Ski Touring Mt Rainier

Camp Muir (10,100ft)

May 7, 2013

Freshly back from our incredible Isolation Traverse tour, Todd invited me to join him and his fiance for a ski tour up to Camp Muir at Mt Rainier National Park. The weather has been unusually nice for this time of year in western Washington so we took advantage of it and enjoyed a beautiful day, skiing in the Park!

Todd and Ellen met me at my house a little after 6am and we loaded in my skis and headed south to Mt Rainier National Park. We stopped at a grocery store in Spanaway to use the restroom and to pick up some food and drinks. Back on the road, we cruised down highway 7 and arrived at Paradise a little after 9am. There were a few other cars in the park but for the most part, we had it to ourselves. This would be Ellen's first trip to Camp Muir and only the 4th month that she has been skiing! I had the pleasure of skiing with Todd and Ellen on her first day skiing at Mt Bachelor in February .

We made good progress up to Panarama Point and took a short break at the top. Todd recognized a skier who swooshed down past us and later we saw fresh ski tracks descending from the Gibralter Chute. Very impressive! The sun was warm but not too hot so Ellen was able to make the entire climb to Camp Muir in shorts and a t-shirt!

Once up at Muir we took a short break to drink some water and eat some food then we took off our skins and proceeded to ski down in the glorious sunshine! Ellen did great, remembering the tips that Todd and I would offer. Learning to ski is difficult enough by itself but trying to transfer the knowledge of resort skiing to backcountry skiing is considerably more difficult but Ellen rose to the challenge and made great turns all the way down!

Thanks Todd and Ellen for letting me join you on this beautiful day! I'm looking forward to many more days in the mountains with you both!