March 29, 2016, Camp Muir
3/29/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3331
3
Headed up to Camp Muir on Tuesday to get as much sun...and as much wind as possible while the snow was still "good". Ok it's Muir snowfield, I expected the snow to be windblown and crusted. And it was, going up at least. Met Glen at the trailhead and since we were both alone we decided to keep an eye on each other. Turns out we were the only skiers to Muir. A couple others turned around just past Pan point, and coming down we passed some climbers heading to Muir for the night. Pretty calm even for a weekday. The wind on the other hand wasn't calm. It was howling from Pan Point onward. We got into a decent groove past Pebble Creek where the wind decreased slightly and wasn't head-on any longer. Anvil Rock to Muir was gusty and swirly with wind coming from all directions and snow spinning around us.
The snow was a breakable crust going up towards Pan Point. The face got pretty icy. I opted to boot-pack up the top half as I kept almost falling. Above Pan was a icy with sections of soft snow blown over the ridge from the northeast. There was enough soft transported snow heading the rest of the way to Muir that had me excited for the descent.
On the descent I wasn't disappointed. It was less lumpy that I expected, and the parts that were lumpy were still fairly soft and forgiving. It was basically all soft until Pebble Creek to McClure rock, where it was still icy. McClure face was soft and buttery and un-tracked. Glen and I double-helixed our way down the face, kept our speed up to make it over the little bumps. In the lower meadows the snow was a bit heavy, but not too deep.
Climb up was 4.25 hours. Ski down was about an hour at most.
, on Flickr
, on Flickr
, on Flickr
, on Flickr
The snow was a breakable crust going up towards Pan Point. The face got pretty icy. I opted to boot-pack up the top half as I kept almost falling. Above Pan was a icy with sections of soft snow blown over the ridge from the northeast. There was enough soft transported snow heading the rest of the way to Muir that had me excited for the descent.
On the descent I wasn't disappointed. It was less lumpy that I expected, and the parts that were lumpy were still fairly soft and forgiving. It was basically all soft until Pebble Creek to McClure rock, where it was still icy. McClure face was soft and buttery and un-tracked. Glen and I double-helixed our way down the face, kept our speed up to make it over the little bumps. In the lower meadows the snow was a bit heavy, but not too deep.
Climb up was 4.25 hours. Ski down was about an hour at most.
, on Flickr
, on Flickr
, on Flickr
, on Flickr
Interestng, Crystal Mt resort had virtually no wind all day and was very warm, and good skiing.
Was there enough coverage to ski down to the nisqually brideg?
Up there yesterday; there's plenty coverage to the bridge.
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