June 26, 2005, MRNP - Camp Muir

I left my house by 7am and the weather did not look too promising.  I drove under overcast skies, clouds, and eventually fog by the time I arrived in the Paradise parking lot.  Lot was a quarter full and littered mostly with climber types.  I got my gear together and set off from 5400ft at 9am thinking that I will eventually punch through this dense layer.  Temperatures felt like the mid 50's.  Along with a breeze it made the hike real comfortable.  Within a mile or so and 800ft from the lot I punched through and the sun came out.  Rainier still remained partially obscured but glimpses could be seen as the clouds moved by.  By the time I topped Pan Pt just about all clouds had disappeared, with a few still lingering in the distance.  Now I had an unobstructed view of the mountain and the area ready for harvest.

By 11am I found myself just above Pebble Creek basking in the sun half slumber, staring at the sea of clouds and prominant peaks poking through.  After a nice half hour break I traded the tennis shoes for boots and started skinning from 7200ft.  Overall the snow was soft with tolerable suncups mixed with boot tracks.  I hugged some rock bands where the snow was a bit smoother but dirty.  Continuing to skin I ventured climbers left of the snowfield and found snow ranging primarly from corn to old faceted.  Depth varied to.  Anywhere from a couple inches on firm base to foot plus where rotted.  By the time I reached 9000ft the snow started to show signs of a soft crust.  All I have to say is thanks for the lone, abandoned glissade track.  It provided a fast, smooth highway and alternative to the chuncky and chewy.  Also the shade provided, from time to time, by passing clouds made the last push more enjoyable.

By 1:30pm I arrived at Camp Muir.  I only saw one boarder (non-split) and half-dozen skier types.  That's all I could pick out from the mass of climbers.  Well one of those skiers happened to be skiveen.  Like you said Scott its always nice to put a name to a face as well as meeting a fellow TAYer.  On the way up I could not help to notice how the cloud deck seemed to be creeping up.  First filling the Nisqually Basin and slowly up the snowfield.  I converted my split and along with skiveen and his boarder and skier friend headed for the clouds.  We stopped within the first couple hundred feet to comment on the snow.  Better than groomers I thought.  However skiveen did notice the soft crust.  It's all good.  Harvest on!  The ride was just like any other.  Same brush, different stroke, and an everchanging canvas.  Between the corn and deep mush it all carved like butta in June.  All but the last couple hundred feet where I entered the clouds.  Snow became sticky and gravity alone was not enough to get me back to my tennis shoes.  I actually had to do some work. >:( ;)

Overall a great day with 4800ft of climbing and 3000ft of descent.  I can hang my hat on that.  On the hike out it was the usual.  Plants, animals, and tourist are in full bloom. ;D