February 25, 2006, Mt. Rainier - Muir

Skinned up from Paradise in mostly cloudy conditions.  Snow down low was quite decent on the track up and we were optimistic about finding something to ski.  Since neither of us had bothered to skin up Muir before, we did so.  A stiff wind out of the west kicked up a decent ground blizzard at times, and the snowfield is predictably hardpack with minor sastrugi developing.  We turned around at about 9300 due to decreasing visibility.  The ski down required some thought but was not difficult.

Down low we searched for some runs to lap.  It was quite difficult to locate good steep slopes which had not been affected by a significant sun crust.  The crust was very closely tied to aspect.  If you could avoid the crust, the snow was very good!  We found west->northwest slopes providing the best combination of uncrusted snow and stability.

If anyone finds a Dynafit TLT comfort ski brake up on the Muir snowfield, it is mine.  It fell off while skiing.  Apparently I need a ski brake for my ski brake.