June 23, 2007, Camp Muir x2, Mt. Rainier
6/23/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4613
1
I decided to try out a new challenge today, made possible by the long days: skiing to and from Muir twice in a day. It worked out pretty well.
The morning's snow was largely dust in crust - every suncup was drifted in with a little bit of powder. Up high, the 10 am ski was icy/crusty, but softened into a thin corn layer down low. I explored the area to the east of Panorama Point/Alta Vista on the way down in my quest for ski continuity - it worked ok, but won't survive another day's melt. Skiing from Muir at about 11:30 would've made for the best possible single run. It appears that long runs into the Paradise Valley are still quite possible.
The afternoon skin up went nicely - lots of soft corn, until the weather moved in. The upper two thousand feet of the snowfield was blanketed in a whiteout, complete with a little bit of rime ice sticking to everything. Skiing down in the whiteout was fun, save for the icy snow. The NPS isn't kidding when they suggest that the unwary traveler will inadvertently head for the Cowlitz/Paradise glaciers - I was heading that way before I corrected things. I skied (in the clouds) the same eastern route out the bottom of the run. It started raining as I arrived at the parking lot. I suspect the RMI clients at Muir are having a moderately crappy night (and no summit day tomorrow).
It appeared that only the most northern (steepest?) of the Nisqually Chutes is still continuously skiable. I dropped into one of the more southerly ones on my first run only to be cliffed out. Tracks appeared on it mid-day, and I watched a few folks enter the top of the chute late in the afternoon (and worried about wet slides).
I hopped out of my skis at Pebble Creek and near the top of Panorama Point. I may add some photos if they came out well.
Edit: Photos added to show conditions in various places. To enter the lower section of Paradise Valley and still have a prayer of making it to the parking lot, I traced the snow finger just to the left of the red pole seen in the photo and then made the lengthy traverse all the way around the bowl to skier's right.
The morning's snow was largely dust in crust - every suncup was drifted in with a little bit of powder. Up high, the 10 am ski was icy/crusty, but softened into a thin corn layer down low. I explored the area to the east of Panorama Point/Alta Vista on the way down in my quest for ski continuity - it worked ok, but won't survive another day's melt. Skiing from Muir at about 11:30 would've made for the best possible single run. It appears that long runs into the Paradise Valley are still quite possible.
The afternoon skin up went nicely - lots of soft corn, until the weather moved in. The upper two thousand feet of the snowfield was blanketed in a whiteout, complete with a little bit of rime ice sticking to everything. Skiing down in the whiteout was fun, save for the icy snow. The NPS isn't kidding when they suggest that the unwary traveler will inadvertently head for the Cowlitz/Paradise glaciers - I was heading that way before I corrected things. I skied (in the clouds) the same eastern route out the bottom of the run. It started raining as I arrived at the parking lot. I suspect the RMI clients at Muir are having a moderately crappy night (and no summit day tomorrow).
It appeared that only the most northern (steepest?) of the Nisqually Chutes is still continuously skiable. I dropped into one of the more southerly ones on my first run only to be cliffed out. Tracks appeared on it mid-day, and I watched a few folks enter the top of the chute late in the afternoon (and worried about wet slides).
I hopped out of my skis at Pebble Creek and near the top of Panorama Point. I may add some photos if they came out well.
Edit: Photos added to show conditions in various places. To enter the lower section of Paradise Valley and still have a prayer of making it to the parking lot, I traced the snow finger just to the left of the red pole seen in the photo and then made the lengthy traverse all the way around the bowl to skier's right.
I sounds like you had an over great couple of days. I'm glad people are still going up to Muir, I'm planning a 3 day trip up to Muir the first week of July so hopefully the snow is still good.
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