Camp Muir White Out
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27. April 2009 um 03:12.
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This was one of the most intense hikes I have ever been on, on a normal day it's just a simple walk across the Muir snowfield to the Camp, but in a while out, it's not so simple. The idea came about April 23 on Thursday when I really wanted to get out. Unfortunatly we could'nt leave early Friday because of a lot of problems that came up which included my brother Michael's college. Unfortunatly on the way there he sorta spraint his ankle. This really worried me because it could have blown my chance to go to Camp Muir. Fortunatly it did'nt. The main part of the trip takes place on April 25, 2009.
We had a late start out, around 5 or so in the afternoon. Our first intentions were to spend the night at the camp, but a broken tent would'nt do, especially being 10,000 feet on Mount Rainier. We were worried about the Ranger's closing the gate to Mount Rainier National Park, but fortunatly it was open (which it is pretty much always). Unfortunatly our golden pass was missing so we had to pay like everyone else. On the way we stopped to get a shot of Rainier which reminded me of K2. The gate at Longmire was closed at night so we had to sleep in a parkinglot which was ok, but which meant no early start. Around 5:50 in the morning I woke up to great weather, but the gate was still closed so we woke up again around 8 and it was, but the bad part was the weather was turning on us. I encouraged my brother to going to Paridise (which is the trailhead to many hikes at Rainier including Camp Muir) telling him we could always do an easy hike. Of coarse that was'nt what I was acually hoping for. When we got there it was snowing and very cloudy which was worry some to my plans, but the osat group came and my brother agreed with going to Camp Muir.
We started off on a diffrent trail than the original or last time we went here. We followed some snow prints with a few hikers and at first it was nice and easy, but soon it got steep. It was a bit steeper than I remembered it, obviously it was not the real trail, but it would have to work. We did'nt bring our snowshoes which fortunatly we did'nt because it would have been dead weight, and the snow was icy and I started to have to use my ice axe. We later got away from the woods and walked into what I call the unkown because it was a white out. White was pretty much all we could see, perhaps a slight shadow of foot prints which even those were not very visible. Most people would have turned around at this point, but we were ambisious to make it! The only way we had a clue were we were going was by following the very faint grey color of ridges through the fog. The fog looked so much like snow that at one point there was a huge snow ridge in front of us that I had to be right in front of it to notice it, before it looked like the rest of the fog. At one point I heard voices which I yelled "Are you guys on the trail" and they yelled yes, so I followed and went down hill until I realized they were going back. The fog was so intense that the only way I was able to know were I was is because of my foot prints which the wind and snow were slowly making disappear. The thought came back again, "why do I get myself into these situations" but it's because I need excitment in my life, to live a life without anything is not really living a good life. Although this was probably a little extreme, but hey what can I say, mountains are just too much fun.
I caught up with my brother and we followed the ridge until we got to Panorama Point, which was a panorama of fog and snow and rock. We took a break and ate some food and drink, and by this point my hair was frozen. When looking at the plants, it's amazing how they survive such an intense enviroment of snow, wind, cold, and lack of sun. As we started back up we got to a point were there were two ridges. "Uhmmmmmm which one?" So fortuantly my brother made a good call to pick the one on the right. You might think were you guys using a map? We had one, but it does'nt do as much good when you can't see much, but it did help us a bit at places. Even to this moment I am unsure if we ended up on the Paridise Glacier or if we were on a snowfield on the right side of the ridge. As we kept going up the ridges there is a clear spot which then the summit of Rainier is visible. This brings much hope to us but then it gets foggy again.
After a few minutes in the fog it clears up again, but this time it's for real! I could see Rainier in it's beautiful wonders, although to be honest it was'nt as snowy as I expected, but all the wind it gets up there much be part of the reason for that. The clouds above kept swirling and mini clouds kept passing over us creating interesting shadows. One thing I learned during this part of the trip is that if you take your time going up to 10,000 feet, it makes a big diffrence when it comes to altitude sickness. I'm not saying we took our time because we had to get down before they closed the gate again. There are in some cases were altitude sickness is unavoidable but having strong lungs help. Even though I have asma, the altitude did'nt have much effect on me, perhaps this is because I go on runs at home, last time I was here we went fast up and had some major effects on me. When nearing Camp Muir, someone who was passing me asked me if I was going to Cathedral Rock which you have to pass the Cowlitz glacier which I had no ropes but gave it some thought. The clouds kept chasing us up, the higher I went, the higher the clouds went, but fortunatly I eventually got past the clouds. I decided to put on my sunglasses which hurt because my hair was frozen so I had to crumble off some of it to get them on. When we got to Camp Muir we ate and drank and rested. We caught sight of a small bird which we threw a banana chip and it dove after it. I never knew birds flew up here, especially at this time of year, because it is far from any forest or tree's.
