Muir Suncup Festival

A few mild days before the heatwave so I made the trip to Paradise for July turns. Cool and clear start. Continuous snow from behind Alta to the base of Pan. Patchy until Pebble where it’s solid to the top. I kept my skis on the pack and hiked past McClure up to the base of Sugarloaf where I decided to skin the rest. Not sure why, hiking was probably the wiser choice ...

Slithered around the sun cups which only grow as I get closer to Muir. Booted up the last 500’ as it became nearly impossible to tour through the valleys. Like I said, I should have left the skis on the pack for the whole climb. Calm and clear at the top as I gathered my courage for the ski down. Moguls from hell, but they had softened up enough to push through. Traversed over to Anvil to peek over at Paradise. It didn’t look as bad as the Muir snowfield but I was alone so I played it conservative. The snow below Anvil was the best of the day, but it didn’t last long. Ski to Pebble, carry, and then ski from base of Pan back to Alta. 

Any day on skis is a good day. I always learn something new, and each lesson gets a little less painful. Great coverage for this time of year. We will need to see some significant improvement in the sun cups before it becomes enjoyable skiing again but it makes for a great workout!