Saturday, April 30.
Brett, Tom, Leigh, me, Flora, Wei, and co-worker of Flora and Wei. Left Seattle at 5:50 AM. Started for the base camp at approximately 9 AM from Paradise, elevation 5,400 feet. Leigh and I arrived to camp Muir, elevation 10,188 feet, at 1:55 PM. Long, difficult trek up the mountain. Fresh powder made it necessary to kick steps in as we hiked up. The soft snow also caused post holing (sinking a full legs-length into the snow), particularly during the last 300 feet. Leigh and I arrived first, with Wei and Flora 20 minutes behind. Brett and Tom stayed back with our other party member who wasn’t able to continue climbing past 8,500 feet. The entire group hiked down the mountain together, returning to Paradise at 4:55 PM. The weather was a bizarre mountain mix – clouds at the bottom when we started, blue skies and hot sunshine once we broke through the cloud line up to Muir. On the way down our visibility decreased drastically; it was snowing at the cloud line and near white-out conditions past Panorama Point, the mid-point between Paradise and Muir.
 |
| heading up; rest stop at Panorama Point |
 |
| me and the mountain |
 |
| Leigh with the clouds |
 |
| climbing in the clouds |
 |
| looks close, yet so far away |
 |
| sunbathing at Muir |
 |
| view of Mt. Adams in the clouds |
 |
blizzard near the bottom
|
 |
| whiteout |
Second trip of the year up to Camp Muir. Overcast, snowy day. At base camp, the clouds shifted and we got a fleeting partial view of Rainier. Despite consistent cloud coverage, it was very bright on the mountain. We were treated to gentle snowflakes most of the way up; at about the halfway point during our descent the snow started falling much heavier and visibility was significantly reduced. Round trip 7 hours, including a couple of 20-30 minute breaks.
