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Unexpected crevasse on Muir Snowfield September 24, 2012

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:26 pm
by Nobody
After spending the night at Camp Muir on Mount Rainier (elevation 10,100'), Steve and I were the first ones heading down. Being late September, the muir snowfield was already in rough condition. There were brutal winds the previous day and night which obscured the boot tracks. The path we chose took us to this unexpected crevasse. While this one step doesn't seem like a big deal, it was a very steep section of mountain and we are carrying heavy packs. We also did not have any crevasse rescue gear or training, nor did we know what was coming up below. After crossing the crevasse we saw the the snowfield conditions were getting much worse, so we traversed over to the boot trail we came up the previous day. Not really sure if this was a stupid move without proper gear. I felt it was wiser than traversing that section of untraveled snowfield, where I could see several smaller crevasses.

Hope to get some pictures of our trip up in a few days...I thought this video clip was pretty entertaining, so I wanted to get it posted.