August 26, 2001, Muir Glide Cracks, Mt. Rainier NP

Busted!!!! We thought we'd be able to sneak up to check out the Muir glide cracks everyone's been talking about without getting caught up on the mountain without skis. We did take them along in the car but when we saw the shape of the snowfield from the parking lot we thought "naw, looks nasty" besides, nobody else will be crazy enough to hoist boards clear up there just to do stone grinds on their edges. Little did we know! No more than did we pop up above the last Pebble roll and there's Brent Hostetler putting his skins back on for a 2nd run!! Brent decided to go all the way up with us to check out the cracks, and then skied on down. It was great to have him along on the way up. The cracks were not as dramatic as they could have been, however, as some recent snow had filled them in. If you haven't been up there in a while you can see some shots of them here. Pray for snow.

ron jarvis