On the first attempt we began our ascent to Muir at night, one person on skis and the rest on snow shoes. The wind at 7,000 feet was so fierce that it picked up snow slabs, hurling them across the slopes; the slabs pummelled us and coated us in wet snow. The temperature was close to freezing, so the snow was melting on us, decreasing the wind effect temperature to much lower levels. We retreated from the beating we were taking and spent a night in the restrooms at Paradise. The skier had left his skis at our turn-around point because it was too windy to ski on them and they were like sails if he tried to carry them.