TR: Muir by moonlight
Lowell Skoog
ski-ing. Nobody has really seen the moon until he has seen
an Alpine landscape under a January full moon. Every detail
of crag and glacier is revealed with distinctness, and with a
softness of outline that is a revelation to those who only
know the summer moon, or to those who have only seen the moon
riding through our misty English skies. It is one thing to
admire moonlight scenes from one's bedroom window, and quite
another thing to get out into the hills and to absorb the
beauty of the radiant snows.
--Arnold Lunn
With all the talk about the winter solstice full moon, I wanted
to get out into the mountains to see it. When it began to look
like the solstice would actually have clear weather, I arranged
to take off Tuesday, December 21st and talked my brother Carl
into joining me. We drove to Paradise on Mount Rainier and
started climbing on skins toward Camp Muir in early afternoon.
In the past few months, several hikers and climbers have gotten
lost between Paradise and Muir and have never been found.
Despite the perfect weather forecast, we decided to take the
mountain seriously. Above Panorama Point I placed wands at
several waypoints. Each wand had a numbered flag and I jotted
down the elevation and compass bearing of each point in a
notepad. Carl logged the waypoints on his GPS.
The sun went down when we were a few hundred feet below Camp
Muir. The alpenglow was brilliant. The wind had carved huge
sastrugi that the sun illuminated like golden waves. The moon
rose above these waves into a purple sky. I've heard that
pollution is partly responsible for these colors, but it was
beautiful anyway. We reached Camp Muir at dusk in a buffeting
wind. Two climbers from Tacoma, Jim and Rex, got there on foot
just before us and dug out the shelter door, almost blocked from
within by drifted snow.
We cooked dinner and lazed around until 9 p.m. By then the
moon had climbed high in the sky and the wind had dropped
considerably. We wished Jim and Rex a good climb and headed out
into the moonlight. Snow conditions on the Muir snowfield can be
awful in winter. I worried that the skiing might be more
gruelling than fun. Fortunately, the waves of sastrugi were so
big that we could turn around them like moguls. Lower down the
crust was hard but not bulletproof.
We stopped at Panorama Point for an hour to take time exposure
photos of the mountain. To the south, Mount Adams and Saint
Helens were clearly visible and the Tatoosh Range glowed bright
in the foreground. By the time we reached our car it was almost
midnight. We expected to bivi at Longmire, since the Park
Service locks the gate there every night in winter. Thanks to
the full moon, people were still awake at the Inn and we got one
of the custodians to let us out. We drove back to Seattle around
3 a.m. I returned to work Wednesday morning bleary eyed but
satisfied after a memorable night out.
--Lowell Skoog
Seattle
Patrick Daniels
"Lowell Skoog" <low...@halcyon.com> wrote in message
news:844abv$g2e$1...@brokaw.wa.com...
Bob.P...@mci.com
low...@halcyon.com (Lowell Skoog) wrote:
<great TR, snipped>
Lowell:
That was wonderful. Thanks for posting.
Christmas commitments had me back in Iowa and under a total cloud
cover, so I didn't even get to see the moon. Vicariously enjoyed your
report a great deal.
Do you (or anyone else) know if the upcoming full moon in January will
be *almost* as good? It seems to my meager brain that it would, but
I'm pretty sure I slept through Physics and Astronomy.
Bob
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Lowell Skoog
>Do you (or anyone else) know if the upcoming full moon in January will
>be *almost* as good? It seems to my meager brain that it would, but
>I'm pretty sure I slept through Physics and Astronomy.
I don't think the solstice moon was noticeably brighter than normal.
It was just a nice bright moon. I'm guessing that next month's
moon will be great too, and the month after that.
--Lowell Skoog
Seattle
Penny S.
> It was just a nice bright moon. I'm guessing that next month's
> moon will be great too, and the month after that.
>
> --Lowell Skoog
> Seattle
>
January's moon will be a full lunar eclipse,
Penny ( got a new telescope for Xmas, can't wait for the moon party)
Bob.P...@mci.com
"Penny S." <psc...@nextdim.com> wrote:
>
> Lowell Skoog <low...@halcyon.com> wrote in message >
> > I don't think the solstice moon was noticeably brighter than normal.
> > It was just a nice bright moon. I'm guessing that next month's
> > moon will be great too, and the month after that.
> >
> > --Lowell Skoog
> > Seattle
> >
>
> January's moon will be a full lunar eclipse,
Penny:
Thanks for reminding me. Do you know the start and end time, by any
chance?