November 4, 2004, Muir Snow Field
11/4/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2210
0
It was hot and sunny up there today. Skinned from the parking lot up to Anvil Rock and turn around there at 2pm as I ran low on water. There were places on the ascent that crampons would have been handy, but it was managable with just skins.
On the descent I tagged along w/ a couple of nice guys who led me to some better snow off pan point, pretty much on the normal route down.
Conditions were fun but not spectacular -- most of the snowfield had a couple of inches of wet, slow snow drifted here and there, and most of the way down there were sporadic blue-ish patches. Riding down it was five wet turns in 2-4 inches, then one turn scraping across blue crunchies, repeat cycle.
Lower down there were still alot of rocks exposed, but picking through them seemed very do-able on skis and was nearly w/o incident on a board. Rode right back to the parking lot in spring conditions.
All in all a worthwhile day today, but it will definitely be bullet-proof unless it stays sunny and relatively warm.
On the descent I tagged along w/ a couple of nice guys who led me to some better snow off pan point, pretty much on the normal route down.
Conditions were fun but not spectacular -- most of the snowfield had a couple of inches of wet, slow snow drifted here and there, and most of the way down there were sporadic blue-ish patches. Riding down it was five wet turns in 2-4 inches, then one turn scraping across blue crunchies, repeat cycle.
Lower down there were still alot of rocks exposed, but picking through them seemed very do-able on skis and was nearly w/o incident on a board. Rode right back to the parking lot in spring conditions.
All in all a worthwhile day today, but it will definitely be bullet-proof unless it stays sunny and relatively warm.
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