When I felt energized again the guys that passed me were going to cross the glacier to Cathedral Rock, he was without rope. He told me it was fine to cross the Cowlitz Glacier even without a rope and they offered me to come along with them. "Well how could I decline such a wonderful offer" I thought to myself. In the mountaineer's it's against Mountaineering protocal to go on a glacier unroped, but the upper part of the Cowlitz Glacier was in a sense like the Muir snowfield. The Muir snowfield is like a friendlier version of a glacier, in late season there's crevasses in both. Michael was'nt to happy with the idea, but he could tell I would be disapointed if I could'nt go. At first I was a bit nervous going on a glacier for my first time, especially unroped, but the two climber guys were in front of me. All they had were a pair of spiky snowshoes and ski polls, and they shared back and forth a pair of ski goggles. Halfway across the glacier to be honest was a lot more beautiful than Camp Muir, it had a very mountainous look to it, but I noticed there were lots of rocks from rock falls around the glacier. It started to become icy at one point, I forgot my crampons from home which were to be used to Camp Muir. I was a bit nervous because a ways down the glacier indeed had crevasses. At the time I did'nt notice the ones above me as well and I had to ice axe arrest to safer snow below. One of the climbers turned around, and recommend I do to due to steep ice above, but I wanted to go further. It started getting icyer and my brother came on to the Glacier as well and told the other climber guy something and he yelled for me to come back, which I did. Michael said he saw a boulder come flying down from the steep place I wanted to go to, which was a good call. It was most certainly worth going across, although perhaps a little bit dangerous.
I had some nice conversation with the climber on the way down, his buddy went further up and later told me it was even better up there. At Camp Muir we gathered up our gear, took a few photo's and got ready for the decent. The decent ended up being more worry some than the ascent. As we were going down, we could see that the storm was bigger than it was before and we went once again into the thick fog. We got to glassade a little bit, but was'nt as good as we hoped. There were some problems, not only would we have to stay near the ridge so that we did'nt end up lost on some glacier, but at many parts the snow was hard and bumpy. At first the way down was easy to navigate and follow the Muir Snowfield but then got harder as the Muir snowfield ended. We got up onto the ridge to stay safer and followed tracks but at one point the foot prints lead to a steep down hill which did not seem right. At first we were gonna go right which fortunatly as we were going down we changed our mind because it is possible that it would have ended up on the Nisqually Glacier. I started saying some prayers that we would be able to get down safe and know the way. I believe those prayers were really answered that day because we had much difficulty navigating the ridge. At one point it was questionable to even ice axe arrest down so I climbed up on some steep rock on the ridge. My brother went around the ridge on the snow and started going up hill. I was quite worried because gripping the rock was hard because I got caught between a plant but managed to get over it and climb over the rocks, falling could have been quite serious at this part. After going up a ways then I had to climb down the rocky ridge which there was an ice shoot if I fell.
We went down to the left of the ridge and ended up at Panorama Point, what luck! After Panorama Point once again we became lost again. I kept hearing voices, by this point I was tired and I could'nt tell if it was a hallucination or the wind or perhaps if it was real. As we waited for another clearing we saw faintly some trees with a ridge. This excited us, we had to carefully get down to it, and then we found some foot prints. We followed these until it got to a steep part again which was questionable. We went down the hill on the right, which at first I was worried because it looked like the hill would go down into the Nisqually Glacier, but fortunatly it was the right way. The snow tracks were extremely hard for me to see at one point and I was left on a steep hill by myself, until my brother came back and told me that it was safe to glassade down. On the way down I did not turn my head away while ice axe arresting and hit my nose with my axe. Fortunatly it was'nt too bad, but it hurt. We came up onto another ridge and as I was walking it was so white, I almost walked off a cliff and stopped about two feet from what might have been a cornice cliff.
I heard the osat group coming which from here they helped guide the rest of the way down, we almost took another wrong turn with the group but fortunatly knew better. We almost took a "wrong turn" which would end up at the same place, but we did'nt want to upset the osat group. When we saw the parkinglot, I could hardly believe it! On the way home we saw a fox and a racoon, and I had one of the best milkshakes I have ever heard. To me this trip was worth it, even though it was tough, worry some, and now painful. I got a terrible sunburn or as my mother calls it sun poison, it hurts to eat because of my lips being hurnt, I can't touch my face because it is so swollen and sun burnt. Also I have this nasty blister which I believe not only was this cuased from sun but also wind and cold. Anyone going to Camp Muir, be careful of whiteouts and know the route before you go here. This trip was just what I needed, an adventure!
