January 18, 2009, St Helens InVersionFest
1/18/09
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3046
3
Tons of skiers, boarders & climbers out enjoying copious sunshine, endless views, some good snow and lots of fresh air. Maybe a little too much fresh air Wind was ripping. This link shows morning winds up to 56 with averages around 25!
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/weatherstation/l/mt-st-helens/
It was really bizarre to be skinning up a volcano in January with 50 mph gusts¦ in a T-shirt.
We slept in the lot leaving at about 7:30 & passing lots tents along the way of folks who had the good sense to camp above the inversion. We reached at the rim around noon and didnt linger due to the wind. The top 500 feet or so was pretty firm but smooth enough to be a reasonable ski. From there it was very nice until around 5.5 thousand feet at which point it was ski-able but pretty much mashed potatoes.
Another awesome January day in the PNW.
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/weatherstation/l/mt-st-helens/
It was really bizarre to be skinning up a volcano in January with 50 mph gusts¦ in a T-shirt.
We slept in the lot leaving at about 7:30 & passing lots tents along the way of folks who had the good sense to camp above the inversion. We reached at the rim around noon and didnt linger due to the wind. The top 500 feet or so was pretty firm but smooth enough to be a reasonable ski. From there it was very nice until around 5.5 thousand feet at which point it was ski-able but pretty much mashed potatoes.
Another awesome January day in the PNW.
Hey Bob, I think it was you I met on East Peak and then again while we were hiking up. Good seeing you again! Glad you got the goods!
[/I think it was you I met on East Peak and then again while we were hiking up...Glad you got the goods!]
Yea Stugie, that was me and Mike who you also met at East peak. I’m curious what time you skied down and how the snow was. It didn’t seem like it was going to get much softer on our line which was just slightly west of south. Maybe the lines on more westerly aspects did but with the sun angle barely above 20deg at noon? That’s pretty low for spring snow.
Anyway great to see ya. I won’t be surprised next time we cross paths- it seems like you never stop skiing.
Yeah, it was crap for us. We hit the rim somewhere around 2-2:30? But we traversed W around the rim to the high point. Dumb idea. Rather than just turning back at the rim, we sought the high point and lost the corn. Traversed in a probably 50mph steady wind across some pretty rad ice formations. It ended up costing us a lot of time. We probably headed down around 3-3:15. The top was boiler plate survival turns. We managed to nab a few sections of the good stuff somewhere between 6-7000', but it was few and far between. Down low was really bad since it was starting to harden back up and it had been all slashed up. I definitely need to sharpen my edges now.
Yeah, we'll cross paths again for sure! We might try something in the Crystal vicinity this coming weekend, possibly near Sheep Lake? Still in the air...kind of up to the weather...
Yeah, we'll cross paths again for sure! We might try something in the Crystal vicinity this coming weekend, possibly near Sheep Lake? Still in the air...kind of up to the weather...
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