October 27, 2006, Muir/Paradise Glacier
10/27/06
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3718
4
Steve and I went up the Muir Snowpatches to the base of Moon Rocks, crossed over to the Paradise Glacier, and skied down "Ron's Edge" before crossing back to the lowest Muir and skiing back to Pebble Creek. All of our skiing was above the clouds and whiteout, and the skiing below about 8500 feet was very good.
On the drive down it looked like "clearing from south to north" as forecast, but Paradise was in dense fog, which lasted to a little above Pebble Creek. There were a few inches of snow on the ground at Paradise, and this increased to 4-8 inches above Panorama Point, with lots of deeper drifts. Very slushy on the most of the trail. We started skinning just above Panorama Point, and were able to skin all the way to our crossover point to the Paradise Glacier, about 8900 feet. There was very interesting snow between 7000 and 8500 feet. The top inch of "snow" looked like a layer of horizontal icicles, 1 to 1.5 inches long, each one solid ice but not frozen to the others. Underneath was soft moist snow which made a good base for skinning. The wind picked up above 8000 feet, and there were large areas where the new snow had been extensively eroded. The Muir snowfield along side Moon Rocks looked dirty and as if it had been blasted, and blowing snow above signalled that the wind was strong there, so we choose to ski down the Paradise Glacier and not continue higher.
The top section of Ron's Edge was in poor shape. Most of the new snow had been blown away and skiing was on dirty hard snow, much worse than a month before. A few hundred feet down the skiing got better due to patches of new snow, then extensive coverage. The rocks which can bar the way to the lower section were bridged by new snow, and the entire lower section featured great skiing. Those thousands of little loose icicles over soft snow skied like firn spiegel - smooth and fast. There were crevasses both visible and probably lurking under the new snow. There was also very good turning on the lowest Muir Snowpatch down to Pebble Creek. We were able to pick our way on skis back to about 7000 feet, just above Panorama Point, where we started hiking back in the fog.
On the drive down it looked like "clearing from south to north" as forecast, but Paradise was in dense fog, which lasted to a little above Pebble Creek. There were a few inches of snow on the ground at Paradise, and this increased to 4-8 inches above Panorama Point, with lots of deeper drifts. Very slushy on the most of the trail. We started skinning just above Panorama Point, and were able to skin all the way to our crossover point to the Paradise Glacier, about 8900 feet. There was very interesting snow between 7000 and 8500 feet. The top inch of "snow" looked like a layer of horizontal icicles, 1 to 1.5 inches long, each one solid ice but not frozen to the others. Underneath was soft moist snow which made a good base for skinning. The wind picked up above 8000 feet, and there were large areas where the new snow had been extensively eroded. The Muir snowfield along side Moon Rocks looked dirty and as if it had been blasted, and blowing snow above signalled that the wind was strong there, so we choose to ski down the Paradise Glacier and not continue higher.
The top section of Ron's Edge was in poor shape. Most of the new snow had been blown away and skiing was on dirty hard snow, much worse than a month before. A few hundred feet down the skiing got better due to patches of new snow, then extensive coverage. The rocks which can bar the way to the lower section were bridged by new snow, and the entire lower section featured great skiing. Those thousands of little loose icicles over soft snow skied like firn spiegel - smooth and fast. There were crevasses both visible and probably lurking under the new snow. There was also very good turning on the lowest Muir Snowpatch down to Pebble Creek. We were able to pick our way on skis back to about 7000 feet, just above Panorama Point, where we started hiking back in the fog.
I'll concur with that, the snow was very interesting. Never really seen snow like that. It made for excellent turns though. All in all it was a good day. I'll post pics later today, once I get them edited.
Great way to spend a Friday! Thanks Charles!!
There's a good pic, no need for mine :).
climbinghighest, good to meet you in the fog! How high did you guys climb? I'm really interested to find out how the Muir snowfield was above Moon Rocks.
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