October 28, 2007, Camp Muir, MRNP

Today's conditions varied like Teleskichica's report from yesterday by elevation, but colder at the top and warmer at the bottom.  I started up at 10:30 behind a bunch of skiers and boarders and was planning on going to 8500 or so for the nicer snow, but it was so windy at that point that I went on to Camp Muir to have lunch indoors, arriving 2:45, departing 3:15. West wind was 35 avg and up to 52 by telemetry, but beautiful and sunny all day. Snow from ~8-10K was hard and sculpted a bit and tracked a lot. Then nice corn down to to Pan Pt, but some rock crossings there. I carried the skis through most of that area, then risked the newly patched and tuned bases on the 4-6" slush cover below for awhile. The Fragile Meadows are well defended by rocks, and so is a lot of the snow. There was a nice lenticular spun off over Pan Point that had the tourists wondering. It's no wonder people saw the first flying saucers at Mt Rainier. photos here.