In two weeks my brother and I and two other guys are going to try to climb Mount Baker. So our Crow Pass Crossing trail will include some steep, slow mountaineering. Yesterday we tried to get a training hike in on Mount Rainier, with a goal of going to Camp Muir, which is at 10,000 feet. We had a forecast of partly sunny, and on the drive up the Paradise that sounded about right. We saw the sun a bit, though the clouds gathered as we parked the car. It was cold, maybe 45, with some wind and a little fog. The trail is completely snow now, so we were on the boot tracked path from the start. We hiked without problem for an hour, and there was one hint of the clouds trying to burn off. Climbers on the way down were telling us that Muir was in the clear. But from then on the wind picked up and a driving rain didn't let up. By the time we were at about 8,000 feet (a bit past the Pebble Creek crossing, where you enter the snow field), we decided that it wasn't going to improve. It was as close to a white out as I've been in, visibility couldn't have been much more than 40 yards. We were pretty soaked as well, which is when hikes turn from fun to frustrating anyway. So maybe 5 to 6 miles of high-elevation hiking in the snow. No scenic views, but we got a cup of hot chocolate.
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