Oh Hai, Camp Muir

Set out to reach Camp Muir at 10,000 feet today, knowing that storms would be coming in at night and that the only thing that can go wrong on the Muir snowfield is weather. When I reached Paradise I found blue skies and snow from the lot all the way up, so off I went. The going got rough just past the melting-out Pebble Creek, where the boot pack turned to post-holing, and only got worse. I really wish I'd had waterproof hiking boots, or at least a change of socks. The route is wanded all the way up and there were literally a hundred people on the mountain doing the same thing, so it's a no-brainer. Trekking poles and copious amounts of sunscreen are a must. I wore ski pants for gliassading, but there were few chutes and the ones that were still in ran out into mush quickly. I took 4hrs 20mins up, and a little over two hours down due to annoying postholing to my knees at times. Also, saw a helicopter going around back on my descent, and turns out to have been the start of an ill-fated rescue mission. A beautiful, very difficult day with just a hint of what real mountaineers experience.