The Party

After Bouncing back and forth on whether to head up to Canada and do some hut skiing, I decided instead to go to a few shows with a rather notable American climber. After spending Saturday cleaning up around the house this diluted what would have been a three day skiing weekend into just a Sunday day trip. The destination was decided on at the last minute after one of our party members skied at Crystal on Saturday and found the conditions unsatisfactory. It was to Camp Muir that we would go.

My suggestion of meeting up at 5:30am did not go over too well with everyone, so after planning on meeting at 6:00am and then a final last minute change to 6:30am our time was set. The Gate up to Paradise has been notoriously late in opening this season, so leaving later in the morning seemed a bit more prudent. In fact, one of the members earlier in the season arrived at the gate and waited all day only to realize that it was not going to open at all that day. We hoped as we got nearer to our destination that the same fate did not await us at Longmire.

Our first Intention

We discussed what our plan would be before leaving our meeting point and decided to take two cars and ski down the Nisqually Chute to the Nisqually Bridge below Paradise. From Camp Muir at just above 10,000 feet in elevation to the bridge at around 3400 feet gave us more than 7000 feet of vertical skiing. All of us were hoping that the conditions were not the same as those experienced the day before near Crystal Mountain.

After dropping off one car at the bridge, we all piled into the other car and finished the last few switchbacks to the Paradise parking lot, already bustling with activity. It had been a few years since I had been at Paradise in the winter and it always amazes me the size of the towering walls of snow that line the road and parking areas. A few mountain courses that are given by some of the guide services actually use these walls for crevasse rescue purposes due to their relative safety.

Billowing Clouds to the South

There were several other people that some of our party members knew that were also gearing up to head up for some fresh powder runs. We joined forces for the first portion of the skinning up below Panorama Point, where we parted ways and wished them a safe day. From here Jerry, started to pull away from us setting a blistering pace that we were not able to Match. Along the Muir Snowfield I could just make him out nearing the hump near Anvil Rock as I sat down in a small outcropping of stones to eat what I brought for lunch.

After this fifteen minute break, I continued on with ever decreasing speed as the altitude and my dehydration increased. As I neared the hut I could only manage about 50 steps before I would have to stop to catch my breath. It had been a while since I had been up to 10,000 feet and my lack of acclimatization was showing. Though my legs seemed strong and willing my lungs seemed unable to suck in enough air to satisfy my need for oxygen. I guess I still have a lot of work to do to get into the shape I really want to be.

On the other hand, after an easy two and a half hours of effort, Jerry was left waiting at the Muir Hut wondering how long it was going to take up to get up there.