Home > Trip Reports > November 26, 2002, Camp Muir

November 26, 2002, Camp Muir

11/26/02
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3934
5
Posted by Amar Andalkar on 11/26/02 7:40am
With the freezing level back up to 11000 ft, the Muir Snowfield was in great shape today (considering the lack of snowfall), with nice snow, no sastrugi, and minimal runnels.  The temperature inversion is very strong right now, it was in the 30's for the whole drive from Seattle to Longmire, but rose rapidly to 48 degrees at Paradise at 10am.  I skinned from the parking lot, with only 3-6" of packed snow on the paved trails.  The skis went on the pack at the first sharp right on the trail at 6600 ft below Pan Point, and stayed there to Pebble Creek (the trail has several bare sections on this part, the rest is firm packed and easily walkable).  I skinned from the middle of the creek at 7200 ft (no running water now) up to Camp Muir by 2pm, on nicely softening snow the whole way.

It was quite comfy at Muir, minimal wind, and despite some high clouds to the south, visibility was over 150 miles (Mt Jefferson was easily seen).  Skied down at 2:45pm, the snow had softened a bit even up at 10000 ft.  Good to excellent snow all the way to Pebble Creek, 1/2" to 2" of softened snow over a firm base, and some corn was even forming on steeper south-facing aspects.  From 7200 to 6600 ft, the snow on the westerly aspects had not softened much, and I needed 5 short carries to cross the bare sections.  From 6600 ft to the parking lot, the snow was continuous (almost not in places) but quite solid and barely softened (or maybe the snow was refreezing since it was 3:30pm).  All in all it was a great day, with super weather and 4500 skiable vertical, 2800 of which was high quality snow.  Do this trip soon, the next week of forecasted warm weather may melt out numerous areas.

I only saw 3 other skiers all day, all of whom were solo.  Which got me thinking: why not have a "Planned Trips" area on this bulletin board, where people could post their plans and try to meet partners.  It might help reduce the number of times that separate solo skiers all head to the same destination.  It could be divided into an "Urgent" section (for trips within the next week) and also separate monthly sections for about 6 months in the future.  The long-term sections would make it easier to find partners for bigger spring and summer trips (for example, a Rainier circumnavigation or Cascades volcano-hopping trip).  Posting a planned trip to a bulletin board seems to be more productive than sending out mass emails to all your ski acquaintances.  Anyway, just a thought I had today while skinning up all alone.  What do people (especially Charles) think about this idea?

Amar

Amar, it sounds like you made a good call for turns. I had thought about Muir and decided that there might not be enough warming up above Pebble Creek, but clearly I was wrong about that. I was also feeling lazy and hoping to drive to skiable snow - it is late November, after all.

I think that is a great idea about a ski partners board. I'll have to think about what might be the best way to structure it, for ease of use and maintenance. Does anyone else have suggestions?

Wow.  Thanks Amar.
You just might have saved my bacon for Sunday.
I was considering skipping a ski attempt this weekend but now I might just give it a shot.

And I DO like your ski partners match up board idea.
Charles, it doesn't see like it has to be too complicated... maybe just another section ("Planned Trips - Matchup" ?) with the planned destination and date at the beginning of each new thread.
Maybe put it under "Random Tracks"??

Thanks again, Amar.

Great idea Amar!

Well, let me be the first to look for some ski partners-

During the winter I live at Alpental and would like to find partners for bc trips in the Area on Mondays.  I work nights (5pm-2-3am), so it's pretty hard for me to get up early any day other than Monday, and Alpental is closed anyways Mondays (during the rest of the week I pull myself up when I can and hit the lifts).

So, anybody that wants to tour Mondays with me is very welcome.  Last year I went solo too many times or skipped it.  Send me a pm here or email at alpentalcorey "at" yahoo.com.

p.s. my living quarters are *very* modest but when it is open (and time permitting) I have access to an outdoor heated pool for apres ski relaxation.

In light of the overwhelming demand ;), I set up a "Planned Trips - partners wanted" board in Hot Air (I deleted the "Test posts" board which seemed like a useful idea but wasn't being used). I think a single board might be easiest to browse and manage, but if it turns out a different arrangement would be better, I can easily make changes.

The management issue I foresee is dealing with expired threads. It doesn't seem like there is any real reason to keep posts past their effective date, as they will just clutter up the active (future date) posts. I guess I will plan on periodically deleting the expired threads. How does that sound?

alpentalcorey, could you copy your post over to the new board? If I do it, there won't be an active link to your PM address.

Way cool, Charles.
It should be very helpful.

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november-26-2002-camp-muir
Amar Andalkar
2002-11-26 15:40:43