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We had a late start out, around 5 or so in the afternoon. Our first intentions were to spend the night at the camp, but a broken tent would'nt do, especially being 10,000 feet on Mount Rainier. We were worried about the Ranger's closing the gate to Mount Rainier National Park, but fortunatly it was open (which it is pretty much always). Unfortunatly our golden pass was missing so we had to pay like everyone else. On the way we stopped to get a shot of Rainier which reminded me of K2. The gate at Longmire was closed at night so we had to sleep in a parkinglot which was ok, but which meant no early start. Around 5:50 in the morning I woke up to great weather, but the gate was still closed so we woke up again around 8 and it was, but the bad part was the weather was turning on us. I encouraged my brother to going to Paridise (which is the trailhead to many hikes at Rainier including Camp Muir) telling him we could always do an easy hike. Of coarse that was'nt what I was acually hoping for. When we got there it was snowing and very cloudy which was worry some to my plans, but the osat group came and my brother agreed with going to Camp Muir.
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We started off on a diffrent trail than the original or last time we went here. We followed some snow prints with a few hikers and at first it was nice and easy, but soon it got steep. It was a bit steeper than I remembered it, obviously it was not the real trail, but it would have to work. We did'nt bring our snowshoes which fortunatly we did'nt because it would have been dead weight, and the snow was icy and I started to have to use my ice axe. We later got away from the woods and walked into what I call the unkown because it was a white out. White was pretty much all we could see, perhaps a slight shadow of foot prints which even those were not very visible. Most people would have turned around at this point, but we were ambisious to make it! The only way we had a clue were we were going was by following the very faint grey color of ridges through the fog. The fog looked so much like snow that at one point there was a huge snow ridge in front of us that I had to be right in front of it to notice it, before it looked like the rest of the fog. At one point I heard voices which I yelled "Are you guys on the trail" and they yelled yes, so I followed and went down hill until I realized they were going back. The fog was so intense that the only way I was able to know were I was is because of my foot prints which the wind and snow were slowly making disappear. The thought came back again, "why do I get myself into these situations" but it's because I need excitment in my life, to live a life without anything is not really living a good life. Although this was probably a little extreme, but hey what can I say, mountains are just too much fun.
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I caught up with my brother and we followed the ridge until we got to Panorama Point, which was a panorama of fog and snow and rock. We took a break and ate some food and drink, and by this point my hair was frozen. When looking at the plants, it's amazing how they survive such an intense enviroment of snow, wind, cold, and lack of sun. As we started back up we got to a point were there were two ridges. "Uhmmmmmm which one?" So fortuantly my brother made a good call to pick the one on the right. You might think were you guys using a map? We had one, but it does'nt do as much good when you can't see much, but it did help us a bit at places. Even to this moment I am unsure if we ended up on the Paridise Glacier or if we were on a snowfield on the right side of the ridge. As we kept going up the ridges there is a clear spot which then the summit of Rainier is visible. This brings much hope to us but then it gets foggy again.
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After a few minutes in the fog it clears up again, but this time it's for real! I could see Rainier in it's beautiful wonders, although to be honest it was'nt as snowy as I expected, but all the wind it gets up there much be part of the reason for that. The clouds above kept swirling and mini clouds kept passing over us creating interesting shadows. One thing I learned during this part of the trip is that if you take your time going up to 10,000 feet, it makes a big diffrence when it comes to altitude sickness. I'm not saying we took our time because we had to get down before they closed the gate again. There are in some cases were altitude sickness is unavoidable but having strong lungs help. Even though I have asma, the altitude did'nt have much effect on me, perhaps this is because I go on runs at home, last time I was here we went fast up and had some major effects on me. When nearing Camp Muir, someone who was passing me asked me if I was going to Cathedral Rock which you have to pass the Cowlitz glacier which I had no ropes but gave it some thought. The clouds kept chasing us up, the higher I went, the higher the clouds went, but fortunatly I eventually got past the clouds. I decided to put on my sunglasses which hurt because my hair was frozen so I had to crumble off some of it to get them on. When we got to Camp Muir we ate and drank and rested. We caught sight of a small bird which we threw a banana chip and it dove after it. I never knew birds flew up here, especially at this time of year, because it is far from any forest or tree's.
