June 25, 2003, Camp Muir via Paradise Glacier

Encouraged by Amar's recent report of good coverage on the Paradise Glacier, Gary and I parked at the 4th Crossing trailhead and, after a grueling 20vf hike, started skinning up Mazama Ridge. The snow was very firm, both from overnight freezing and from the cold weather of last weekend, but the surface was just softening under the cloudless skies. Except for a 10' grass/dirt break at the top of Mazama Ridge, the snow was continuous to Camp Muir. We got onto the Paradise Glacier via its eastern tongue, near Cowlitz Rocks, and the only open crevasse was the "big one" near 8000'; there were several choices of routes for crossing it still available, and we wanded our choice for the descent. The snow on the glacier was incredibly smooth, with maybe a little skim of new from last weekend; when I dug down in for waterbottle snow, it looked like the top 3" was well frozen, but underneath was a considerable depth of loose, large-grained snow.

The scene at Camp Muir was unexpectedly mellow, with one summit party enjoying the day before their climb, one snowboarder, and Bronka and friends just starting their hike down. I started down about 1:15pm (Gary had decided to stop at about Moon Rocks) on fantastic snow, so fast and smooth that even the gentle parts were fun, and the steeper section along side Anvil Rock was very nice. Gary and I then skied our line of ascent on the smooth snow to our wands and on down to the lower valley. Gary picked a good route back to Mazama Ridge so that we had almost no uphill, but lots of gliding and some turns as well. From Mazama to the car the snow was both softer and less smooth, but still quite skiable, and better than hiking!