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.

At the hut

Once there, I took a few minutes to sit and rest and eat some energy bars to re-energize myself for the turns that lay ahead of us. The last person in our party arrived about a half hour after that and by this time the thin liner socks that I was wearing became obviously too minimal for keeping my feet warm. We gave him a few minutes to take some pictures and get some water and food and then we started locking down our boots and clicking our skis on. It was time to test the snow.

One other person, who arrived a little after me, ascended the hump west of Muir and descended the Gibralter Chute increasing my confidence in the stability of the snow below the hut.

Future Runs?

Our first turns were in dreamy powder that could only be found at elevation such as these in the state, with nearly knee-deep turns in a perfect light blanket of white. We descended with the intention of skiing the Nisqually Chute down to the glacier and out to the bridge that crossed the river at an elevation of about 3400'. We worked our way to the right down to where the entry of the chute was at 8400' where Jerry was able to watch another set of skiers struggle on crust and ice. With conditions in the chute obviously sketchy we continued descending along the path we had came, back down to Paradise a little disappointed.

The weather had kept itself at bay to the South and so far only a small dusting of new snow was falling, most likely blown off of higher slopes. As we hit the final slope below Pebble Creek though, the clouds engulfed us and brought the visibility down to near zero. We followed the obvious skin track back down to the parking lot so that we would not end up off bearing and going down to far.

Scoping the line

Once back at the parking lot, we piled back into what would have been our shuttle and made the quick trip back to pick up the other car. On the way out we stopped at the Copper Creek Inn and had a feast of some of the largest hamburgers this side of the Cascades.

As a funny side note, and older lady approached us while we were beginning to eat and asked, "Were you the four that we watch at the Visitors Center skiing down from Camp Muir?" After a hesitant acknowledgment, the obviously impressed women complemented us all and wished us to enjoy our well deserved meal. Blushing, we all modestly joked about how we all felt that it was no big deal. Seriously though, I bet on busy day with better weather there would be literally hundreds of people skiing those slopes. That is Muir for you.