Mt St Helens 6/13 Worm Flows area
6/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3558
8
Sorry about the late posting. Attempted summit departing Worm Flows 7ish AM. Warmed quickly throughout day, felt higher than forecasted 68.
Was on upper 1/3rd of mtn, a hair lookers left of climbers bootpack skinning. The snow had a repeated but sporadic hollow sound on hard skin kicks, with easily felt vibrations tracking out from point of foot impact.
It felt weird, and I got off quickly, hence failing to summit ;(. Doesn't the sw pack know gas is expensive from SEA?
Descended without incident other than medium size wet sloughs...
When my party returned to the vehicles -45 minutes later they reported 2 of the chutes, either to lookers left of where I was or possibly including the one I was in, sliding w/o human trigger. Per friend, one slid 3 feet deep 200-300 foot wide, other went down 1 foot and 100 across.
Meanwhile, 4 snowmobilers were eating lunch on a.........you guessed it, cornice. @ the summit.
There just ain't any justice in this world.
The other members of my party reported noting the same conditions on their ascent lines, roughly the same as mine. Be cautious, at least there, this weekend!
Was on upper 1/3rd of mtn, a hair lookers left of climbers bootpack skinning. The snow had a repeated but sporadic hollow sound on hard skin kicks, with easily felt vibrations tracking out from point of foot impact.
It felt weird, and I got off quickly, hence failing to summit ;(. Doesn't the sw pack know gas is expensive from SEA?
Descended without incident other than medium size wet sloughs...
When my party returned to the vehicles -45 minutes later they reported 2 of the chutes, either to lookers left of where I was or possibly including the one I was in, sliding w/o human trigger. Per friend, one slid 3 feet deep 200-300 foot wide, other went down 1 foot and 100 across.
Meanwhile, 4 snowmobilers were eating lunch on a.........you guessed it, cornice. @ the summit.
There just ain't any justice in this world.
The other members of my party reported noting the same conditions on their ascent lines, roughly the same as mine. Be cautious, at least there, this weekend!
wow. good judgement on your part.
Would love to have a chat with you about the conditions- going up on monday and hoping for some good beta. were the lines skier's left of the crater area down the worm flows looking in still?
Chris
Chris
To underscore the danger you smartly avoided, please see a related TR at:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/806042#Post806042
I believe that's the steep east face of Monitor Ridge which is an in-your-face candidate for a slide whe you climb on the Swift Creek trail. It finally happened. MSH can lull you into complacency. Your trip report and the CC TR pulls us back to eternal vigilance.
JJS
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/806042#Post806042
I believe that's the steep east face of Monitor Ridge which is an in-your-face candidate for a slide whe you climb on the Swift Creek trail. It finally happened. MSH can lull you into complacency. Your trip report and the CC TR pulls us back to eternal vigilance.
JJS
When we climbed that in May of last year there was a HUGE slide in or about the same area you are referring too. My pics came out blury, but the crown was about 3-4' and it was about 600-700' across, descending a good 1/2 mile.
Sunday afternoon QB says : Alpine start would've been better! Nice TR's Stugie and Slut!
TY Randy. Good call on your part though. And, despite the start and though it's sad, it seems that no matter where we go now we can share "Stupid Moments in Snowmachining". Whether it be a cornice on the rim of St. Helens, a snow bridge spanning a large crevasse on Baker, or just trying to maul past hikers on a gravel road doing 40mph, they sure are helping to make the other snowmachine riders look REAL bad. ::)
I thought snowmobilers aren't allowed to go to the top after a certain date, which I think is long passed.
Snowmobiles are prohibited up there after May 15th. We skied there on friday and passed the climbing ranger on our way down. A really nice woman who had the unenviable task of trying to track them down that day while on snowshoes...
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