Home > Trip Reports > November 8, 2014, Camp Muir

November 8, 2014, Camp Muir

11/8/14
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
35196
14
Posted by silaswild on 11/8/14 12:41pm
No freeze last night made for easy walking and skinning today.  The 930am konga line of 60 enjoyed great corn sliding.  New friends were made and old ones renewed as we all got stoked for the coming season.  Better than a ski movie!  Thanks Amar for the caffeinated chewy Honey Stingers and Christophe for the double shot expresso that drove me to Muir.

*added the content back - sorry for the glitch Silas* - Marcus
As always, it's good to know you went skiing today.

"I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners."
~The Stranger--Big Lebowski

author=alpine-earth link=topic=32619.msg136323#msg136323 date=1415510142]
As always, it's good to know you went skiing today.




I was there to witness it!

author=silaswild link=topic=32619.msg136320#msg136320 date=1415508065]


The number of words in that post is diametrically opposed to the number of people on the snowfield yesterday.

It was a really nice day!  Cool sunset too.

Great day! Made even better running into so many friends thinking the same way...

Video from Saturday...
http://thesnowtroopers.com/2014/mt-rainier-wa-nisqually-november-corn-harvest/



The parking lot at Paradise looked like a Saturday at Summit Central but the 250+ like minded skiers did spread out as the day went on.
Great day to be skiing. Snow was great from top to bottom.

author=The Snow Troopers link=topic=32619.msg136374#msg136374 date=1415650170]
Great day! Made even better running into so many friends thinking the same way...

Video from Saturday...
http://thesnowtroopers.com/2014/mt-rainier-wa-nisqually-november-corn-harvest/



It was a great day on the hill. Lots of smiles.

I gotta ask the collective, and not as a call out, but to sincerely be aware of best practices and etiquette...
My group ascended the snowfield with the intent to check out and hopefully ski the chutes. We ended up getting there after this group and ultimately decided against decending the chute, for a number of reasons. But the primary one was safety, to not ski down on top of these guys, as the group was boot packing up the gut for a second lap.
I know it's early season, there are limited options, and like I said it was still an awesome day. But is "first come, first (and potentially only) served" the law of the land on such a line at this time in the season?

Cheers!

Hello MattT,
I apologize for being one of your determining factors (for not dropping in) and respect your decision making, as I was one of the bootpackers.
We went up for a second run, knowing full well, that there would be others coming, (We invited a few to join us, after they skied the AA chute), conditions were safe to do so.
I wish that I would have seen you guys up at the top. Had I of, I would have surely communicated to drop it. Conditions were prime for boot packing, and we could have been to a safety in seconds.
How low in the chute were We?

Conditions in the chute are filling in, a bit of a rock dodge getting down to the flats, and a fairly easy 20 min exit hike to below Pan.

I'd be grateful if the owners of Muir snowfield would clearly state what are best practices and etiquette.     

Regardless of perceived conditions, the climber should choose the route safest for his ascent... which should minimize the chance of being subjected to unforeseen hazards from above... including those which may be human-caused, from skiers less aware or courteous than MattT.

Plenty of space in that thing for two parties if they're positioned correctly. Being in the gut for any prolonged amount of time is questionable, IMHO... and is reasonable cause for frustration of fellow enthusiasts. 

$.02

WAIT!!  I gotta go get some popcorn.

author=shred link=topic=32619.msg136427#msg136427 date=1415810098]
I wish that I would have seen you guys up at the top. Had I of, I would have surely communicated to drop it. Conditions were prime for boot packing, and we could have been to a safety in seconds.
How low in the chute were We?


Appreciate the reply Shred.
You were about 1/3-1/2 up. It sounds like there would have been room, and I had indeed been eyeing the skiers left. But with the early season converge I wasn't sure if your group was moving up the chute for a reason (that I couldn't see from up top).

Communication between our groups would surely have been preferred. And perhaps that's really gets to my intent here to learn how to best navigate this situation in the future. Should I have hollered down? What would be the correct hand signals(s) for "heads up! move if necessary! we are gonna drop in!"?

author=Norseman link=topic=32619.msg136435#msg136435 date=1415842262]
Regardless of perceived conditions, the climber should choose the route safest for his ascent... which should minimize the chance of being subjected to unforeseen hazards from above... including those which may be human-caused, from skiers less aware or courteous than MattT.

Plenty of space in that thing for two parties if they're positioned correctly. Being in the gut for any prolonged amount of time is questionable, IMHO... and is reasonable cause for frustration of fellow enthusiasts. 


Thanks Norse, more good stuff. Considering the popularity of this line...care to educate (me included!) on what correct positioning could be for multiple groups here? I've never considered booting back up, just ascending the eastern slopes.


Hold the popcorn. On top of the skiing, drinking beer and taking in the view from the snowfield still made for a great day.
Ski long and prosper.

I claim no authority to educate... so please take this post only as a polite suggestion.

Here's my personal opinion on this zone, illustrated with a photo from the glorious corn daze of last January (sorry, my only recent photo only had a partial view of the chute).

Most folks enter the line from the top (solid red), then disperse into the body of the chute and ski mostly within the dotted red perimeter.
If I were comfortable enough with the conditions to ponder ascending, I'd take something like the green dotted line, preferring to start up the convex middle lobe and skirting the chute on climber's right, keeping out from under most ski traffic and rockfall from the large cliffs on climber's left.

The yellow and blue regions denote where I would feel comfortable in the main chute, if another party were in the other color.

Of note here if one looks closely: proto-moguls in the upper main chute, skin track climbing far looker's right chute, rocks and debris in the gut.


As already noted it was a good day on the hill - a couple pics to contribute: the gang up at Muir and the sunset after the hike out.

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2014-11-08 20:41:05