhill curling.  Visibility was in and out but continued to vacillate rather than deteriorate. On the upper snowfield we had good viz. Crampons for skis helped get through some large patches.  Did a few carries through scoured boneyards and icy ramps. Exit out allowed us to ski to the lot. Yup€¦ I'll be melting plastic shortly to fill in was taken out. We started our descent from moon rocks and had delicious turns on the upper portion. Didn't see anyone else up high as we broke trail.  Saw an unfortunate subaru wagon with a split board in the ditch on the way down from Paradise€¦ hope the turns were better and a happy ending ensued for them. Nice to finally see the big dawg open again for a zip and rip.