Home > Trip Reports > March 13, 2004, Mt. St. Helens

March 13, 2004, Mt. St. Helens

3/13/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3233
6
Posted by powscraper on 3/14/04 9:30am
I know this barely qualifies as backcountry, but I hooked up for the first time with fellow TAY newbie JimJar for a climb and snowboard descent of St. Helens so I think it is worthy.  There were tons of climbers and it never really got sunny enough to soften the upper mountain to ideal corn, but we had great fun nonetheless.  There is still snow all the way to the parking lot and a broad swath boot pack all the way up (which made for some interesting skinning on the ridge--we eventually just resigned to booting).  A longer TR is here:

http://www.neolectric.com/~justin/StHelens031304.html

I promise we'll try to get more creative...

Great report, Justin. Thanks.
I was just wondering this last weekend what conditions were like on St Helens.  We like to catch it each year before the snow's all gone at Marblemount.  
So how deep was the snow at the parking lot?

Snowbank was about 4 feet of at the parking lot, but with the high freezing levels it is going fast.  We got there at 7:00 AM and it was already soft, meaning it is not freezing at night anymore.

Well our party of 10 contributed to the Sat. horde. Actually I think there were more dogs on the mountain than people. Too bad they had to walk down.

We left at 7:30 and took our time, patiently waiting for the  temp to rise or sun to warm up the snow. We skinned up about 1/3 of the way and then booted it the rest because it was too icy. Yawn! From Justin's report it sounds like an hour made some difference. (I remember seeing you with the yellow approach skis.)

We left the summit around 2-ish. and found decent corn most of the way down resulting in a hell of a fun ride down. Smiles all around.

I'd say there was a couple feet of snow starting out from the lot. Overall a spectacular Sat. afternoon. And particularly good for a post-ski parking lot BBQ.

We saw the other abandonded splitboard a bit farther down that gulley. I guess not everybody had such a good day.


Great pics, Justin!  maybe a stupid question, but which parking lot were you guys all leaving from?  the climbers bivy or the sno park?  I'm thinking of climbing it this week.

We went from the lower parking lot... I know, we should have represented... actually, I prefer packing up in the company of skiers rather than inhaling exhaust.

Oh wait, Climbers' Bivy?  No no, we went from the sno-park, it is much closer I think.

Hey, I think I am going down there again on Sunday, a boarder friend of mine wants to do it.  There could be freshies!  Let me know if you want to hook up.  Or if you want to do something midweek, I'm up for it.  I was thinking about going back to finish off Eldorado Peak.


From Justin's report it sounds like an hour made some difference...
We left the summit around 2-ish.


Were you on skis?  I think being on a snowboard makes the snow feel more firm.  I remember looking back up the slope, I could see plenty of ski tracks but none of our board tracks.  Of course, That's why we are so good in powder  ;D

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powscraper
2004-03-14 17:30:48