September Turns on the Muir Snowfield is an annual pilgrimage for most of the turns all year crew in the Puget Sound. Early in the season you have a handful of easy options to find snow. Up north you have the Heliotrope Ridge on Mount Baker but on Mount Rainier it is either the Flett Glacier or the Muir Snowfield. Not wanting to deal with the Mowich Lake road we made our way up to Paradise Visitor Center.

As we arrived at Paradise the Autumn foliage was on fire. It was a bright red as we walked up the Glacier Vista trail on our way up. We were desperate to keep our monthly streak going and it was the end of the month. Out of desperation we were heading up to get our September turns on the Muir Snowfield starting late in the afternoon.

Heading up Glacier Vista we had a beautiful view of Mount Rainier. The only snow to be found was glacial ice on the Nisqually and Kautz Glaciers. We didn’t know how the snow would be but we were happy to have a beautiful day.

After walking up dirt for a few hours we made our way up Pebble Creek. At around 7,000 feet we had finally arrived at snow. It looked pretty bad and wasn’t smooth at all but we expected it since it was September. Looking back we had a stunning view of Mount Adams and the Tatoosh Range.

September Turns on the Muir Snowfield

After climbing 1,000 feet the sun was starting to dip behind Mount Rainer. While it was an amazing sunset we needed to get going. It was time to get ride and get our turns for September on the Muir Snowfield. The snow wasn’t exactly smooth but it was our turns for the month. Racing the sunset we strapped in and got going to try to get down before dark.

It was a beautiful scene as we made our way down a turn at a time. By know the sun was under the horizon and the light was fading fast. With the last bit of visibility we made our way to the end of the snow line and starting packing our gear.

Once at the bottom of the field we put our boards on our backs and put on our headlamps. The light quickly faded and we were making our way down the final hour in the dark. Making our way to the car at the visitor center we were happy to keep our streak going. The crazy stuff you are willing to do to get turns all year.

Thank you for reading this trip doing September turns on the Muir Snowfield. If you want to see more ski tours within Mount Rainier Backcountry check out this link