TAY photos : Muir snowfield fall skiing, Mt. Rainier

www.turns-all-year.com	Mt. Rainier: Muir snowfield corn snow fall skiing photos Turns All Year: Previous Home Page Galleries
	This is a gallery of fall skiing photos which appeared on the Turns All Year home page in the past. Thumbnail images on this page can be clicked to view the full-sized photos, and lead into a slide show sequence for the gallery. The photos are from a fall backcountry skiing trip to the Muir snowfield and Camp Muir, on the south side of Mt. Rainier. September storms had deposited a covering of new snow and the corn snow skiing was excellent.
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The complete version of this photo gallery is now available on Turns All Year CD-ROM. Below you can view thumbnail photos from this gallery.

Turns All Year CD-ROM contains over 180 photo galleries, containing more than 3200 full-sized photos, from backcountry skiing and snowboarding trips in the Pacific Northwest.

from October 4, 2004:
Muir Snowfield, Mt. Rainier, Washington, September 24, 2004

Near Glacier Vista	Lower Muir snowfield	Booting onto Muir snowfield above Pebble Creek
Skinning Muir Snowfield near 8000 feet	Skinning Muir Snowfield near 9500 feet	Skinning and Nisqually Glacier
Eric skiing, with Camp Muir	Eric skiing, with Nisqually Glacier	Mike skiing, with Camp Muir
Eric skiing upper Muir Snowfield	Eric skiing upper Muir Snowfield	Mike with Anvil Rock
Eric	Charles skiing near Moon Rocks	Charles
Eric with Tatoosh Range	Mike	Mike skiing, with Nisqually Glacier icefalls
Nisqually and Wilson Glaciers, with Mt. Rainier	Panorama Point meadows	Edith Creek basin
Photos by Mike Barton and Charles Eldridge

Associated skiing trip report: Mike and I left Paradise at 9:00 on this beautiful day (the construction delays were minimal). The meadows were giving off that unique smell of fall, and although it looked like snow had crushed some of the meadow plants, we didn't run into any new snow until above Panorama Point. As we were putting on skis/skins at Pebble Creek we met Eric from Olympia, and with interesting conversations to distract us we were suddenly at Camp Muir - 3:10 from the parking lot, not bad for a bunch of old guys. Camp Muir was pleasantly deserted, and though sunny, a cool breeze was promising that the snow would be fast. Just as we were leaving Muir we met Andyski, and part way down we stopped and visited with Bill (131 consecutive months) and Phil (1 consecutive month).
   The skiing was great! The Muir snowfield was definitely not "tracked out". Most tracks from earlier in the week were just marks in the snow, neither raised nor sunken. The snow surface was smooth and fast, well frozen underneath with a 1-2" softened corn snow surface in most places, with a couple of areas of barely softened and a couple of areas of 4-5" softened. The rock band around 8000' was bridged by new snow in at least two places, and we were able to ski right down to Pebble Creek. With continuing weather like this, the lower extent of the new snow coverage should slowly creep upward each day, but above 8000' it looks like the coverage should last quite a while.
   This was the first time I have ever skied twice in September - it has never been worthwhile to do so before. Please, Ullr, more of the same for October!
    Charles

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