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When I felt energized again the guys that passed me were going to cross the glacier to Cathedral Rock, he was without rope. He told me it was fine to cross the Cowlitz Glacier even without a rope and they offered me to come along with them. "Well how could I decline such a wonderful offer" I thought to myself. In the mountaineer's it's against Mountaineering protocal to go on a glacier unroped, but the upper part of the Cowlitz Glacier was in a sense like the Muir snowfield. The Muir snowfield is like a friendlier version of a glacier, in late season there's crevasses in both. Michael was'nt to happy with the idea, but he could tell I would be disapointed if I could'nt go. At first I was a bit nervous going on a glacier for my first time, especially unroped, but the two climber guys were in front of me. All they had were a pair of spiky snowshoes and ski polls, and they shared back and forth a pair of ski goggles. Halfway across the glacier to be honest was a lot more beautiful than Camp Muir, it had a very mountainous look to it, but I noticed there were lots of rocks from rock falls around the glacier. It started to become icy at one point, I forgot my crampons from home which were to be used to Camp Muir. I was a bit nervous because a ways down the glacier indeed had crevasses. At the time I did'nt notice the ones above me as well and I had to ice axe arrest to safer snow below. One of the climbers turned around, and recommend I do to due to steep ice above, but I wanted to go further. It started getting icyer and my brother came on to the Glacier as well and told the other climber guy something and he yelled for me to come back, which I did. Michael said he saw a boulder come flying down from the steep place I wanted to go to, which was a good call. It was most certainly worth going across, although perhaps a little bit dangerous.
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I had some nice conversation with the climber on the way down, his buddy went further up and later told me it was even better up there. At Camp Muir we gathered up our gear, took a few photo's and got ready for the decent. The decent ended up being more worry some than the ascent. As we were going down, we could see that the storm was bigger than it was before and we went once again into the thick fog. We got to glassade a little bit, but was'nt as good as we hoped. There were some problems, not only would we have to stay near the ridge so that we did'nt end up lost on some glacier, but at many parts the snow was hard and bumpy. At first the way down was easy to navigate and follow the Muir Snowfield but then got harder as the Muir snowfield ended. We got up onto the ridge to stay safer and followed tracks but at one point the foot prints lead to a steep down hill which did not seem right. At first we were gonna go right which fortunatly as we were going down we changed our mind because it is possible that it would have ended up on the Nisqually Glacier. I started saying some prayers that we would be able to get down safe and know the way. I believe those prayers were really answered that day because we had much difficulty navigating the ridge. At one point it was questionable to even ice axe arrest down so I climbed up on some steep rock on the ridge. My brother went around the ridge on the snow and started going up hill. I was quite worried because gripping the rock was hard because I got caught between a plant but managed to get over it and climb over the rocks, falling could have been quite serious at this part. After going up a ways then I had to climb down the rocky ridge which there was an ice shoot if I fell.
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We went down to the left of the ridge and ended up at Panorama Point, what luck! After Panorama Point once again we became lost again. I kept hearing voices, by this point I was tired and I could'nt tell if it was a hallucination or the wind or perhaps if it was real. As we waited for another clearing we saw faintly some trees with a ridge. This excited us, we had to carefully get down to it, and then we found some foot prints. We followed these until it got to a steep part again which was questionable. We went down the hill on the right, which at first I was worried because it looked like the hill would go down into the Nisqually Glacier, but fortunatly it was the right way. The snow tracks were extremely hard for me to see at one point and I was left on a steep hill by myself, until my brother came back and told me that it was safe to glassade down. On the way down I did not turn my head away while ice axe arresting and hit my nose with my axe. Fortunatly it was'nt too bad, but it hurt. We came up onto another ridge and as I was walking it was so white, I almost walked off a cliff and stopped about two feet from what might have been a cornice cliff.
|
|
|
I heard the osat group coming which from here they helped guide the rest of the way down, we almost took another wrong turn with the group but fortunatly knew better. We almost took a "wrong turn" which would end up at the same place, but we did'nt want to upset the osat group. When we saw the parkinglot, I could hardly believe it! On the way home we saw a fox and a racoon, and I had one of the best milkshakes I have ever heard. To me this trip was worth it, even though it was tough, worry some, and now painful. I got a terrible sunburn or as my mother calls it sun poison, it hurts to eat because of my lips being hurnt, I can't touch my face because it is so swollen and sun burnt. Also I have this nasty blister which I believe not only was this cuased from sun but also wind and cold. Anyone going to Camp Muir, be careful of whiteouts and know the route before you go here. This trip was just what I needed, an adventure!
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Tourengänger:
Josh Lewis
Josh Lewis
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