November 7-8, 2014, Muir Overnight

Had a mini-epic and learned the hard way the value of ski crampons. We left Paradise at 18:30 and were on snow by 19:30 but couldn't skin due to ice so put on crampons and booted up. Kept on slogging until 9200 and I hit the wall. My rad partner Jeff Steele and I agreed that the booting was not awesome, so we slipped down some awesome moonlit ice to 8100 where we dug an open bivy in a wind lip. This ended up being the best choice, however, since we had a insanely beautiful sunrise and were able to carve up the only soft snow on the whole snowfield before the parking lot parade got up. No winds, full moon, open bivy and clear skies made for a once in a lifetime overnight on Rainier for sure.